diff --git a/servers/puppet/modules/humbug/files/supervisord/conf.d/humbug.conf b/servers/puppet/modules/humbug/files/supervisord/conf.d/humbug.conf
index e472c3bcda..26076d3275 100644
--- a/servers/puppet/modules/humbug/files/supervisord/conf.d/humbug.conf
+++ b/servers/puppet/modules/humbug/files/supervisord/conf.d/humbug.conf
@@ -103,8 +103,11 @@ directory=/home/humbug/humbug/
 ; create one or more 'real' group: sections to create "heterogeneous"
 ; process groups.
 
-[group:humbug]
-programs=humbug-django-fcgi,humbug-tornado,humbug-events-user-activity,humbug-events-subscribe-new-users,humbug-events-confirmation-emails,humbug-events-missedmessage_reminders  ; each refers to 'x' in [program:x] definitions
+[group:humbug-web]
+programs=humbug-django-fcgi,humbug-tornado  ; each refers to 'x' in [program:x] definitions
+
+[group:humbug-workers]
+programs=humbug-events-user-activity,humbug-events-subscribe-new-users,humbug-events-confirmation-emails,humbug-events-missedmessage_reminders  ; each refers to 'x' in [program:x] definitions
 
 ; The [include] section can just contain the "files" setting.  This
 ; setting can list multiple files (separated by whitespace or
diff --git a/tools/restart-server b/tools/restart-server
index 04f2d80f4a..5451dc59f6 100755
--- a/tools/restart-server
+++ b/tools/restart-server
@@ -21,9 +21,13 @@ os.chdir("/home/humbug/humbug-deployments/current")
 # Send a statsd event on restarting the server
 subprocess.check_call(["python", "./manage.py", "send_stats", "incr", "events.server_restart", str(int(time.time()))])
 
-# Restart the FastCGI and related processes via supervisorctl
+# Restart the FastCGI and related processes via supervisorctl.  We
+# minimize downtime by restarting Django and Tornado separately from
+# the other worker processes.
 logging.info("Killing daemons")
-subprocess.check_call(["supervisorctl", "restart", "humbug:*"])
+subprocess.check_call(["supervisorctl", "stop",    "humbug-workers:*"])
+subprocess.check_call(["supervisorctl", "restart", "humbug-web:*"])
+subprocess.check_call(["supervisorctl", "start",   "humbug-workers:*"])
 
 logging.info("Flushing memcached")
 try: