Restaurant guest service is one of those things that we all inherently know is (arguably) the largest part of our job; after all, the service industry is about precisely that, service. But it’s also an aspect of the work that can get forgotten and swept to the side in favor of seemingly more urgent parts of the job. The simple truth, though, is that restaurant guest service should be first and foremost in your mind in just about every setting.
So, let’s talk about restaurant guest service: what it is, how it works, and how to improve it in your restaurant.
What is Guest Service in a Restaurant?
First things first — what is guest service in a restaurant? Put simply, it’s customer service. The conscious, sustained act of ensuring that every second guests spend in your restaurant is the best it can be.
It begins the second they enter your restaurant and ends the moment they leave; this is why many restaurants choose to employ hosts. In fact, that’s why the position is called a host(ess); their whole job is to ensure the guest feels comfortable and as close to “at home” as possible. Similarly, we teach waiters and bartenders to interact with guests in a specific manner. They greet guests, make small talk, answer questions, and do everything they can to make customers feel at home.
So, while we continue to talk about restaurant guest service, keep that idea in mind — your job is to be a host, just as you would in your own home, and that extends to every interaction that your staff has with guests.
Key Elements of Excellent Guest Service
We can’t talk about restaurant guest service without discussing its key points. Below are a handful of the most important elements of restaurant guest service, and (as mentioned above) they extend far beyond a simple “hello, here’s the check.”
Greeting Guests
You may have noticed that many larger chain restaurants have staff immediately greet guests as they come in. While this isn’t uncommon, it’s often the most apparent in large, well-staffed establishments. This is for a few reasons. First and foremost, it’s polite. You likely wouldn’t let a friend enter your home and not even say hello, so why would you do that to a guest? Beyond that, though, it functions as a call to your coworkers that someone else has entered.
Most importantly, though, it’s the beginning of service with that specific guest; it sets the tone for the remainder of your time with them. This makes the manner in which you greet them quite important. Overly loud or enthusiastic greetings can be jarring or startling, while a sheepish greeting can insinuate a lack of confidence in your restaurant.
Attentiveness
Attentiveness is the bread and butter of the best Front of House (FOH) staff out there. After all, their whole job revolves around ensuring the customer has a good time and feels comfortable. Sometimes attentiveness can be as simple as seeing an empty glass, bussing it, and replacing it with a new drink. Other times it’s more subtle.
Some of the best servers I’ve known were masters at subtle attentiveness — they would thread the needle between being nosy and distanced. If a guest was picking at their plate with empty glasses at the table, they’d bring a new drink and ask how the food was. Sometimes the guest loved the food and everything was fine, but other times something had gone wrong.
That’s the key to attentiveness — soak in the details and find a way to check in regularly without being overwhelming.
Communication Skills
Ah yes, communication skills — every chef’s favorite topic. Communication is an inherent part of restaurant guest service, and (once again) is why we employ FOH staff. They are the face of the operation, and that means that they need to be on their A-game. Communication skills take many forms, but in restaurants, we’re focused on being hospitable and (crucially) selling guests on food and drinks.
This means that your FOH are equal parts salespeople and hosts, and as such, should be regularly interacting with guests. There are a few “stages” to service that your staff should be familiar with, as they can help guide how to approach interactions:
Pre-Service
- This is where you greet the guest as they enter, maybe make small talk on the way to seating them, and begin to help them get acquainted. It’s incredibly important to approach this not as the beginning of selling them anything, but an introduction. As I said above, treat them like they’re guests in your home.
Service
- This can take a few shapes and sizes, but we’re going to assume you’re running a table service restaurant for ease. Once the customer has been seated, service has begun. This means you should be guiding them through the menu and any specials, taking drink orders, and then leaving them be. This is because, crucially, communication skills as a part of restaurant guest service includes knowing when to speak with guests and when to let them enjoy their time.
Closing
- Once the guest has eaten and drank their fill, it’s time to bring the bill. Nobody ever really likes having to pay, but you can make it more enjoyable. Crack a joke or two, double-check if they want any more water, and let them enjoy the rest of their time in relative peace.
Problem Resolution
Problem resolution as a part of restaurant guest service ties directly into the talking point above. No matter what the issue may be, it’s important to approach it tactfully. Even if you know that the guest is wrong, it’s important to find a way to resolve the issue in a way that’s good for everyone.
Yes, that means that you’ll take an occasional loss on the “still raw” (mid-well) burger, but it also means that you’ll show the guest that you care about their happiness. And, once again, this is the service industry — the guest’s happiness is the reason we do what we do.
With that said, though, know how and when to stay firm and support your staff. Sometimes problems are best resolved by separation, and if a guest becomes truly problematic, it’s entirely okay to ask them to leave.
Personalization
Restaurant guest service shares a lot of similarities with sales. To get the best outcome for everyone, you have to know the person you’re talking to. While you don’t need to be friends, it helps to know a bit about them. Whether this means knowing their spouse, kids, or pets by name or just knowing their birthday or anniversary, a bit of personalization can help a lot.
This is where restaurant analytics come into play. I won’t dive into that in too much detail, but loyalty programs and marketing data can help you get to know your guests.
Tips for Enhancing Guest Service
With that out of the way, we can talk about how to improve your restaurant’s guest service with a few small changes.
Staff Training
Contrary to popular belief, training your staff doesn’t end when they learn the basics after being hired, it’s a constant act. Just as you should be teaching your chefs new techniques and providing new tools, your FOH should be regularly coached and given guidance.
That’s not to say that you should look for something wrong, mind you, but that training can help everyone improve. Schedule regular meetings for staff to work out scripts for various interactions that occur regularly, exchange techniques for upselling, and provide feedback on a team level.
Empowering Employees
This ties into the above. Empowering employees to be their best selves means that guests will be more comfortable, you’ll see better sales, and you’ll have happier employees. In other words, train and coach away, but at the end of the day, make sure your staff feels comfortable to bring a bit of personality to the table.
No two servers, hosts, or bartenders are the same, and that’s a bonus — with new perspectives comes more tools in your proverbial belt. You may find that some employees work best together, as they fill in the gaps in each others’ skills; if so, schedule them together.
Feedback Systems
Establishing a proper channel for feedback from employees can be a great way to find new, sometimes genius ways to improve your business. This is because, while you may be invested in the business, so are the people who work there. They spend 40+ hours in the building, and chances are that they have found more efficient ways to do things.
Whether your feedback system is through regular meetings, a group chat, or an anonymous note system, what matters is that they can feel safe to give feedback on what works and what doesn’t.
Consistency
Consistency is key in most aspects of life, but restaurants live and die by it. This applies to food, drinks, and restaurant guest service equally. That’s why we train; it lets us establish a baseline and, importantly, show how to achieve it. This, in turn, results in employees that can regularly turn out the same product, time and again — and that’s what we want!
Use of Technology
Restaurant technology empowers us to work more efficiently and personalize service to guests more effectively, and that’s just a win-win. Check out the article linked above for more information on how to use technology to get the most out of your restaurant.
Measuring and Improving Guest Service
Restaurant guest service is complicated, and that means that measuring it can be complicated, too. You can’t just go off reviews, but you also can’t judge solely by what you see during service. Let’s see how to properly measure and, crucially, improve your restaurant’s guest service.
Metrics and KPIs
We talk a lot about metrics and KPIs here, and that’s because they’re important. Just like doctors regularly check your blood pressure and cholesterol, you should be regularly checking your business’s metrics. Sometimes they can reveal that you’re as healthy as can be; other times, though, they can show some major problems that need addressing.
Whether the problem is labor costs, table turnover rate, or something more, what matters is that tracking your restaurant’s benchmarks and KPIs can allow you to quickly spot problems before they get out of hand.
Regular Assessments
This ties into the point above — regularly assessing both your staff and restaurant’s performance can help you to pinpoint areas that need improvement. They can also help you to see what works, but those won’t help you as much as finding pain points will. Be sure to plan regular “check-ups” on your restaurant and stick to them.
Take a peek at its busy and slow times, which events work (and which ones don’t), and as always, keep an eye on your KPIs.
Continuous Improvement
All of this comes down to one thing. We want to see your business constantly improve. Always look for new ways to improve: be that training, changes to the schedule or events, or new staff, the restaurant industry is never static — and you shouldn’t be, either.
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