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Crew Member: job description, salary, training
In the hospitality industry, Crew Members are kitchen and customer-facing staff who typically work in fast-food restaurants. Here is our Crew Member job description, including salary ranges, training, and the latest mission offers from Brigad.
Crew Members is an umbrella term for kitchen and customer service staff who work in fast-food restaurants, usually national and multinational chains and brands that everyone knows and loves.
Crew Members usually work fixed shifts, reporting to a team manager or Restaurant Manager, and often have to wear a company uniform.
Let’s look closer at the job description, qualities, salary ranges, and career offers for Crew Members in London.
What is a Crew Member?
Crew Members in fast food restaurants perform a range of duties, which are often divided between kitchen tasks and serving roles at the counter, including bringing food to customers.
In the kitchen, Crew Members typically carry out specific tasks, akin to line cooking in traditional restaurants. They must follow recipes precisely to maintain consistency.
Excellent customer service is crucial for Crew Members, as many interact directly with customers, including managing online and drive-through orders.
What does a Crew Member do ?
Crew Members are trained for multi-functional duties, including cooking and preparing orders, cleaning utensils and service areas, serving customers, maintaining the cleanliness of the restaurant and restrooms, and consistently providing excellent and quick customer service.
What’s the difference between a Crew Member and Team Member ?
The terms "Crew Member" and "Team Member" are often used interchangeably in various contexts, particularly in the service industry and fast-food chains. Both refer to employees who work together as part of a team, often in positions like Cashier, Server, or kitchen staff. The choice of terminology may vary among different organizations, but fundamentally, both roles entail contributing to the collective efforts of the team in providing efficient service or completing tasks.
What is Crew Member at McDonald's ?
A Crew Member at McDonald's is an entry-level position in the restaurant's workforce. They perform various tasks to ensure the efficient operation of the restaurant, which may include taking customer orders at the counter or drive-thru, preparing and assembling food items, maintaining cleanliness and hygiene in the dining and kitchen areas, and assisting with various other responsibilities as needed. Crew Members play a critical role in providing quality customer service and ensuring a positive dining experience for McDonald's customers.
What Qualities Define a Crew Member ?
Crew Members should be comfortable working and serving in the high-energy environment of fast-paced, fast-food kitchens and restaurants.
They need to adeptly follow processes, systems, and specific recipes, ensuring the orderly preparation and readiness of food for customers.
Key skills include good communication, strong customer service abilities, and a diligent, hard-working attitude, which are highly valued by managers in Crew Members.
Why choose the position of Crew Member ?
A Crew Member job is a great way to progress in the hospitality industry. You learn valuable skills on the job, and many of these are transferable to the whole industry, such as food preparation, customer service, workplace communication, food and kitchen hygiene, allergy awareness, and working in a fast-paced environment.
It’s also a useful career leap that can lead to more senior positions such as team leader, front-of-house, Restaurant Manager, Bar Manager, or culinary roles, such as Head Chef, Sous Chef, or Chef de Partie.
What are the working conditions for a Crew Member ?
Working conditions for Crew Members vary depending on the establishment. Shifts tend to be the same length, depending on a Crew Member's contracted shift and the rota.
Working conditions are often busy, fast-paced, and high-pressured at peak hours, especially if there are orders coming in online, in-store, and via a drive-through. Crew Members often spend a lot of their shifts standing up and moving around, too, making it tiring work.
Typical working hours of a Crew Member
Crew Members usually work shifts depending on the needs of the fast-food restaurant they work with. Shifts are normally planned by managers at least one week in advance, depending on staffing requirements and other factors, such as holidays and annual leave. Crew Member shifts are often rotated on mornings, daytime, evenings, and weekends.
Brigad can connect you with missions that better suit your lifestyle and what you want to earn as a self-employed Crew Member
How to become a Crew Member ?
Becoming a Crew Member in a fast-food restaurant requires an application, an interview, and sometimes a short paid shift (2-3 hours) to see if you’re a good fit for the job and company. After that, training is provided on the job, and career progression is always possible within larger chain fast-food restaurants.
With some experience and an aptitude for the job, when a position becomes available, either in your restaurant, somewhere else, or an exciting new Crew Member mission through Brigad, it’s time to take the next step in your career.
How to be a good Crew Member ?
Crew Members who do well turn up on time, work hard, pay attention to detail, follow the guidelines for every order they prepare and serve, have excellent customer service, and help their colleagues whenever possible.
Being a good team player is a valuable skill when working as a Crew Member, especially if you want to get promoted.
What career progression is Possible for a Crew Member ?
As a Crew Member, it gives you an entry-level foot in the door for the entire restaurant and hospitality industry. For those who want to progress further in this career path, there are dozens of possibilities, either in fast food or to move into kitchen roles in restaurants, such as training to become an Assistant Chef or Line Cook and work your way up.
Other opportunities include becoming a Waiter or Waitress in a restaurant, a Food Runner, or maybe a Mixologist (with the right training) or bar staff. All of these roles could lead to better-paid and highly-valuable management roles, such as Bar Manager, Restaurant Manager, front-of-house, or culinary roles, such as becoming a Sous Chef, Chef de Partie, and even Head Chef.
Opportunities are endless at this point in your career, and Brigad could open doors that will help you take the next step.
UK Crew Member salary ranges
The Crew Member salary in the UK is fairly standard nationwide, although later shifts, overtime work, and those living and working in London do get paid slightly more, as do those on National Living Wage compared to Minimum Wage.
On average, Crew Members can earn anywhere from £17,000 to £21,000.
The Latest Offers for Crew Members across London and the UK
If you're a Crew Member seeking short-term employment and flexibility, follow these three simple steps to begin receiving mission proposals:
- Register as self-employed Crew Member before signing up for Brigad.
- Download the app and sign up in minutes; it's free, and there's no commitment required.
- Create and personalize your profile to start receiving mission proposals. You're free to decide whether to accept or decline them.
How to Become a Self-employed Crew Member?
Self-employment is becoming increasingly popular in the hospitality industry. Going self-employed as a Crew Member is easier than you’d think.
It takes less than 15 minutes to get registered as a sole trader with HMRC. You might need a bookkeeper to work out your taxes and pay as you earn (PAYE), although it’s worth checking minimum earning thresholds first. After that, you’re all set, with the ability to earn more on your terms and take more flexible control of your career.
How to find a Crew Member with Brigad ?
Hiring qualified crew members is essential to maintaining the level of service that customers anticipate from well-established and reputable brands.
Looking to hire crew members? To find a qualified Crew Members with the Brigad app, 3 steps are sufficient:
- Create an account on the Brigad app or website (free registration and no commitment)
- Set up your missions in a few clicks specify the required skills, dress code, equipment, duration, payment method, and more.
- Submit your mission and let the algorithm handle the rest!
Once you set up a mission, it's sent to Crew Members with the relevant skills in your area.
When a talent accepts, you'll be notified and can then connect with them directly.
All Crew Members undergo a strict vetting process to ensure the best match.
UK companies that are hiring Crew Members using Brigad App
Trusted by over 10,000 businesses to reinforce their teams, Brigad is widely used by both large groups and independent businesses in every sector of the hospitality industry.
The platform offers a connection with thousands of highly qualified, self-employed hospitality professionals such as Crew Members.