Maximize your income by giving good service

Amidst the ongoing scramble for qualified food-service employees, I’ve had the opportunity to meet several restaurant recruiters. These headhunters search out and qualify potential employees for placement at hotels, resorts and restaurants, freeing owners and managers of the endless interviews, callbacks – and the inevitable no-shows.

I was fascinated by the scope of what a professional recruiter does. The best ones follow the new employee during the first few months of employment, and even guarantee the new hire’s suitability for the job. I receive quite a few emails from diners, and interestingly, the majority of the comments are about service – good, bad or indifferent. Feedback from customers has helped me come up with a few suggestions for servers to maximize their tips, make their restaurant look good and keep their jobs. So here goes:

1. Never wear perfume or cologne. About 75% of our taste sensation is through our nose. Nobody orders a ribeye with a side of Jean Naté. Speaking of noses, never reach across one guest to serve another. They didn’t come there to encounter your armpit. Also, never eat or drink in view of the customers. Would you like it if you were sure that your server’s fingers had recently been in their mouth?

2. Always greet newcomers warmly. Don’t just make eye contact, then look away (or worse yet, avoid eye contact altogether). A little smile and, “Welcome! I’ll be with you in just a minute,” makes the guest feel noticed and more willing to wait if you are busy.

3. Don’t serve a dish that looks wrong to you. If your chef huffs and puffs when you question a dish, that’s the manager or owner’s problem, not yours. Chefs who are insecure in their abilities often resist suggestions or complaints.

4. If your restaurant sells bottled water, don’t sound desperate by saying, “Bottled water or ‘just’ tap?” Both are fine and everyone knows it. “Just’ tap” is pretentious. There are better – and less obvious – ways to upsell.

5. Know your menu! Don’t answer a question with, “I don’t know” unless you follow it with a smile and, “But I’ll find out.”

6. Here’s my favorite: 99.99% of restaurant food-ordering programs allow you to tag an order with a seat number. If the restaurant doesn’t have a system for that, make up your own and stick to it. People hate food auctions, and it makes you or your food runner look incompetent. Similarly, if you choose to impress everyone by memorizing orders, be darn sure you do it well! Rest assured that your guests will be on the edge of their seats waiting for your mistakes.

7. Never remove an empty plate from one guest while others are still eating the same course.

8. Nobody cares about your personal eating habits. Nobody cares that you are vegan, lactose-intolerant, gluten-free or whatever. To this day, I still remember a server responding to my question about a particular dish by informing me that she was a vegetarian and wouldn’t know. Simply say, with a smile, “Well, a lot of our guests enjoy that dish. Would you like to try it?”

9. Don’t suddenly get chatty and all smiley-faced when it’s tip time. It’s embarrassingly transparent and needy. In that same vein, if guests pay in cash, just bring their change; don’t ask if they need it. Few people are willing to reward an obviously desperate attempt at getting an extra buck or two.

Smart restaurateurs know that their most unhappy customers can sometimes teach them more than all the happy ones combined. In an eating destination such as our Culinary Coast (a great name penned by our friends at Southern Delaware Tourism), service is king. Guests won’t remember that you brought beans instead of slaw. But they won’t forget rude, careless or offhand service. Servers who don’t act professionally are jeopardizing their own income and that of the restaurant that placed its trust in them.