Friday, December 27, 2024
One of the great faults of restaurants and servers is the end of the meal. Guests come in and have a great time. They love the ambience. They love the cocktails and wine. They think that the food is great. They finish one of your lovely desserts and then they ask for the bill. And for some reason, this is when the server drops the ball. They may have moved on to other tables. Decided that now is a good time to chat with other staff in the hallway, or check their text messages. In the meantime, the guest waits. And waits. And waits. Finally they either ask for help from someone else or the server wanders by again and they get things taken care of. At this point the guest signs the credit card slip and leaves. But their last impression of the experience is that it took them forever to get the bill and get out.
It happens all of the time. It would seem that servers would want to finish tables to get them turned for the next guests who are also going to give them a tip, but for whatever reason there is generally a lack of follow-through. The perfect scenario for me when I was a server was to present the bill, immediately take care of the credit card, and then hand it back to the individual paying the bill and thank them for coming in and if they came back again, please ask for me. It was ripe in their mind how well the meal and the service had been handled and they were feeling good about the experience and they immediately went to fill in the gratuity line with a positive feeling. The longer they wait to get those things resolved, the smaller the gratuity can become.
As a manager, I am constantly looking for guests who have their credit cards in a check presenter and asking if I can get that taken care of for them. Sometimes, they have already signed the slip which I cannot see. Then it gives me the chance to thank them as a manager for coming in and ask if they found everything satisfactory and if they wanted me to work on anything before the next time that they are in. It is the perfect time to get some really good feedback. And if the waitlist line is long, I deliver my “Thanks for coming, have a great night and we look forward to seeing you again”. This reminds them that the dining experience is over and subtly says that you need them to leave so you can seat the next guests. And if things are not busy, you can get a measure of how things are going by their responses.
We spend a lot of time training our servers to perfect the greet, the introduction of the menu and the mechanics of the meal. But we forget to teach them how to end the evening on a positive note. When the guest is done and ready to go, take care of the last details of the business and move them on their way. Do it with a smile and a thank you, and they’ll come back again and again.
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Father of Five , married to the love of his life for over 40 years and a business Card that reads; “The Idea Guy”, Steve lives in a world of creativity. He attended the University of Maryland where he majored in mass communications that help to fuel that creative streak. His Foray into Hospitality and his creative ideas and concepts has allowed him to have fun all of his professional career. He has owned five award winning restaurants and that has fueled his passion for “thinking out side of the box”. His restaurants have received accolades including “Top 100 in America” and Steve was named the State of Maryland’s “Restaurateur of the Year”. Steve has a passion for Philanthropy and his Restaurant Group has helped to raise over 7 Million Dollars for Charities. He is passionate about writing, public speaking and Maine Lobster with drawn butter.