Improving Professionalism
Here at Waitersfriend we perceive good service as paramount to a good dining experience. Good service doesn’t necessarily mean fine dining standards. It just means that the waiter or waitress or manager is constantly alert to the needs of the customer. Good service involves taking pride in your job and knowing that the way in which a customer perceives you as a waiter, will almost certainly affect their perception of the establishment you work in or own. This, in turn, affects bums on seats and word of mouth advertising.
There are two necessary ingredients in the making of a good waiter. One compliments the other. They are the practical abilities for the job (these can be taught) and the ability to read, understand and react appropriately to varying personalities.
Some have the service personality and some do not. If you don’t have it, don’t force yourself into a hospitality career because you will end up stabbing someone with a soup spoon or turning to the bottle. If you do have the intestinal fortitude to pursue hospitality, there are a few things that can be tweaked to help transform you into an excellent waiter and/or manager. The practical side we will focus on later but for now let’s have a look at how you are perceived by the customer and ways you can improve this rapport.
It can definitely be a hard gig trying to relate to fifteen or twenty tables in one night - each of them brandishing their own unique personalities. However, as with anything, it does get easier with experience. You will learn to recognise the VIP (yes sir, no sir), the intimidated (go easy on the upsell), the grandparents (they see you as their grandson, so do your job and they will love you), the self centred (they are in control, empower them and don’t try to befriend them), the easy going (no worries!), the eccentric (laugh at their jokes), and the ‘foodie’ (know your menu, cos they will ask you questions, cos they know all about it). I know for a fact that the more you know about the food or the wine list or the cocktails or the glassware or the footy or the weather, the more respect you will receive from the guest. This drastically minimises the number of dickheads you may come across due to the fact that they immediately see you as a professional in your establishment as opposed to a jaded waiter doing the job because you have no other options in life.
So, waiters - ask questions of your superiors, be inquisitive about every aspect of a dish - How is the sauce made? Where is the fish from? Why is the beef called wagyu? What is the difference between the oysters? Learn the best wine matches for each particular dish and why. Research about that new single malt that has just appeared in the bar. Knowing the answer to all of these questions and more will allow you to pre-empt the customer and be able to respond immediately in the heat of service, rather than doing the long walk to the kitchen to find out who grows the beans and whether they are organic. People have a knack of asking the most obscure questions when you really do not need it, but that is when our ‘hospitality’ personality comes out and immediately finds the correct answer for them, with a smile. Don’t make up an answer, you will just look like a goose and feel like foie gras.
Managers - vice versa, ask questions of your waiters - day in, day out. If they don’t know the answer, be a leader and take them through it and help them. At the end of the day, the professionalism of your staff reflects on you. So be a sounding board for your staff, in order for them to always know they can come to you for the answer to any question - if you don’t know the answer you will find it, and at the same time learn something yourself.
Doing these things will expand the knowledge of all staff members, and enhance the customers perception of your restaurant or cafe. Thus allowing the staff more time to be alert to the needs of the customer and produce good service and also empowering the staff to take pride in their job and see themselves as professionals in the hospitality industry.
