Free resource
Promotion Assessment + 2 Career Tracks Toolkit
Operational toolkit to prevent the Peter Principle in your restaurant. Built on Benson 2019 (Quarterly Journal of Economics), the Leadership Pipeline by Charan/Drotter/Noel and the Eleven Madison Park case from Will Guidara. Inside: a promotion assessment scorecard with 12 behavioural competencies and 1-5 rubric, STAR template with 8 ready situational questions for the internal interview, 9-box grid with calibration session protocol, two career tracks (management and expert) with peer-equal pay benchmarks, stay interview template, 90-day probation KPIs, honourable demotion script, 7-point pre-promotion checklist.
12 competencies
behavioural skills to measure before promoting
9-Box
grid to map your team in 30 minutes
2 tracks
career paths with peer-equal pay
What's inside
- Framework: Peter Principle (Peter 1969) + Leadership Pipeline (Charan/Drotter/Noel 2001) applied to restaurants
- Assessment scorecard: 12 behavioural competencies with 1-5 rubric and explicit decision thresholds
- STAR template: 8 ready situational questions for the internal interview, with red flags to mark
- 9-Box Grid: performance × potential matrix with specific actions for each of the 9 cells
- Annual calibration session protocol in 5 steps
- Track 1 — Management: hierarchy ladder with seniority benchmarks and 2026 pay ranges
- Track 2 — Expert: 4 senior roles (Senior Chef de Rang, Head Sommelier, Experience Specialist, Events Specialist) with peer-equal pay
- Stay Interview: the 3 key questions + recommended format (HR practice that pre-empts exits)
- 90-day probation KPIs: turnover, food cost, attrition, reviews, team survey
- Honourable demotion script: the narrative frame for a dignified "return" without humiliation
- 7-point pre-promotion checklist to print and keep in your pocket
- Bibliography: 6 academic and industry sources (NBER, QJE, Cornell, EMP)
Who it's for
- Independent restaurant owners who want to promote from within without burning talent
- Maitres and service directors weighing promotion requests
- Chef-entrepreneurs structuring a brigade and trying to avoid cascade staffing failure
- HR consultants and trainers working on hospitality career paths
- Senior floor staff who want to understand where they can grow
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