Your wait staff is the most important part of your restaurants sales. A great wait staff knows what to do and can produce, squeezing every cent possible from your hungry customers. There are several very important things that your servers must know in order to help your restaurant succeed. Without this knowledge, you could lose vital business and the entire days sales could be in jeopardy. A successful wait staff will work as a team to make sure that every customer\’s needs are satisfied. They support each other and are a highly productive team. Here are some of the vital skills and knowledge these employees possess.

The First Line of Service

The host is a vital cog in the wait staff team. He or she is the first person with whom the customer will see and interact. When you are extremely busy, the host must be creative and try to keep the waiting customers from leaving. Once a customer walks out the door without being served, it could be the last time they ever visit. A good host will escort waiting customers to the bar or waiting area. If the wait becomes longer than expected, they should chat the customer up and offer free amenities in the form of cocktails or appetizers. The host is very knowledgeable with the menu and can answer any question posed by the waiting customer.

New Employees Are Trained Well

New wait staff employees are encouraged to learn the menu. The term knowledge is power applies here as the new server has more power to keep customers happy by being prepared with knowledgeable answers from the menu. Keeping extra menus for the new employee to take home and study is a great way to help them be prepared. Many restaurants help out by preparing a question and answer quiz of some of the most common questions their customers ask.

Proper Seating Is Vital

The host must be able to keep track of where customers are being seated so that no one station is overloaded and no servers on duty have too much or too little to do. An even spread of customers over all available work stations keeps productivity high and helps resolve seating issue before the restaurant experiences unexpected crowds. The seating allotment register is an excellent tool to help the new host keep track.

Cross Training Pays Dividends

Wait staff personnel are willing to cross train so that in a situation where the staff is short, any member of the team can pinch hit for another. A great team knows that their services could be needed at any position, at any given time, and are ready and willing to perform those duties at a high level of production. They also understand the food inventory process and are always alert to waste and serving mistakes.

Teamwork

An excellent wait staff is a team that is willing to help each other out when the restaurant is busy. Even the best server can get behind if they have the right combination of customers seated at their stations. Each server has their station to cover but also realize that the entire floor is important for the overall success of their restaurant. When you have an excellent team of wait staff personnel, you have a team that can work in any combination and under any circumstances. Count yourself a lucky restaurant owner or manager.

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Category: Cooking
Keywords: manager,staff employees ,customers,Restaurant,restaurants sales,Wait Staff