Get a new hire posting in their first week

The phone stays yours unless you hand it over in week one

A new cook, server, host, or dishwasher starts on Tuesday. You show them the station, the section, or the pit. Nobody shows them the account. By Sunday the feed is still the plate you shot before they arrived, and they think posting is the owner's job. It stays that way if the first week goes by without one photo that has their name on it.

The rest of the crew already has a plan: split the week's posts across the team. This is the shorter note for the person who just started, before their name is on that sheet.

What to show them on day one

Do it in the first quiet stretch, before service. Not a meeting. Invite them by email before the shift so the login is theirs. If the only way in is the password on your phone, stop and fix that. A lesson does not help if they cannot get in.

Then show five things, in this order.

1. Last week's post. One photo. Say what made it usable: one subject, real light, no guest's face, no label you can read.
2. Where they add a photo. It goes to Instagram and Facebook only after someone approves it. Set Posts need approval on for this person before they shoot.
3. The one shot their role takes this week. Not a list. One.
4. The short list of what stays off the feed. Read it once.
5. Where the caption goes. They write it the way they would say it to a regular. They do not wait for you to write it.

They do not need the whole library. They need the last good post and the one job.

The shot they are already standing next to

They are already in the spot. The phone is the extra step. Five frames. Keep the clearest one. If the station or the section is buried, they skip it. The table comes first.

• Cook. The plate at the pass, the way it leaves the window. Or one station during prep: the board, the pan, the herb going on. Behind-the-scenes posts is the longer list. This week they take one of those, not all of them.
• Server. A pour they were already making, or the plate on the way to the table once the guest is not waiting. Turn a bottle so a label is not the middle of the frame. Moments from the floor is the rest. This week, one pour or one plate.
• Host. The room before the doors open, or one frame from the stand while the next party is still walking in. Backs of chairs and the room. Not a row of faces.
• Dishwasher. The clean side, and only when it is actually clean: the rack coming out, plates stacked. Hands and the work. Not the pit in the middle of the rush.

A face and a name is a staff spotlight, and only if that person said yes. Hands are enough for a first post. How to shoot it on a phone is the light and the frame if they want it. They do not need that lesson before the first shift ends.

The house rule, on one card

Write it where they already look. The schedule, or the back of the lineup sheet. Short on purpose.

What is fair:

• The one subject you named for their role.
• Hands, the plate, the room, the clean rack.
• A caption that names what is in the frame and says whether a guest can still get it. Then it stops.

What stays off:

• A guest's face, unless that guest already said yes. Silence is a no. If a child is in the frame, leave it out.
• A messy station. Tickets up, a spill, the pit mid-rush, the line buried. You are not there to explain it. Skip it.
• A check, a card, a reservation book with names on it, or a label you can read.
• A line that promises a dish, a seat, or a time the house cannot keep.

The fish, the way it left the pass tonight. It is on until we are out. Doors at 5.

The room before we unlocked. Walk-ins from 5. A few tables are still open.

Captions that sound like you is the same rule, for whoever held the phone.

You or an admin approve the first ones

Set Posts need approval on for this person before they take the photo. You look at it, or an admin who is in the building does. A manager who is not an admin cannot approve, so either make them an admin or keep this step yourself. The post does not go to Instagram or Facebook until that approval.

Check three things.

1. Is the subject the one you named?
2. Is a guest's face, a messy station, a check, or a readable label in the frame?
3. Does the line promise something the house cannot keep?

If it is fine, approve it. Do not rewrite it until it sounds like you. A rewrite every time teaches the new hire to wait, and a post that waits for a rewrite is your post again.

They can still pick a time. A plate from the pass at 6 can be set for the next afternoon, if the dish is still on. It waits until you or an admin approves it. When to post is the clock. Do not ask them to shoot while a table is waiting.

One post in the first week is the job. Two is plenty. A post every shift is how a new hire decides this is not their work.

When to loosen it

Turn Posts need approval off for that person after a few posts that needed no change. Not on a calendar date. On the work.

Three posts you approved without a fix is enough. Or one quiet week where the only note was that the sentence was true. Then they upload and post to Instagram and Facebook themselves, or leave the photo on the shared calendar for the afternoon. You still look at the week the way you look at everyone else: one glance, the check in the week's posts. Fix a promise that is wrong. Leave a true sentence alone.

Leave it on longer if they keep framing a guest, a spill, or a label. Say what was wrong, on the next shift, in one sentence. Do not take the phone back and shoot it yourself.

If you are the only admin and you will be out, name who approves before you leave. The days you are away is the same decision. Do not decide it from the car.

The note for their first schedule

1. Day one, before service: their own login, last week's post, the one shot, Posts need approval on, the things that stay off.
2. Their shot. Cook: the plate or one station. Server: a pour or a plate. Host: the room. Dishwasher: the clean rack.
3. You or an admin approve. No rewrite if the sentence is true.
4. One post this week. Skip it if the station or the section is buried.
5. After a few clean posts, turn Posts need approval off for them. Your name stays off the shooting list.

Then let them take the next one

They already stand at the pass, the table, the door, or the pit. One photo in the first week is the habit. You see it first, or an admin does. Then they post it themselves, and the feed does not come back to the person who hired them.

ChefMedia is the free app that makes social media easier for restaurants. Cooks, servers, and managers upload and post to Instagram and Facebook themselves from one shared calendar, photos are tagged by dish automatically and kept in photo storage, an admin can set Posts need approval, and Write caption with AI runs only when someone taps it. Free for every restaurant. Sign up at chefmedia.ai (opens in a new tab).