Superstar Server Tips for Waiters & Waitresses

On Service
Service is a choice of making a personal connection with our customers. Yes, many customers are sitting at your tables for nutrition but also nourishment for their spirit. They get to hide out for 30 - 90 minutes from a crazy world out there.

Get it right: write it down. Accuracy is at the heart of great service.

As study after study has shown, the level of service a restaurant provides leaves the most lasting impression on its customers.

Remember that there are expectations of you to perform your duties with little or no supervision.

Stand in the command position, which is across the table from the leader or buyer of any group. When you stand here and maximize eye contact, the leader looks strong, orders more, is happier and tips better.

You wouldn't want your doctor to give you and exam or tend to your aches and pains with blood and other matter on his/her clothes from a previous patient. We all expect our doctors and nurses to project a clean, pressed image; your customers expect the same from you!

Most opportunities to provide exceptional service happen very routinely. Too often we overlook these chances. So surprise your customers next time with exceptional service moments.

The more you clear, the more you sell.

Nothing is worse than a mumbling server, except maybe a mumbling and clumsy server.

Spark a sale by causing guests to "ooh-and-aah." Do this verbally by painting mouth-watering word pictures that sell, or non-verbally by using the power of the senses — sight, sound, smell and taste.

The cork was originally presented to the diner to indicate that it was truly from the winery or the label. When you place the cork unobtrusively near the host, you are merely allowing an inspection if the host desires so.

Stemware should always be handled by the stem.

Proper wine service at a table always goes in the clockwise direction. Traditional service calls for serving women first, men second, and the host last, regardless of gender.

Selling wine allows you to make more money — it's like putting another guest at the table.

Pairings 101. Start with a single, simple concept: The wine should match the sauce of the entrée. If you want to do the job right, you should give your wait staff practical experience to find out which wines go with what dishes.

Wine promotes dining. Bottled wine turns food consumers into diners and diners into sophisticated diners.

Traditionally, as the official taster for the manor or castle, the sommelier was supposed to taste each wine to make sure that it would not poison anyone.

Never fill the glass more than half full. If you overfill, you are depriving your customers of their right to fully enjoy the wine, and you are telling them that you don't know any better.

"L.E.A.R.N.T." are six steps of handling a guest complaint. Listen. Empathize. Apologize. Rectify. Notify. Thank.

People will return to your restaurant if your food is just "ok" or just "good," but the service always makes them glad they chose your restaurant and they feel they got the best value for their dollar. Their repeat business is the ultimate compliment to your service quality.

Examples of service that we see as ordinary but customers perceive as exceptional: splitting a large meal onto separate plates for those sharing an order, offering separate checks when you greet large parties and bringing those "automatic refills" before they ask for them.

Today, great service depends on a team approach, where every player not only understands his or her own responsibilities, but everyone else's.

Today, people want to be catered to, whether shopping, dining out or as an employee - they want 'experiences.' Create the 'custom deal' for employees or the 'custom visit' for guests.

A complaint always provides an unparalleled opportunity to turn a negative into a huge positive by bowling the offended guest over with outstanding service.

The only difference between average customer service and winning service is a hair's breadth of preparation and anticipation.

Using people's names is a powerful and genuine way to achieve the "recognition factor," which is always top on your guests' list of important expectations.

Anticipation is the ability to provide pro-active service instead of the customer having to make a request.

Perception is reality. If your customers believe that something is true, then it is true in their eyes.