Waiter Training Newsletter

Your Restaurant Resolution:
Know Your Menu

Again with the articles I've read recently!  I'm just following the trends and information that's out there.  This topic keeps coming up and I have written about it before - drum roll, please (or read the title) - know your menu.

People have allergies, dislikes, issues, squeamishness - whatever.  They're paying for your food and your service.  Part of your service should include some menu knowledge so you can guide your guests through a maze of food options and ingredients.

These days, everyone has an allergy, intolerance or even just an issue with texture.  Whatever the situation, it's in your best interest to know your menu so you can tell Ms. Doe that yes, a particular dish does, in fact, contain peanuts.

This will require some extra training.  Involve your chef, sous chef or someone else in the know from the kitchen staff to go through the menu with your servers and bartenders.  Allow time for a Q&A session and a test.  You determine how much weight that test holds.  What do you want that test to accomplish?  Have your goals in mind.  Major points to consider:

• Is it just a marker to help people realize how little or how much they actually know?
• Is it a points-driven test to prevent the less-knowledgeable from interacting with guests until they better learn the menu?
• Is it a method to pare down your staff?
• Do you really want to help them gain confidence in their knowledge and use it to everyone's advantage in the server/guest relationship?

Whatever your desired goal, you and your staff are going to come out winners.  Guests are always impressed by a server who knows her menu and how to sell it.  And that doesn't always mean selling the highest priced items on the menu.  Remember that your ultimate goal is to ensure a memorable dining experience through the actual meal process, not the shocking tab at the end of it!

Make this training process fun; offer rewards for learning and success.  It isn't bribery; people learn better and retain knowledge when they have fun doing so.  It's not the size of the prize - it's just that there is something to work toward.

It's much easier to sell something you know than to just stumble through it.  You might even have less turnover when your staff feels smarter and better able to sell your menu.  People want to feel valued and valuable in their jobs; restaurant servers are no different than other workers.

Servers should also be able to go to the kitchen and ask questions before or after closing or when the restaurant is slow.  The internet is also a great way to learn about food and wine.  Servers, take some initiative and learn your menu because you know it will make you better.

If you don't have the time to create an effective training method for learning the menu, contact Waiter Training!  Let's make 2012 the comeback year for restaurants!

Training and information is the key!  Contact Susie at Waiter Training, either by phone or email.  The business number is 720.203.4615, and email address is Susie@waiter-training.com.  Web address is http://www.waiter-training.com.

 

Excellence is an act won by training and habituation.
We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence,
but rather we have those because we have acted rightly.
We are what we repeatedly do.
Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.
                                                                                - Aristotle

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