Customers You Meet as a Server

Customers You Meet as a Server

by | May 18, 2016 | Career

If there’s one universal truth amongst waitstaff no matter when or where you work: there are certain types of customers that you’ll always encounter when serving.

Some of these customers are amazing, the kind of customers that you’ll want to get all the time. Some of these customers are horrific and hope to never see again. And still other customers who are absolutely hilarious, the kind that you simply have to tell anyone and everyone about, and the kind that you’ll share stories about on various waitstaff websites.

Here’s a breakdown of the customers you’ll meet while serving: the best, and the worst!

The Customer Who’s In a Rush

These kinds of customers can go one of two ways: they can request their food, leave in a hurry, and give you a big tip for being so efficient or they can request their food, leave in a hurry, and give you a small tip because you didn’t bring out their food fast enough.

Do these customers not realize that you don’t control the kitchen? Probably not…

When it comes to customers like this, one of the easiest ways to tip the scales in your favor is to gently remind them that you are there to serve them and that you’ll do your best to make sure their food gets out in time, but you don’t have absolute control over the kitchen.

Pro-tip: If the customer is amenable to suggestions, perhaps you can suggest a dish that doesn’t take as long to prepare.

The Laidback Customer

One of the easiest types of customers you’ll serve, the laidback customer is a simple orderer, easy to please, and an eat-pay-leave kind of person.

They understand the purpose of servers: to take your order, get your drinks and food, and make sure the experience is pleasant.

This is why they’ll need no special accommodations and likely won’t be rude or difficult. It’s likely that they have worked in the food industry and relate to the job.

The Splitter

These kinds of customers usually pop up when as a large party. They’re the kind of customers that want to split the check into many different parts…down to the penny. (How dare you charge them for an extra basket of bread?)

One of the easiest ways to appease these kinds of customers early on is to ask if the check is separate before you take the order.

Pro-tip: Another option is to make sure that you make careful notes about what each customer ordered, so that when they ask to split the check, you can do so with ease.

The Customers with Bratty Children

It’s inevitable that you will get customers with unmannered (or spoiled) children who have no idea how to behave in even the simplest of civilized ways.

Whether it’s the parents of a child who simply must run everywhere throughout the restaurant or who simply will not stop screaming, you’re going to have a huge challenge on your hands.

That said, the easiest way to deal with this kind of customer (and to get the huge tip you certainly deserve) is to appease the child.

Try to engage the child, talk to him/her in such a way that s/he feels included in the restaurant process, and encourage good behavior with a special treat.

The Regular

This is perhaps the best kind of customer you’ll ever serve. They’re the customer that not only knows the menu but also knows what to expect when frequenting your restaurant. From service to timing, there will be no surprises.

The regulars will also treat you with respect, and tip you well.

Pro-tip: If you’re lucky enough to get this kind of customer, hold on to him/her for dear life!

 

There you have it; the customers you’re most likely to encounter while serving and how to approach each!

Learn more about customer service here →

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Chefs Weigh In On Responding To Yelpers

Chefs Weigh In On Responding To Yelpers

by | Apr 22, 2016 | IndiNews

From the Angry Chef (AKA Atlanta Chef Ron Eyester) taking to Twitter to share his fiery opinions on guest complaints to South Park episode You’re Not Yelping, which mocks Yelpers for their self-importance, it’s fair to say that the Yelp reviewer backlash is nowhere near its end. In fact, more recently, Mark Nery, owner and chef of Denver restaurant Onefold, got some attention for his snarky response to Yelp reviews.

So with the fire obviously still burning hot, DiningOut.com decided to ask their Chef Panel how they respond to Yelp reviews. Here’s a look at they said.

Brandon Foster
Vesta Dipping Grill

“At Vesta, we like to take a proactive approach to both good and bad reviews. With different online forums, we have different abilities to respond, depending on if they leave contact information or not. Any time there is something great or poor, we try to take the time to respond directly to the guests. Especially when we feel that someone has truly had an unpleasant time, was disappointed with something, or even just not thrilled with the entire experience, we reach out to address the concerns specifically”

Leslie White
Zeal

“I prefer the sport of trying to turn them around. It doesn’t always work, but it’s more enjoyable than getting all fired up and hitting them back. I look at that as dropping to their level of emotional IQ, and why dumb yourself down on purpose?”

Tony Zarlenga
Cafe Brazil

“Accept them for what they are and take the higher road”.

Justin Cucci
Edible Beats

“Edible Beats has a simple philosophy: all Yelp reviews (or any online reviews for that matter) should be responded to—good, bad, and indifferent. To be able to connect with Yelpers … allows us to communicate hospitality after the guest has left the restaurant. Even if we messed up their experience when they were at one of the restaurants, we’re hungry to win them back and exceed their expectations—sometimes a simple email to a Yelp reviewer does just that.”

Aniedra Nichols
Fish N Beer

“You should respond to a bad Yelp review with class. They already showed their hand by talking on Yelp. Therefore, there is no need to be defensive or lash out with backhanded compliments and gratitude.”

Pam Proto
Proto’s

“It would be better and more productive if customers voiced their displeasure at the time of service and not waited to get home and send ranting emails filled with bad grammar at two in the morning. We have empowered our staff to deal with issues as they come up.”

Check out what the rest of the DO Chef Panel has to say about responding to Yelpers on DiningOut.com→

Management Hacks: Customer Service

Management Hacks: Customer Service

by | Jan 20, 2016 | Business Toolkit, Management

As a business owner or manager, it’s your job to make sure your customers have positive experiences when they encounter any issues with your company. Whether you run a restaurant, hotel, or software company, you can, and should, provide amazing customer service that will keep customers coming back. To do that, you need to make sure amazing customer service is a top priority.

The importance of customer service

Many believe customer service is hard to quantify because it depends on relationships. That’s actually not the case. The quality of your customer service is directly connected to your company’s bottom-line.

If you have great service, customers are more likely to continue using your company’s services, even if they have to pay more.

In fact, there’s a significant amount of proof that the quality of customer service is often a deciding factor for customers. These are just a few of the stats that show just how important customer service is:

In the end, great customer service can differentiate you from competitors, help you retain customers, and encourage customers to pay premium for your offerings. Plus, if you run a restaurant, customer service ties into the sorts of reviews you get on sites like Yelp, as well.

The breakdown of customer service

No matter the business or team within the business, customer service is made up of the same components: the processes you have in place, the tone you use with customers, the content you provide to help customers, and the measurement of how well you’re doing. Let’s take a look at each.

Utilize processes

Even if you have the best intentions, disorganization ruins customer service. Thankfully, it doesn’t have to. This is where processes come into the picture.

When managing employees and delegating responsibilities that relate to customer service, you need to have processes in play so that your team knows exactly how to interact with customers and handle problems should they arrise. This includes specifying who is responsible for each task, how your staff is held accountable for their duties, the chain of command, and how to proceed when customer service issues come up.

For example, if I’m managing a restaurant’s service staff, I would have a clearly defined process for set-up, service, and take-down, as well as for problem situations. This way, everyone is on the same page about what they’re doing and how to treat customers and their complaints should they have any.

Don’t forget tone

No matter how clear your customer service processes are and how closely they’re followed, if an innapropriate tone (irritated, nonchalant, angry) is used with a customer, nothing else will matter because tone is heard before the actual words. So much so that sometimes it’s the subtleties that make the big difference.

For example, the following two messages say exactly the same thing, but vary greatly in how they come across:

Tone 1: Dear Sir, thank you for your inquiry. You will receive a message from us shortly.

Tone 2: Yo. Yeah sure. We’ll hit you up.

The latter may not go over so well if the call was in regards to setting up a reservation at a restaurant. The customers are likely to go elsewhere because, from the tone, they pervieced there would be no follow up.

Instruct your staff on how to speak to different types of customers and in varying situations. This will ensure that the message is being heard as it should.

Measure success with sentiment

Customer service isn’t any good if you’re not measuring it. You need to know whether or not it’s working, and if it isn’t, what needs to change. This can only be done with feedback. At all times, you need to be checking in to make sure that your staff is performing well and that your customers are happy with the service they’re getting.

There are a number of ways you can do this:

  • Speak to customers while they’re in house. Walking around tables and asking how everything is going can be a good starting point.
  • Collect customer surveys using survey cards or by way of a digital platfrom such as Survey Monkey. To increase response rate, try including an incentive for giving feedback.
  • Look to Yelp reviews, Google reviews, Angie’s List reviews, and other review sites.

Amazing customer service can make all the difference. Great service is about a lot more than business– it’s about fostering relationships with your customers that are long-lasting and mutually beneficial. As a leader within the business, it’s your job to make sure your company is doing all it can to provides experiences that delights your customers, exceeding their expectations with every interaction.

Find out more about customer service →

What NOT To Say To Your Bartender

What NOT To Say To Your Bartender

by | Dec 25, 2015 | IndiNews

You’re in a bar, maybe celebrating the weekend or just blowing off some steam, but you’re not enjoying yourself because you’re getting the cold shoulder from the bartender. Maybe it’s them, but probably not. What’s more likely is that your etiquette is lacking, so what to do?

Well, if you want a drink, then DON’T…

1. Fail to have your money ready

We’re waiting on you. Everyone else is waiting on us. Therefore, by the Transitive Property of Equality, everyone is waiting on you. Rule #1: Have your stuff together. Not only will following Rule #1 get you served quicker in a bar, it’s a good general rule to adopt in life. All about efficiency, people.

2. Put pennies and nickels in the tip jar

We don’t want that crap in our pockets any more than you do. We don’t have anything smaller than quarters. Have you ever ordered a drink that cost $3.17?

3. Wave money

Oh, you’ve got a dollar! So does the guy next to you.

4. Give the ever-expanding drink order

You want a Bud. I go get it. I come back and now you want a Margarita. Okay, no prob. I come back, and (oh yeah!) now you want a shot of Tequila, too. You really could have told us this all at once. See Rule #1.

5. Say “make it strong!” or “put a lot of liquor in it”

Are you one of those rare people at bars who like their drinks “strong?” When you say this, it’s like you’re assuming I make weak drinks (which is insulting) and you’re assuming that I’ll stiffen this one up for my new best buddy, you. This is the best way to get a weak drink.

6. Yell out the bartender’s first name

There’s something unnerving about hearing your name called out, turning around and seeing a complete stranger. That’s one of the reasons strippers use stage names. Bartenders do too. Mine is Pixie.

7. Whistle. Just don’t.

You whistle at dogs, not people.

8. Assume we know you’re in the band

We know, we know, you’re gonna be really famous, but you’re not there yet, tiger. Tell us you’re in the band and which band you’re in…chances are we’ll have something to talk about. If you act like a pretentious ass, then we definitely won’t. Capiche?

9. Assume we know you. Period.

Unless you’ve followed the first “Do” rule below, we don’t remember you. You are one of a thousand faces for us, and when you point at an empty glass or a beer bottle that’s invariably facing away from us, your attempt at a shortcut backfires. Please just tell us what you want.

10. Apologize for sucking

Don’t apologize for not tipping. Acknowledging that you suck is not the same as not sucking. Oh, and don’t say “I’ll get ya next time.” We know all about you.

11. Be “The Microbrew Aficionado”

Usually a pseudo-hippy who can’t tip a quarter but can’t bring himself to drink “schwag,” and who has to sample some new berry-wheat-harvest-ale that he heard about at Burning Man. “Do you have the new Vernal-Equinox Special Welcome-Fest?” “Does Anyone?” Here’s your Newcastle. Go.

12. Assume soft drinks are free

Are they free at McDonald’s? Are they free at Wal-Mart? Are they free anywhere? I blame M.A.D.D. for this myth.

13. Ask me to charge your phone behind the bar

Every bartender is different about this, but if they’re busy no one wants to deal with your technology. Also, if you drink too much and leave your phone you’re going to have a bad morning. And no bartender wants you to have a bad morning.

Source: Distractify

Keys To Customer Service In The Restaurant Industry

Keys To Customer Service In The Restaurant Industry

by | Nov 23, 2015 | Management

The truth is that service is not really a transactional act, and therefore, it can’t be given. Service is a byproduct of consistently executing the other key processes that make a business successful—like hiring right, training well, suggestive selling and practicing servant leadership.

Hospitality or Customer Service?

Most restaurant owners and their customer-facing team members confuse service with hospitality, but they’re different: Service fulfills a need, but hospitality fulfills people. You can get service from an ATM or a vending machine, but you can’t get hospitality. Hospitality is the key deliverable that distinguishes great food service operations from average retail ones.

“Service fulfills a need, but hospitality fulfills people.”

For instance, if you buy a vacuum cleaner at a store—no matter how hard you looked for someone to help you, or how you were treated by the employees—you still have a vacuum cleaner when you get home. So even if there was no discernible service accompanying the purchase, you still have a tangible something after the transaction.

But when you patronize a restaurant, what do you have after you eat? Only memories. While menu, value, décor and cleanliness all play a part, it’s service and hospitality that makes that memory positive and drives customer loyalty and repeat business.

The Core of Great Customer Service

So what are the key drivers of customer satisfaction? Here are the three basics that every industry, not just the food industry, should follow.

1. Focus on ROC, not ROI
Repeat business is the linchpin of profitability in any successful business. Everyone is familiar with ROI, but a lesser-known and more critical metric is ROC—Return of Customer. “Will you come back?” and “Would you tell your friends to try us?” are the two most important questions relative to the customer experience. If the answer is yes to both, you’ve delivered on expectations and achieved ROC. If not, you haven’t. It’s that simple.

2. Hire Great People
Repeat business will always be dependent on the weakest people you allow on your teams. Make your customers’ experience consistently exceptional by hiring and developing great people. When you hire great people—despite the cost, despite the effort, despite the commitment—great things always happen. Compete first for talent, then customers.

When you hire great people—despite the cost, despite the effort, despite the commitment—great things always happen.

3. Consistency Is Key
Know what customers hate about patronizing your business? Inconsistency in quality, service, speed and accuracy. So when customer service problems reoccur in your business—before you blame your people—evaluate the likelihood of a short-circuit in a system or process. Bad service issues routinely arise when you hurry-hire the wrong people, cleanliness isn’t a priority, an understaffed or undertrained team messes up orders, or inefficient scheduling causes you to be short a server at peak hours. This makes customer-facing team members stressed, swamped and snippy, so they smile, serve and ultimately sell less.

Habitually consistent good service is the result of systems that:

  1. Foster a caring culture
  2. Make positivity and fun part of the core business practices
  3. Educate and encourage teams daily to be better than they were yesterday

Don’t forget that excellent service begins with leadership and the notion that, “My customer is anyone who isn’t me.” The fact is that the way you treat your team members determines how they’ll treat your customers. Model the way, every day. Apply constant, gentle pressure every day to improve.

Restaurant operators are stewards of special moments in customers’ lives. The food service industry’s shared goal of giving care and sustenance to strangers and regulars alike as part of our business model is what sets us apart from retail and manufacturers. Service is our invisible product.

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