The ABC’s of Being a Restaurant Employee

The ABC’s of Being a Restaurant Employee

by | Sep 7, 2016 | Career

From job searching to getting along with new coworkers, being a restaurant employee demands dedication, creativity, and a hospitable attitude. The path from the first job application to an experienced employee is long and often rocky, but take heart! The following tips guide you through the whole process: the search, training and continued improvement, interaction with coworkers, and finally interaction with guests.

Job Search ABC’s

  • Assertive: Nothing gets you nothing, so go for what you want and keep after it. Apply for as many positions as possible – we have a ton of great job opportunities on Sirvo!
  • Believable: The best way to appear trustworthy when interviewing for a to be a restaurant employee is to be honest — if you lie, it will become apparent quickly. Need more interviewing tips? Check out how to answer the 5 most common interview questions.
  • Careful: If at all possible, talk to past or current employees before taking a job to see if it will be a good fit.

How To… Know Which Position to Accept: Look at factors such as location, hours, flexibility, salary, coworkers, and of course, if you like the food you would be preparing or serving. Pick the one that fits your schedule and personality the best.

Do… Apply at Different Locations: Different kinds of food, different atmospheres, different sizes — you never know where you will find your perfect fit.

Do Not… Make Assumptions: You know nothing about a place until you do your research, so never assume you know something based solely on what it serves, the tables it uses, or any other peripheral factor.

The best way to appear trustworthy when interviewing for a job is to be honest.

Job Performance ABC’s

  • Ambitious: Take your progress into your own hands, show interest, and look for ways to take steps forward.
  • Busy: No orders? Ask someone to teach you something — a new plate, an off-menu special, a new drink, etc.
  • Creative: Step out of your box and try something you know nothing about — what do you have to lose?

How To… Get Feedback: Correctly made orders are good feedback, but if you are looking for something a bit more in-depth, take some time to talk to a manager or trainer — most are happy to do either a formal or an informal evaluation and go over your strengths and weaknesses.

Do… Take Advantage of Opportunities: If someone offers to show you something, take them up on it.

Do Not… Act Like a Know-It-All: So maybe you have experience and nothing feels new, but that does not mean you know everything about being a restaurant employee — stay open to learning.

If someone offers to show you something, take them up on it.

Interacting With Coworkers ABC’s

  • Agreeable: You spend a lot of time at work, be nice.
  • Bold: Experienced coworkers may intimidate you initially, but they are one of your biggest assets in learning and improving, so go after them.
  • Considerate: Pick up a little slack and clean up after yourself before you leave — your coworkers will always be happy to see you.

How To… Work With Even the Most Difficult: There will always be people you cannot stand, so when it comes time for your shift with them, ignore their snide comments or complaints and just focus on your own work.

Do… Try to Fit In: This does not mean following along with a mob mentality, it means learning names, going along with inside jokes, and doing your part without complaining.

Do Not… Let People Walk Over You: Stand up for yourself, even if you think people may not like it.

You spend a lot of time at work, so be nice!

Customer Service ABC’s

  • Approachable: Guests who know where to find a listening ear become repeat visitors, so do your best to be personable and friendly.
  • Bulletproof: People get picky — and angry — about their food. Shake it off — at the end of the day, it is just food.
  • Circumspect: Stay aware, always.

How To… Calm an Angry Guest: The first step is listening and sympathizing, next offer a plan of action that goes above and beyond what they expect, and finally make sure the guest leaves happy. Here are even more tips on dealing with angry guests.

Do… Make Friends: They come for the food, and come back — or not — for the service.

Do Not… Share Work Drama: What happens at work should always stay amongst coworkers. People come to eat, not hear gossip about their second favorite server — their favorite is you, of course.

Throughout your journey in restaurant service, your work ethic, attitude, and people skills will determine what kind of experience you have. While this ultimately depends on you, following these ABC’s, How To’s, Do’s, and Do Not’s will set you on the fast track to a successful, fulfilling, and lucrative career. So go get started!

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How To Motivate Your Restaurant Employees

How To Motivate Your Restaurant Employees

by | Jul 29, 2016 | Business Toolkit, Management

A thriving restaurant is driven by happy, motivated employees. When your staff is motivated, it shows in their work and in your cash register. Keeping workers motivated may appear a daunting task at first, but it’s really quite simple. With a little creativity, there are countless ways to motivate your restaurant employees!

Hold Competitions

Humans are competitive creatures, no matter what job sector they’re in. Restaurant owners can tap into that drive as a way to improve sales and provide incentives for recommending specific menu items and offering top-notch customer service. It doesn’t require a lot of money, and yet it can be a very powerful tool.

Restaurant owners can tap into competition as a way to improve sales and provide incentives for recommending specific menu items.

It’s called gamification and it can help boost and even exceed goals. Try putting together menu bingo cards and hand them out to the servers. Encourage them to recommend the menu items listed on the cards. When they sell one of those items, they can mark off the spot on their card. The first one to get bingo wins a prize.

Managers should make it their duty to oversee these competitions and ensure the prizes are being fairly distributed. Also, make sure the staff isn’t being distracted from their jobs. Some games and drawings will work better for some employees than others, so feel free to experiment and figure out which ones motivate your team the best.

Ongoing Training

Some employers fail to see the value of continuing training beyond the onboarding stage. They think workers are either not interested or don’t need additional instruction.

Receiving ongoing training helps the staff to feel more valued as individuals and improves the overall morale.

On the contrary, receiving ongoing training helps the staff to feel more valued as individuals and improves the overall morale of the establishment. It also demonstrates an invested interest from management for employee success and advancement. If an ongoing training program is not in place, consider adding one.

Celebrate Your Staff

Employees like to feel like management cares about them as individuals rather than simply as workers. Anytime a staff member reaches a milestone, such as celebrating a birthday or completing a training course, make it a point to celebrate the occasion. It doesn’t have to be a big fancy party – providing drinks, a free meal, or a cake is sufficient.

It doesn’t have to be a big fancy party – providing drinks, a free meal, or a cake is sufficient.

Provide Bonuses

To encourage employees to stay with the restaurant, consider offering an annual bonus or a raise for every year a worker stays on. Regardless of hourly pay rates, employers can give regular bonuses based on how many years the employee has been working for the establishment. Even if there are few opportunities for growth, it can still serve as an incentive for your staff to stay on the team.

Close Early

Whenever holidays come around or a staff member celebrates a major life event, such as a wedding, it’s not a bad idea to close the restaurant early. This way the entire team can celebrate the occasion without some of them having to stay behind and work. Doing this will also allow for employees to better manage work with their personal lives without having to burn themselves out.

This way the entire team can celebrate the occasion.

Implementing even just one of these tactics will surely improve your team’s overall attitude towards their job. Your staff will not only become more motivated, but they will begin to enjoy their work and be much more pleasant to interact with.

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Hacks to Make your Novice Serving Life Easier

Hacks to Make your Novice Serving Life Easier

by | Jun 29, 2016 | Career

When entering the food and beverage service industry, you probably have some ideas on what the experience will be like. You know you’ll have to memorize the menu and plaster a smile on your face. You expect good days and bad days. However to ensure the highest amount of good days, you’re going to need some seasoned hacks. Here are some excellent ways to make your job easier!

Realize Serving is a Team Effort

Not every server practices reciprocity, but you should. Anyone can tell you that guests come first, so helping out your neighbor server is the right thing to do. If someone’s food needs to be run, run it. If they’re obviously in the weeds and being crushed under tasks, see if you can help in some way.

It takes a village to serve the front of house, so help each other out.

It’s not only for the guest, it benefits you too. Team players will be more likely to help you, if you help them or if they see you helping others. It takes a village to serve the front of house, so help each other out.

Adopt a Method to Remember Who is Who

When serving food to a table, the best way for quick distribution is to remember which person ordered what. Quicker distribution means you can get to another task faster, and your life is easier for it. It also makes you seem more professional, and can score you a higher tip! It’s a win, win situation!

Try taking orders left to right around the table and arrange your food that way when picking it up at the window. Usually, your meals will come up in the order it was taken, so it’s easy to put your food in the succession which you took the order.

The key is to find something that works for you.

Alternately, you could remember something about each person that correlates with what they ordered. The key is to find something that works for you. Any method is better than none!

Invest in Good Shoes

Most restaurants will give you the option to buy serving shoes through a hospitality catalog. Do it! Or at least, visit your local shoe store to find some comfortable, supportive shoes with good traction.

There’s nothing worse than trudging through a double-shift with an aching body.

At first, wearing regular tennis shoes may seem fine, but eventually, your feet, lower back, knees and hips will begin to ache all the time. There’s nothing worse than trudging through a double-shift with an aching body.

Tighten your Core

Many new servers instinctively tighten their legs and arms to keep from spilling over-full drinks. In reality, this is more likely to create jerking motions that will cause you to splash some of the beverage on yourself or on the floor.

Instead, tighten your abs and glutes.

It also makes you look like a robot. Instead, tighten your abs and glutes. This reduces motion transference from your legs to your arms and the glass.

Circle the Extras

When you’re running around like a crazy person, the last thing you want to do is make an extra trip to the kitchen, if it can be avoided. When you’re taking an order always ask about condiments and circle anything they want that wouldn’t ordinarily come with their order.

It’s easy to overlook details on your serving pad, especially if you’re busy.

It’s easy to overlook details on your serving pad, especially if you’re busy. By circling the extras, your attention will be drawn to those notations, and you’ll be less likely to forget those small details.

Don’t let a Nasty Customer get you Down

This cannot be said enough: don’t let a sour-puss customer rain on your sunshine. Remind yourself that you don’t know anything about them or what they are going through.

Do not let that negative energy transfer to you.

Also, if they’re just a rude person, that has nothing to do with you. Do not let that negative energy transfer to you. If you let it get you down, you’ll be distracted, your productivity will be lower and your tips will reflect that. Not to mention, the rest of your shift will suck.

Along the way, you’ll discover other ways to make your life easier, but these tips along with our other Server Hacks will get you started on the right foot!

Find Server jobs on Sirvo now! →

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Open Call Departure Restaurant Denver

Open Call Departure Restaurant Denver

by | Jun 20, 2016 | Sirvo Stories

Departure Restaurant, the newest concept from the Sage Restaurant Group, is now hiring for all positions and will be holding an open call this Friday, June 24th. Don’t miss your chance to join this thriving team!

Must come prepared with a copy of your resume.

Or apply ahead of time at www.sagerestaurantgroup.jobs

When & Where

Friday, June 24th 2016

11:00 am – 2:00pm

2817 E. 3rd Avenue

Denver, CO 80206

Now hiring for:

  • Restaurant Servers
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  • Cooks
  • Dishwashers
  • Banquet Servers
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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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