OH NO! I got TRIPLE sat!

How does a successful server handle getting multiple tables sat in their section simultaneously? Off the bat, I can tell you, he or she does not run from table to table with their head cut off. A sweaty, huffy server who only looks down or speaks sharply with guests is not only going to hurt the house, its going to kill your gratuity. Treat all your tables with respect, but make sure they feel you are more concerned with making sure their dining experience is a happy one, rather then expediency. Your table chose to come sit down so they probably have a little time to kill. They could have gone to Subway or Wendy's, or even just ordered to-go.

Lunch is a different beast then dinner in that regard. Busy lunch or breakfast restaurants are often found in busy areas with lots of commercial development. People don't like their whole day to slow down just because they chose to eat out. As a lunch or breakfast server, there is much less interaction with the customer. During lunch, an experienced server will have their own method for coping with being sat with multiple tables at the same time.  Keeping all open checks on you at all times is wise, and making the checks readily available to tables that are in a hurry (they will often inform you they are on their lunch break or have to catch a movie, etc). Consolidation is the key. If you're just starting out and you don't have your rhythm yet, just consolidate as much work as you can.

If you get triple sat, don't go up to the closest table, get them drinks take their order put it in and then start the second table. Do as much as you can in the front of house, talk to as many tables as you can. Sometimes, they won't even be ready to order drinks, but your bases are still covered. The guest is assured someone is a point of contact for them to the kitchen and they will be fed. An example of an extreme case is back in 2008, I worked for a restaurant with a loft section mostly only used on Friday or Saturday nights when the dining room would fill up. It was a Tuesday night, and none of us expected very much volume. 9:30pm rolls around, there are maybe 8/32 tables in the dining room. 45 people walk through the door, in two volleys. A convention was in town and word that we were the only substantial oyster bar in town, and these 45 wanted-- no loved and needed oysters. We sat them in the loft and singly handedly I knocked every single one of them out. Their ticket was over $2,300, and I've never had to carry so many large trays lined with 32 full glasses of various beverages (thats about as many glasses as you can fit on a large tray. About 12 trays of oysters, 4 stacks 3 tall.) I talked to everyone every time I went up. I didn't waste my time chit chatting, but I definitely made sure I did my best to notice every glass running low on beverages, offering bread where I saw the need. My order executed perfectly. Using pivot points (numbering seats, basically) and precise table numbers, I sent the orders back in volleys of 7, per kitchen managers request. My kitchen took care of me too. the expediter made sure all my food came out in order, exactly to the seat and how it was laid on the tray. It was an awesome feeling.

Now here's the pitfall most servers forget about. Separate checks should be made available upon request, but when 45 people start asking for all separate checks we need to have a strategy. Honestly I didn't at the time. I shudder when I think back on making change and running so many credit cards, apologizing for being out of pens (I had 11 on me that night.) Since they were such a large party I made my gratuity, and about a third of the people knew what a hard task I had been given. This third generally gave me extra tip, some even doubled the gratuity added. In retrospect, I should have made the tickets available midmeal in order to expedite processing.

I digress, the key to maintaining your section, whether you got quadruple sat, have 2 tables trying to pay and one waiting for drinks, consolidate. Don't come back till you have everything accomplished, ask a friend to make your drinks for you and process your payments. A restaurant where there is no teamwork isn't worth working in anyway.

How to Profess Your Tip

[Disclaimer. I am Not Racist. I love all races and I have enjoyed all cultures common to the American South; French, Mexican, Cajun, African American, Caucasian American, some Asian, and I Don't discriminate against a table or customer based on Race. Unfortunately there are several Cultural Norms that play into estimating your tip.]

Honestly, the biggest clue to your table's gratuity before you even put the check down are actually visible on the table. Smiling, happy people that say the magic words (please and thank you) are far more likely to hit the 15-20% mark. Inspiring laughter at your table is always a money maker. Where food is involved, all people are concerned. We all have to eat, and somehow the behemoth evolved the way it did. You are very much a salesperson. In many places the gratuity for an enjoyable dinner is 20%. A mediocre dinner often recieves 15%. Poor service recieves 5-10% depending on what was lacking. Everyone gives poor service, they just don't normally realize when they do. Managers, trainers, and highly experienced servers know when bad service is rendered.

Now back to the disclaimer. I love black women. I think they are beautiful, gifted and strong women that have an admirable history behind them. But of the 3 times I've ever been stiffed on a tip, 2 of them were middle aged richly dressed black women whom I gave my standard working order service that draws an average of 18 percent gratuity. I justify them in my mind as not knowing that I am only making $2.13 an hour and honestly don't give a damn they need more pink lemonade or a grape vodka sour, I just want to get paid. (The third was a 12 top of Mexican men that didn't speak english, before I learned Spanish. I learned Spanish just to get paid. Does this illustrate my point of how much I want to get paid? Get paid.. Get Paid.. Get Paid.. Always Tip your Servers! And the hostess if she's cute.)

So now we can put together a matrix in our minds with three dimensions; Service Rendered (a) Table Attitude (b) and cultural background (c). With this we can create a three dimensional map of where, predictably, we can expect the gratuity percentage to land. So Just so you can build it in your mind...

...Poor service rendered (a), Nonenglish speaking grumpy vegetarians (b), Bigamist Muslims from Iraq (c)... are going to stiff you. Point D, the tip equals 0.

...Awesome Service (a), Steak ordering, joking drinkers (b), Native language speaking foreigners with cultural familiarity (c)... (D) Real Life Scenario, I had 14 of them at one table ran a $800 tab, I got $350 as a tip.

Everyone's matrix is going to vary. It is most wise to build your strengths to shift your service to make the common clientèle at the top of this matrix. If all that comes into your restaraunt are locals, get to know them. Treat them as friends, know what they like to eat and drink. Spend less time socializing with co-workers and more time socializing with your local regulars.

Some people get the wrong idea about tipping servers sometimes. The fact that so many college students only wait tables to turn around and burn it at the bar I think contributes a lot. But when I made that $350 I turned around paid part of my rent, car payment, electric bill, and went grocery shopping. I don't get a check at the end of 2 weeks. I loose my checks to taxes, and often just get a little proof of income and a voided check, perforated ready to run to the bank with. So I have to depend on nights like that where I either turn the volume and give mediocre service for 15%, or stagger my spender tables and wow them with drinks and appetizers and dessert. Its all just in the science of knowing how to serve tables.

Economic Depression & A Strange Concept

So I said before that we are in a unique situation. On the one hand, you have people coming into the industry that have never had to before. On the other you have a customer base who is also strapped for cash and doesn't feel quite right leaving more on the table then they have to. A coworker of mine at one of the many restaurants I've worked in once pointed out the strange nature of how the whole system works. Who came up with it? A server gets paid $2.13 an hour (I know some states they get more, but here in Texas that's what it is!) by the house to maintain the beverage stations, often a bread or chip station, clean and reset a 3-6 table section, sell specials, perform upsells, and rigamarole of other duties, varying by restaurant. They are the face the customers (yes, a restaurant has customers, not guests) associate with the kitchen and the restaurant as a whole. Yet the house only pays them $2.13, and then the house gives the customer the labor bill in the form of a blank line on a credit card slip, right below the amount the house already expects. Also, we close at 10, yet we're still there at midnight. The whole system is a strange behemoth of a working mess.

So now you know how the server makes money. The 'guest' leaves a range from 5%-25% based on the total bill. There are many servers out there that mistakenly believe that "hooking it up" or providing free food or beverages is going to increase their gratuity. In most cases, except where you know who you're hooking up and they know what you're doing, the bottom line is the bottom line, and thats what the 'guest' will tip on. On the other hand, if you work in a restaurant where you tip out (pay for) bussers or hostesses or bartenders a set percentage, skimping on a table that you know isn't going to tip very well (I'll go over how to tell in a later post.) it may behoove you to forget about a soup or a tea if you can. No reason to pay more for services when you're not going to get paid for the services you render. Of course, from the house's point of view, that is technically stealing. I have had managers that will walk the whole floor and write down every single table with a tea or soda on it, then go to his aloha and check every single open ticket and then call you out. On the floor, in front of your (my) tables no less. How must that have looked to my 3 tables, all next to eachother? "Why didn't you charge for those 2 teas?" Honestly, I just hadn't had a chance, I had just taken their entree orders after ringing back their starters. It was very disconcerting for me, and very unprofessional of him as a manager.

I think the most important attitude for serving is just to remember there is no easy way to die doing what we do, and what can't kill you can only feed your fire and make you stronger! Get stiffed? They lost face not you. They just took your wages out of your hand, stole from you. It's not your fault (unless it really is your fault) but you have 2-5 other tables ready to take care of you. If you make people your friends, and treat them with respect, 95% of the time you will always land on your feet as far as tips are concerned. On the other hand you have good days and bad, just keep taking tables.

Serving 101: An Introduction

The food and beverage industry is experiencing a situation unique to history. Economic imbalance has forced many out of jobs and out of retirement to take up jobs in the various available civilian sectors. The easiest path for many tends to be to either cook or wait tables. The intention of this blog is first to illustrate my personal technique to successfully manage a front of house section of tables, and second to occasionally visit various common situations encountered in a restaurant environment.

[This is my first blog too so don't be too hard on me =P]