Host Hacks: How to Seat Restaurant Sections

Host Hacks: How to Seat Restaurant Sections

by | Jun 8, 2016 | Career

Hosts are responsible for providing customers with a great first impression of the restaurant but also have to organize the seating flow. This can be challenging because seating restaurant sections means not only satisfying customer requests but also servers. The pressure-filled job takes skill and adaptability, but these hacks can help!

Talk to your servers

This may sound lame, but trust me when I tell you that communication solves many problems. Talking with your servers helps gauge how they’re feeling that night—are they interested in a section full of 2-tops with high turnover?

Same goes for seating; if you know you’ll have to seat guests in an already busy section, give the server a heads up. Let him or her know what the situation is, and if they need a hand, they can ask another server to cover the table.

Whatever the case may be, you’ll find a happier team overall when you’re able to accommodate as many preferences as possible.

Rotate sections

As much as possible, rotate the sections in which you seat customers. For example, in a restaurant that has four servers, this ensures that each server gets one of every four tables.

This technique also guarantees the best possible service for each and every table, as no one server is overloaded with new tables at the same time. In an ideal situation, no two tables in any one server section should be at the same place in the “meal cycle” (e.g. no two tables are putting in their drink or appetizer order or need clearing at exactly the same time).

Keep track of tables

As a host or hostess, it’s crucial that you keep track of which tables are occupied and where each one is in the meal cycle so you know how long they will continue to be occupied. This is important for seating new customers and walk-ins.

It can be tricky though especially if you don’t have a good view of the section. If this is the case, be sure to do a lap every once and awhile (after asking someone to look over the host stand while you’re away).

Pro-tip: When you notice guests leaving, find out what section they were seated in so you know the flow.

Be fair and flexible

Just because you know one of the servers can handle three ten-tops doesn’t mean you should load them up at the expense of the other servers. Same goes for the servers you dislike; even though they may not be your best friends, you should still treat them fairly.

Nothing breeds internal discontent faster than the appearance of favoritism, or revenge.

If a particular section has been rough to seat (maybe it’s a slow lunch hour and all of your guests want to sit in booths), then ask your servers if someone else wants to cover a table in that section. Your server with the empty section won’t be bored (or angry) anymore, and the server assigned to the busy section would probably appreciate the help.

Make cuts

Few things are more frustrating to an owner than seeing a lot of staff standing around joking in the service areas or on the patio–or worse, at the host stand. If you clearly have more help than necessary, it’s time to make a cut.

And don’t forget your closing server. If one server’s section is starting to wrap up but they have an empty table you need to seat, find out if your closing server is able to take that table prior to seating your guests. It’ll help prevent any confusion among the staff as to whose table that actually is.

Pro-tip: When it comes to making cuts, I always recommend taking volunteers first (if you’re able to).

You might also like…

Experience Sirvo for yourself

Sign up now to find hospitality jobs and hire top industry talent.

Sign up
Host Hacks: Taking Reservations

Host Hacks: Taking Reservations

by | Jun 1, 2016 | Career

The restaurant host can be one of the most under-appreciated and difficult jobs in the industry. Between juggling information, keeping a multitude of personalities happy, and running each group on a schedule, a good host has a ton to do, and it all depends on a precarious balance that the host has to keep in play.

Being a good host can be learned, though; with some experience, and the help of these host hacks and tips, a host can seamlessly move to up the career ladder. Start today with these tips from the host stand. First up are pro-tips for taking reservations:

Be friendly and accessible

This is the restaurant industry’s golden rule, always: treat people how you would want to be treated. And whether you’re taking reservations remotely or in-person, this is the first step to excelling in your position.

Smile at the diner-to-be (even if you’re on the phone), and start the conversations by asking how can you help. You never want the guest to have to ask to make a reservation. Even if your guest is hoping to dine at an inconvenient time, or has asked for a reservation last-minute, you should be accommodating and patient.

Remember, you are the restaurant’s first impression, so you want to make it a good one!

Be knowledgeable about guests

Aside from asking guests when they’d like to dine and how many are in their party, you’ll want to get some background information as well. Not only will it impress guests but also be very helpful to the servers and kitchen staff. Some items ask about when taking reservations:

  • Dietary restrictions (vegan, gluten-free, peanut allergies?)
  • Table preference
  • Size of the group
  • Contact details
  • Time and date of reservation

An important note about the final point above, be sure to very nicely suggest an alternate time if the requested time is unavailable; you could easily lose business by letting this opportunity pass!

Be organized

With so much going on, you’ll definitely want to have an organization system in place so you can balance the many guests, servers and tables without losing your cool. This way, when last-minute guests do come in, you’ll be able to adjust for them easily.

Be sure to have a chart of all the servers on duty and keep track of their tables and guests throughout the night so that you don’t seat walk-ins in a busy section. This information will also be useful if a table is not turning over; you’ll know how to reorganize and where to seat the next round of diners.

Your restaurant should have a digital reservation system, but if they don’t, be sure to make note of all reservations on a physical form somewhere; the brain isn’t made to remember too many various details by itself!

Always know when someone arrives

With in-person reservations and guests alike, you need to always be accessible, and on top of your game. One key element, which can seem very small, is to acknowledge each person as they enter the restaurant, especially someone without an existing reservation.

Be sure that each person feels special, and that their reason for entering is addressed quickly and thoughtfully.

Not only will you make people happy right at the start of their dining experience, but you’ll cut down on walk-outs by being present and engaged with everyone.

These quick tips on success at the host stand will help you to stand out and improve the experience for diners, too. You’ll find that you can go far when you follow these hacks on taking reservations and be sure to check back for more host hacks coming in the next few weeks.

If you’re currently looking for a host job, click here to search Sirvo jobs and employers →

Getting ServSafe Certified As Efficiently As Possible

Getting ServSafe Certified As Efficiently As Possible

by | Mar 16, 2016 | Business Toolkit, Management

Food and beverage safety is the number one priority when running a restaurant, especially a successful one. That means making sure your managers, service staff and bar staff are trained and that their certifications stay up-to-date.

Enter ServSafe, the most popular food and beverage safety training program in the industry. Accepted in every state, it’s the obvious choice in terms of training resources. Now, you just have to figure out when and how to make sure your employees get ServSafe certified and that’s where we come in…

Here are the pro-tips to ensure your staff has all the training they need:

Create a schedule for everyone to get certified routinely

The ServSafe certificate is good for 5 years. In addition, many states mandate that you get re-certified once every certain number of years. For instance, California wants recertification once every 5 years, in Utah it is every 3 years, and Alaska is every 5 years.

No one expects you to keep track of all your employees hire-dates in your head, so have a schedule up in your break room that shows re-certification dates by hire date. For instance, if you hired 3 people in 2014, all three get a training day together in 2017.

Pro-tip: Make sure managers are also on the schedule, since many states (Rhode Island and California, for instance) mandate that a manager certified in safe food handling is always on site when food is being prepared.

Let technology be your friend

ServSafe has online courses that allow employees to take classes in the comfort of the break room or their own living rooms. Online courses make it easy to get new hires certified quickly and lets you work around everyone’s busy schedules.

To make things even more convenient, you can request eCertificates.

Students can request that the PDF file of the certificate be emailed to them immediately after they pass the exam, which means that you can have the proof of their training displayed right away.

Get all your certificates at once

ServSafe certifies in food safety for managers, food safety for food handlers, responsible alcohol serving, and allergen safety. Their website also has links to National Restaurant Association programs for food management professionals.

Line everything up at once so you don’t have to keep track of different expiration dates and which certificates you are missing.

Make sure everyone passes the first time by offering study help

Honestly, some people don’t take tests well. They may be fantastic Chefs and Managers, with sterling records regarding safety and sanitation, but they have a hard time taking notes or they freeze at the word ‘exam.’

Remind your staff that if anyone needs a little assistance in note taking or understanding questions, you’re more than willing to help, and that ServSafe has links to quizzes and other study guides.

This way, your world-class employees can spend more time doing their jobs and less time fretting about a test.

Food safety certification is mandatory in most states and counties. These tips will make complying with these regulations easy and efficient, and will keep your establishment focused on producing good food, instead of keeping up with paperwork.

 

The Best Cities for Restaurant Jobs May Surprise You

The Best Cities for Restaurant Jobs May Surprise You

by | Mar 14, 2016 | Career

When it comes to finding jobs in the restaurant industry, the grass is always greener in the next city over. However, the places you think of as restaurant meccas may not be the ones you want to pack up and move to.

We’ve compiled a list of cities that we think are the best places for various career paths, factoring in the local restaurant scene, job market, rent, regional economy, state minimum wage for tipped workers, and the average resident’s spending habits. The results included some unexpected winners…

Best city for Servers: Seattle, WA.

Minimum wage for tipped workers in Washington is a staggering $9.47. That’s more than you would earn in California or New York, and, unlike both cities, in Seattle you might find a decent apartment for under $1000 a month! Seattle also has a vibrant restaurant and bar scene; it’s famous for its seafood, but every kind of cuisine is represented.

Best city for Bartenders: Las Vegas, NV.

This one is probably less of a surprise. Minimum wage in Nevada is above average – $7.25 for those who claim health benefits, $8.25 for those who don’t- and in the tourist haven of Las Vegas, you can expect generous tips.

The median amount a Bartender takes home $22 an hour in Sin City.

That goes pretty far in a town where a fair-sized one-bedroom apartment might cost $700 a month. Between its thriving bar scene and its famous casinos, Las Vegas always needs Bartenders, so landing a job, at least, isn’t much of a gamble.

Best city for Cooks and Chefs: Boston, MA.

Minimum wage is only $3.00 in Massachusetts, but the job market favors Chefs and Cooks in the foodie hub of Boston. The median cook can expect to take home $14.40 an hour. In Boston, as in most cities, Cooks make less than a dollar an hour in tips.

Boston’s rent, more than that of most cities, varies wildly by neighborhood, but generally stays under $1000 for a one-bedroom apartment.

Best city to find your first restaurant job: Austin, TX.

It’s true that Texas’ minimum wage is a measly $2.80. However, with unemployment at 3%, Austin’s job market couldn’t be much tighter, driving wages up along with beginning workers’ prospects.

In fact, Austin’s restaurant industry is the fastest-growing in the city.

The city is known for Tex-Mex and southern barbecue, but fine dining and international cuisines are on the rise. Best of all, rent is fairly low, usually around $800 or $900 for a one-bedroom apartment.

Best city to start a restaurant: Buffalo, NY.

If you’ve never been to Buffalo, you might picture it as a crumbling ex-factory town under several feet of snow. You would be right about the snow, but in recent years the former shipping hub has been going through an economic boom, beginning with its restaurants.

One in seventeen Buffalonians works in a restaurant and the city boasts no fewer than five farmers markets, but wages and property values are still relatively low. So if you want the lowest possible starting cost with the largest possible clientele, perhaps you want to learn to make beef on weck.

 

 

LOOKING FOR A JOB IN THE RESTAURANT INDUSTRY?

Find top industry jobs on Sirvo →

 

 

DiningOut, Sirvo Debut Local Restaurant Job Postings

DiningOut, Sirvo Debut Local Restaurant Job Postings

by | Mar 8, 2016 | Sirvo Stories

We’re very excited to announce DiningOut as our new media partner! This partnership will allow us to provide our users with even more news and updates about the restaurant industry, and give DiningOut readers easy access to open jobs in the industry. With our new public API and WordPress plugin, all of Sirvo’s job postings are displayed and searchable directly on DiningOut.com. We think this is a double win for those looking for restaurant jobs in the Denver/Boulder area and businesses hiring on Sirvo.

As of Tuesday, March 1st, restaurant job postings based in the Denver-Boulder area appear on DiningOut’s site here: http://diningout.com/denverboulder/sirvo-job-search/#/

We’re also collaborating with DiningOut to create more content for members of the industry, such as posts about the best local restaurant companies to work for, round-ups of awesome Denver restaurant jobs, and insider tips and tricks. Stay tuned for this content on our site under “IndiNews”

For more information, visit http://diningout.com/denverboulder/denver-restaurant-jobs/.

 

sirvo-diningout-jobs

 

About DiningOut

Since 1998, DiningOut has been bringing you the best of the Denver/Boulder culinary scene with stories, interviews, and recipes from the best restaurants in Denver, Boulder, and beyond. DiningOut publishes two issues annually in the winter and early summer, and tracks breaking news on its website (diningout.com/denverboulder) daily.

 

About Sirvo

Sirvo, named “Best New Startup 2015,” is a modern web app for hospitality recruitment. Sirvo helps better connect employers and job seekers by providing easy access to business and talent profiles, powerful search, as well as collaborative hiring tools for a smooth, streamlined hiring process.