Mr. Rohan Amin shares his research with Greater New NYC’s restaurateurs.

As I entered the restaurant’s front doors, my quads burned. My soccer practice earlier that day was quite physically demanding, with a mixture of strength training, running, and 1.5 hours of playing. Usually, the first hour goes by slowly. For me, it’s a time to get to know my coworkers. It’s learning about one server’s college ultimate frisbee days, another dishwasher’s interest in pursuing welding. Today, as I cleaned menus waiting for the first reservation to arrive, my bartender said something that changed my whole perspective.

“I have noticed that those who have played sports in the past are usually better employees in the restaurant business.”

Even though they are two indirectly related activities, I thought about the cognitive breakdown of the two activities, specifically the decision-making component. As a soccer player myself, I am familiar with the cognitive processes of athletes in the game; you have to make decisions under pressure, build a strong perception and awareness of the game around you, and build emotional toughness.

Dan Simons, owner of the Founding Farmers chain, which includes seven restaurants on the US East Coast and manages 1,500 employees, outlines the cognitive responsibilities of the restaurant industry’s employees: “Busy servers, bartenders, cooks, and expeditors are juggling many tasks at once. They are working to sequence and prioritize, manage their time, and create the most efficient path to do all the work so that every guest is provided excellent, hospitable service with timely food and drink” (Simons). Simons continues to describe how customer requests, team support, and operational communication all have “to be processed, ranked, and organized to ensure right place, right time, right way.” It’s this cognitive overload that makes jobs in the industry so difficult.

Back to my coworker’s theory: what could possibly make athletes so much stronger than nonathletes in the restaurant? Researchers at Urbana Champaign sampled a population of students found that in a virtual road crossing game (done on a manual treadmill) with cars going by at upwards of 40 miles per hours, student-athletes completed “more successful crossings than the nonathletes, by a significant margin,” (Reynolds). The athletes didn’t “move faster” on this manual treadmill, but rather “thought faster” (Reynolds). Thinking faster puts athletes in a stronger and more focused mindset. The combination of focus and critical thinking translates off the field, with attention during games preparing athletes “for the next event as soon as they respond to the previous event.” Our trusty expert, Dan Simons, said that restaurant staff have to stay “tuned in” to meet rapidly changing goals and demands.

Restaurant employees are commonly taught that the customer is always right. Employees are to empathize and apologize to the customer even if the customer is wrong. Thus, mental restraint to accommodate the customer is essential. Athletes once again have an advantage in this domain. In a study by Leilani Madrigal, Sharon Hamill and Diane Gill, athletes and nonathletes were given a 54 question mental toughness test (MTS). Specifically, this mental toughness test evaluated the capabilities of “controlling pressure, staying focused, and remaining confident, motivated, and determined” (Gill, et al). Athletes were found to have a higher score than nonathletes. It can only be imagined that these high-level capabilities allow employees to “sequence and prioritize, manage their time, and create the most efficient path to do all the work” (Simons).

A sharp memory can help workers prioritize restaurant tasks. Studies have found that servers who “memorized and correctly delivered entrees resulted in statistically significant increases in customers’ perceptions of service quality and marginally higher tips.” (Guegan, Jacob). Once again, athletes have the edge in this category. Research experiments done at Dartmouth College to assess the relationship between activity and memory found that participants who had been “more active over the prior year tended to show better memory performance overall” (Olson).

So, is this a genuine correlation? Test it for yourself! Go into the restaurant and evaluate whether those more athletic servers, bartenders, and even bussers seem to be having an easier time. Are they cooler under pressure? Are they calmer when the loud customer messes up their order? Do they memorize your order correctly? And if you are considering getting into the industry yourself, it’s not too late to start exercising; after all, “Studies show that people who exercise regularly on a stationary bike for at least 20 minutes perform better on cognitive executive functioning tasks” (Schraefel).

By Mr. Rohan Amin

Works Cited

Gill, Diane L., et al. Mind over Matter, the Development of the Mental … – UNCG, 2013, libres.uncg.edu/ir/uncg/f/D_Gill_Mind_2013.pdf.

Guégen, Nicolas, and Céline Jacob. “The Effect of Touch on Tipping: An Evaluation in a French Bar.” International Journal of Hospitality Management, Pergamon, 11 Nov. 2004, www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0278431904000465.

Olson, Amy. “How Workouts May Impact Your Memory.” Dartmouth, 29 Sept. 2022, home.dartmouth.edu/news/2022/09/how-workouts-may-impact-your-memory.

Reynolds, Gretchen. “How Sports May Focus the Brain.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 23 Mar. 2011, archive.nytimes.com/well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/23/how-sports-may-focus-the-brain/?scp=1&sq=%22University+of+Illinois%22&st=cse.

Schraefel. “ACM Interactions.” From Field to Office | ACM Interactions, Apr. 2015, interactions.acm.org/archive/view/march-april-2015/from-field-to-office.

Simons, Dan. “How Working in a Restaurant Builds Your Brain for Future Success.” Dan Simons Says, Dan Simons Says, 11 May 2022, www.dansimonssays.com/post/how-working-in-a-restaurant-builds-your-brain-for-future-success.