Waitersfriend

Saying goodnight is just as important, if not more important, than greeting them when they arrived. It is the last thing they remember about your restaurant.

At lunch you can use a more relaxed tone such as, ‘thanks for coming” but at night a more formal approach like, ‘thankyou, and good night’ will work well.

Don’t forget to return any items such as coats or bags. It is also a good opportunity to hand them any information regarding menu changes or upcoming events.

It is important to remember that the customer must always feel well looked after by you. Saying goodnight has the same [read more...]

2 Comments

You Gotta Know it to Sell it

Feb 6

Why do people go to restaurants or any other eatery?

Most of them do it to get out of the house or away from work, or to entertain (show off to) others. So providing a place where they can come and relax, as well as enjoy good food or beverages while being served by well informed and happy staff is the secret. The staff will make the night and the rest is just filler - which is of course very important, but no matter how satisfying the environment or the food or the wine is - it just isn’t the same if [read more...]

No Comments

Position Numbers

Feb 1

Posted by Shaun Cooper in Blog - Life as a Waiter

The easiest way to look like an absolute professional in the customers eyes is to use position numbers on your tables. This is something generally used in most top end restaurants but there is no reason why it cannot work in any restaurant. It allows food to be taken from the kitchen and delivered to the person who ordered it without standing at the end of the table and screaming, ‘WHO ORDERED THE SPATCHCOCK?’

To make it work, a manager needs to assign a seat on each table that will be called Position 1 - it needs to be a system that [read more...]

17 Comments

Remember Names

Jan 29

A good server should always remember customer names as well as likes and dislikes.

A customer that frequents your venue should be greeted by their name and with respect. It depends on the type of restaurant that you work in whether you call your guest Peter or Mr Jones. The customer feels important when you remember their name and if you can remember where they like to sit or what wine they drink you are in good shape for a healthy dose of that instant gratification thing or even a nice fat tip!

Remember that remembering names is a discipline not a [read more...]

Tags: waiter, waiter resources

6 Comments

Dealing With Customer Complaints

Jan 28

Complaints are an every day occurrence across our industry. Some are justified and others not. The one thing we must accept is that they occur. Dealing with complaints is no different than having good food knowledge or knowing your wine list. It is just another skill all good waiters & managers should have. Once you have knowledge of how to deal with complaints you can take control of them and not take them personally.

When a customer complains, ensure that you listen very carefully, not just with your ears but also with your body language. It is much better to have [read more...]

Tags: Hospitality, waiter resources

5 Comments

Always have a Succession Plan

Jan 13

So we see the year come to an end. With it came Christmas parties, end-of-year get togethers, family catch-ups, general booze ups for the festive season, Christmas carols, holiday celebrations, new years eve parties and any other excuse that all savvy food & beverage outlets could come up with to drive business.

With this extra business of course comes drunken secretaries, booze fuelled labourers, half-pint-Harry’s, intoxicated mums that haven’t drank in 6 months but decided the 3rd glass of champagne was the best choice at the time?, cheesy one-liners and all the other juicy bits that we are privileged to see [read more...]

No Comments

Blowing off Steam

Jan 6

The end of any day signals great relief. You’ve survived another one. Get to the end of the week and the elation is even greater. For most of us, this time of year is the end or close to the end of the crazy season. As we reach each of these milestones and the relief sets in then the calling for some form of release begins.

There should probably be some sort of sliding scale for milestone versus appropriate release, but there’s no way in hell any kind of formula would fit the parameters for blowing off steam. I know I have [read more...]

Tags: Hospitality, waiter

5 Comments

Sommelier

Dec 20

We had an incredibly talented sommelier at the last restaurant I was working at. He was one of the select few in Australia with official recognition as a Sommelier, and he definitely knew his stuff.

He had a thorough knowledge of any wine from pretty much any region around the world and his ability to dissect the wine and match it perfectly to any dish was astounding. Add this to his ability to sell obscure wines from places like Spain and Portugal to the discerning Aussie public (who can be religiously patriotic to their own product), and you can understand why he was a recognised [read more...]

Tags: Hospitality, restaurant, waiter resources

4 Comments

Embarrassing Moments

Dec 9

It goes without saying that each and every one of us in the industry has had an embarrassing moment. I mean we work in the public eye, and only in the public eye apart from the few seconds of respite we manage to sneak when clearing plates in the kitchen. So here are a couple of mine:

Working in a bar of a fine dining restaurant with about five couples scattered around bar tables waiting for their pre dinner cocktails. One of them has ordered a strawberry caiprioska, so I set about muddling the strawbs and lime so they have an element [read more...]

11 Comments

I Like to Eat Cow

Dec 7

A couple of years ago when I was working at a restaurant in Northern New South Wales I had an interesting guest - I assume the first and only time in my past, present and future in hospitality that I will have this request so it kind of sticks out in my mind.

A booked table of eight comes into the restaurant. They all seem pretty normal. I start them off with the usual drinks etc. and begin building the rapport. One guy in particular seems quite jovial and we throw a joke or two back and forth.

Eventually I manage to [read more...]