As a manager or restaurant manager, you are the first and last person a restaurant guests see. You must always give the best of yourself: keeping order, checking that guests are satisfied, knowing what happens at each table are just some of the ways to make sure your guests and your boss are happy.
Steps
Step 1. Keep an eye on every sector
Make a diagram of each sector of the room and the tables that are in each of them (memorize the arrangement of the tables). Check reservations and assign each customer the most appropriate table. Check how many people will be there for each booking, what time they should arrive and which table to assign them. Keep in mind how many people are already in the restaurant so you don't overload the waiters.
Step 2. Be careful when guests arrive
If you are busy with someone else, contact the customer arriving by saying “I'm with you right away”, or even a glance or a wave of the hand may suffice.
Step 3. Welcome customers with a smile and invite them to come in
Remember, you are the restaurant's first and last chance to make a good impression: make them feel at ease.
Step 4. Check how many people are eating
If there is to wait, take the name of whoever enters so that they do not feel ignored. Those who arrive will ask how long to wait: never say a precise time, but only an estimate. Usually those who wait to eat are impatient, and could go and look for another restaurant, if the wait is prolonged.
Step 5. After welcoming guests, check how many people are and assign them a suitable table
If there are people who have difficulty walking, have them sit at an easily accessible table.
Step 6. To decide where to seat guests, check all rooms
Distribute the tables equally. Take into account the number of people in each booking. Don't put crowded tables next to each other unless absolutely necessary.
Step 7. When the guests are seated, place a menu next to each seat or hold the guest menu
Don't throw menus on the table without saying anything.
Step 8. Check the table equipment
If something is missing, ask the manager to get it as soon as possible (obviously this must be done before the restaurant opens).
Step 9. Check that the tables are set up properly and that the table is clean
If not, wipe it off quickly with a cloth. You can also have guests sit somewhere else while their table is being set up.
Step 10. Bring the guests something, such as water, cutlery, napkins
If a customer asks for something special, tell them to send the waiter right away.
Step 11. Walk around the restaurant
The only way to assess how things are progressing is to check how many tables are already at dessert, how many have already paid, etc. If you need to vacate a table, inform the waiters by asking them to speed up meals. You are on the same team.
Step 12. Help clean and arrange tables when needed
If there is someone waiting, it is always better to lend a hand.
Suggestions
- You can bring a coffee or water if customers have been waiting for too long and are starting to complain.
- Thank customers who had the patience to wait.
- Always keep an eye on the room and customers who need something.
Warnings
- Don't let your mood influence your seat allocation choices. Don't assign a waiter who can't stand the most annoying regulars, don't dump or over-load a waitress, or don't leave someone with no tables to serve.
- If you're having a bad day, make sure it doesn't affect your work. Leave personal problems at home.
- When customers leave, thank them sincerely, telling them you hope they will come back soon.
- Don't flirt. Do not use the mobile phone. Don't swear. Don't chew gum. Do not comb your hair and do not wear makeup in front of customers.
- Don't accept tips or favors from waiters in exchange for more work.
- Don't gossip with other workers about colleagues or clients. You have to be neutral.
- Your job is to keep the restaurant running smoothly and make sure both the customers and the waiters are happy. How to do? Bringing your professionalism to the highest quality standards.
- Remember to appear and behave in a polite, friendly, and calm manner. Don't be boring, vulgar, snobbish or bossy.
- You must always be informed about what is happening in the kitchen, in each room of the restaurant and at the bar. Remember that your actions affect the waiters, the bar and the kitchen.
