Top Four Things Your Server Wants You to Know

Top Four Things Your Server Wants You to Know

1. Food Timing

People think that just because their food took a long time, it’s the server’s fault. Actually, 90% of the time it’s the kitchen. Or it’s the fact that you ordered a Chicago, well-done steak. Some restaurants do not have a kitchen large enough to accommodate the whole restaurant when it is fully seated. Not by choice, however because of growth in the city and popularity these restaurants may be most often at full capacity for seating. During a rush your server is extremely busy and they do not want you to wait long for you food. So, please do not take it out on your server because of the kitchen, based on the owner's decisions cannot serve you your food in the time that you've expected.

2. Bringing young children out to eat

When your server is busy and approaches your table to take drink and food orders, please do not make your server have a five minute discussion with your child especially if they are shy. Little Tommy does not know what he wants, so please as the parent please just make a quick decision for him. Your server will really appreciate the help and will speed up the service that most of the time families expect when going out to eat with their children.

3. What makes your server crazy?

When a server approaches a table they are hopeful that the trip over will result in some sort of a bill that will reward them in the end with a tip. Unfortunately, there are moments when a guest requests a "hot tea" or "hot water with lemon". This request has got to be the biggest pet-peeve in serving. This requires for hot tea, filling a tea pot with hot water, steeping the tea in hot water, preparing a tea set up with cream, milk and a sugar caddy. All of these steps make your server rush and for a $2.00 charge. For hot water and lemon similar steps and most often the table can't get their free hot water fast enough. After all of this, when the bill is brought to the table the guest thinks, "I only had some hot water, so my server didn't do very much for me today". Wrong!

4. The perks to being a "great" regular

If you want to eat out regularly or have a favorite place to go on special occasions here a few things you should know about becoming noticed by management and servers.

First, on your first visit be forgiving, use your manners, and tip your server nicely. Most people don’t know this however, as servers we have very good photographic memories. It is a part of our job to remember faces, voices and to read people everyday. If you follow that first step the next time you visit, servers might even flip a coin to get you in their section.

Second, the more you come in the restaurant staff will know what you drink, how you order your food and which table you prefer. The minute you come in the host will take you to your favorite table, the bartender will start to poor your favorite drink, the manager will walk over to greet you and your server will enjoy your presence. Everything that you enjoy about eating out will being to happen without you having to ask for a thing.

Third, with these perks you never need to wait for a table again. So, the next time you're out to eat, take a look around and if you wonder why some tables get noticeably good service and attention from the staff, it is because they are great regulars.

Cheers!

$Gift Certificate Etiquette$

Gift Certificate Etiquette

We all appreciate receiving gift certificates from friends and family as a thank you, or as gift and we all can't wait to go out and use this free money at our favorite restaurant. However, there are some etiquette rules to dining out and using these gift cards.

Please note that these gift cards are not coupons and they are not to be considered a discount card off of the total bill amount. It is important for those who do not know, that gift cards have a dollar value on them and act like "cash". What I mean by this is that the gift card is actually to be considered paper cash in your hand when it comes time to pay for the bill.

As many people have used these cards before, your server must swipe these cards at the time of payment to ensure that they are activated or have any balance value on them. I have experienced on occasion, people who think that because they have a gift card they can place it on the table and walk out without checking with their server. This resulting in a dine-and-dash and in many cases I have witnessed the customer being short on their bill, which results in leaving their server to cover the rest of the bill, and paying out of pocket for the tip-out.

Therefore, here are a few steps in gift card etiquette to keep in mind when dining out:

First, understand that when you are heading to the restaurant to have a back up plan just in case you spend more than planned or there is an error with your card. So either keep some back up cash or bring another source of payment like debit or credit. 

Second, let your server know that you have a gift card. This will save time at the end when it comes to paying, because your server will know how to address the method of payment efficiently at the end of your visit. 

Third, be sure to look at the total amount presented on the bill. This will help you understand how much to leave in gratuity for all of your server's efforts.One factor that really offends a server is that they put a full effort to ensure you receive a good experience and the number of items on the bill will show this, and the customer/guest does not acknowledge those efforts when it comes to taking care of their server. Remember just because you have a gift card, it does not mean that a customer can rip off their server. The card does not state "freebee" on it. The card represents another form of "cash" payment.

Lastly, if you pay for the balance of the bill with a gift card and there is a remaining balance still owing, please do not tip on that remaining balance. For example, the bill is $230 and your gift card is for $100, remember not leave a percentage tip on the $130 owing. The entire bill and server efforts were for a $230 bill and that server should receive the reward they earned for that amount.

I have witness this happen too many times, from those who just do not understand this process. If that server gets a small 10% tip on the $130 balance remaining, they still give away a full percentage amount of that bill to their tip-out.

Cheers!

Tips %

Tips

After reading my last blog post about the "in's and out's" about what actually goes on during the dinner wait at restaurants, I received a comment about tip-out or what some call, tip-pool. 

Here are some key points that one should consider when tipping there server at the end of a meal.

When the bill is printed there is usually a before tax total and an after tax total. For those who do not know, ignore the before tax total when deciding how you would like to tip your server. This decision should be based on: 1) overall service experience, 2) the quality of service and food delivered and 3) the total cost $ of that bill.

ü  If the service was great and you received everything you needed and your server listened to your needs, then give your server a check.

ü  If your server showed that they were engaged and cared that you came in to eat and they acted pleased to be there, then give them a check.

ü  Lastly, look at the bill total after tax. This total in many cases is the amount the servers tip-out toward other staff. Other staff such as, the supervisors, kitchen staff/cooks, food prep, dishwashers, bussers, bartenders, bar-backs and hostesses.

Servers must tip-out a percentage of that bill you're paying for. In many cases, as experienced they tip-out after tax. Therefore, if your server does their job right and there is something that happened out of their control; remember they pay their bills with their tips. Tips are their main source of income.

This tip-out I am talking about can range from 3% to 5% of the servers sales. So, to get a clearer idea, if tip out is 5%, every $100.00 your server does in sales, they are giving away $5.00 out of their pocket in tips to all of the other staff members mentioned above.

Servers do not get paid minimum wage, they are paid below minimum wage at $8.90/hour. So they really rely on these tips to survive.

I believe that a large portion of society that does not have insight on this can't relate and really do not know  the impact they have when they choose to purposely be cruel or cheap when it comes to tipping. I have seen many times on a bill for $50.00 after tax, customers tip 10% before the tax and leaving something like $4.00. If your server tips out 3% of that $50.00 they basically worked and served that table for 1.5 hour + for $2.50. It sounds harsh however; you can't even buy a jug of milk with that change.

Also keep in mind the economy has changed; prices do increase and have increased such as, the cost of living. Tips should also go along with this increase. 10% used to be a fare percentage tip I would say 10 years ago. However, 15% plus in many cases 20% is the standard tip to give in the service industry, especially given the fact that servers do not pocket all of their tips.

I would like you to put yourself in your server's shoes. If you go out to eat and you stay at your table for 2 hours or more, then leave your server 10% on a $100 bill. Now break that down to $5/hour on cleaning, clearing, waiting and refill trips on your free soda. Does it seem fare? Many citizens today wouldn't dream to get out of bed for less than $15/hour to $20/hour.

Server Facts

Hello fellow bloggers,

I will be writing weekly postings about the inside views of serving within restaurants. The need to know of this blog will cover all areas about how servers operate, what goes on behind the kitchen, what we as servers experience when dealing with angry guests, and what happens around the restaurant that makes it such a fun working environment.

This posting will be information on how "we" as "servers" feel and see situations from the other side. The following five points are going to outline and introduce to those who are unaware of what goes on in a restaurant during the introductory stage of arriving and waiting for their dinner table.

Need to know:

Step1. When the guest arrives at the restaurant and the parking lot is full. This is not something that we as a restaurant operation can control. It is not our fault (server/manager) that everyone in the city has decided to go to the same restaurant, on the same night (Friday/Saturday), at the same time.

Step2. After the guest finds parking about 10 to 15 minutes has gone by and they are starving. They arrive at the front door and are greeted by a sweet hostess with a giant smile on her face. The guest asks for their table and the host passes over a little, black, coaster with a number on it. She tries to communicate that there will be a 40 to 50 minute wait. All that the guest hears is that we cannot accommodate them when they would like, and they must wait in the sitting area or bar side while starving. 

The bar is of course full of parties and people waiting for their table in the dining room side. Then, when the guest looks around and servers are know where to be seen through the large crowd. This is because, we are running food, trying our best to accommodate everyone and chasing guests into the dining room with their drinks that they left behind.

Step3. Once the guest finds a spot in a cramped space they watch for a table to open up. A bar server then comes over to say hello and offers to take a drink order while they wait. Many times the response is, "no I will wait to sit". As a server, my thoughts are, "that’s going to be a while". What that guests does not understand, is that there are tables in that servers section for the night that are preferred to be filled with guests who would like to eat dinner. No server comes into work, to work for free. So when that guest sits in a table and does not order dinner or any drinks it could take an hour before that server gets a table for dinner to make money in their pocket.

Step4. My favorite of all is when a guest sits down in my section if they have the option too. As a server I am prepared to give guests the whole experience that they are anticipating, however, they wish to wait for the dining room side of the restaurant. Why would this be? The guest likes the quiet! Unfortunately, the dining room sits three times as many people as the bar and the music is just as loud. 

I forgot to mention, that these guests already have drinks ordered from the bartender and they are sipping on their drinks like they are drinking hot coffee. Therefore, not only am I not serving them drinks to transfer over to their final bill, they are taking up a hole table and I am not making any money for the duration of their sitting. Please note, that basically in all business situations, time is actually money!

Step5. Servers sometimes happen to get those guests who sit at a table in their section for the full 40 to 50 minutes continuously questioning their servers about the wait and how much longer things will be. As a server, I will make it know that we have nothing to do with what the hostesses at the front have arranged. Servers are not allowed to interfere with the front door processes. So when that is asked we will always say we cannot be sure. Working for a restaurant that serves up to 650 dinner plates a night please keep in mind that if your server asked the hostess that question for every eager guest, that host would likely bite your server's head off.

Readers, this is just a little introductory with some insight of how things appear to be and how things actually are from a servers perspective when going out to eat at restaurants. There will be more to come and some of my posts will hopefully be entertainingly funny as this restaurant business can be most of the time.

Cheers!