Riding
the Service Cycle
Last
weekend I went to eat at a new independent restaurant.
Small, cozy and I had heard that the food was very good.
We
arrived and the six of us were greeted by the host and
seated immediately. The server also greeted us quickly
and warmly....and then it fell apart :)
He
attempted, weakly, to communicate the three nightly
specials. The problem was he couldn't remember
the small details like, how it was prepared, ingredients,
sides and price.
He
stumbled through and after his "sales presentation"
he said he'd give us a few minutes to look over the
menu. And then he left us. He left us!
Did
you catch his mistake -- He forgot the drink order!!!
To
be fair he did a fine job for the remainder of the meal
but the damage had been done.
First,
he left money on the table by not being able to sell
the specials. I'm the only one who ordered a house
special, and the only reason I did was because I had
talked with the chef about this special the week before.
If
not for that conversation the waiter would have been
0 for 6. And by the way, the special I ordered (beef
tips) was incredible.
Second,
his first impression wasn't good, so guess what the
people in our party were talking about the next week
at work: "The place was nice but it took over 15
minutes to get our drinks" she said at the water
cooler. You get the picture.
So
what happened? Where did it go wrong for this young
man, and how could it have been avoided?
In
our training materials everything revolves around the
Service Cycle and the 6 sections in that cycle. Today
I'm going to talk about the first 2 sections:
Preparation and Greeting and Drink Order.
Section
1: Preparation.
This is the section where you prepare yourself physically
and mentally for each new table greeting. Physically
he presented himself well but mentally he didn't prepare
and practice his sales pitch for the specials. He wasn't
knowledgeable.
The
menu wasn't very big so his goal should have been
50%. Half the table should buy one of the three specials.
Section
2 : Greeting and Drink Order.
He handled the greeting nicely (he addressed each party
member by eye contact and then greeted us as a group)
but he fell off the Service Cycle by forgetting the
drink order.
This
could easily have been avoided. To keep your wait staff
from falling off the service cycle do the following
things:
1.
Define the steps of the Service Cycle.
Each wait staff person should be aware of the different
steps in the Service Cycle for your restaurant. And
during their shift they should be able to tell you where
each table in their section is in the Cycle.
2.
Set clear objectives for each Step.
An obvious objective for the Greeting and Drink Order
is getting the drink order :)
Each
step in the cycle should have clear objectives that
are communicated to your staff. Some of these objectives
will be universal for all restaurants but some may be
what sets your restaurant apart from others, like writing
your name on the table or delivering hot rolls immediately.
3.
Deliver the training and have your staff practice.
I'm a big believer in testing a new wait staff person
before he hits the floor. Not only should a new hire
go through service and sales training but the final
"graduation" test should be waiting on the
owner or general manager.
Yes
they will be nervous, but I guarantee that the specials
presentation will be practiced knowing their job depends
on it.
------------------------
Make
sure you wait staff is riding the service cycle to maintain
the consistency of service that you and your customers
desire.
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