Yesterday’s post on extra charges for the various items a guest requests caused me to ponder on a larger scale. It is remarkably common to hear guests say, “I could buy that steak/wine/etc at the store for half that much.” This is the same principle as walking into a car dealership and demanding a price […]
Tag Archives | Rules for Servers
How Money Motivates
(Note: this is part three of a series based on research presented in part one. Yesterday, I addressed why contests and financial incentives do not motivate servers. If you have not read these posts, I highly recommend doing so in order to fully understand the premise of this post.) Yesterday, I discussed why contests do […]
Coupons, Discounts, and How to Deal
The old adage says, “There is no such thing as a free lunch.” Whoever said this wasn’t looking hard enough. Today it seems every restaurant is offering some sort of deal. Prices are being slashed. “Buy one get one free” is a growing part of the lexicon. Restaurants that previously never would have thought of […]
The Mistake and The Letter
It was a pretty average second half of a double. Our bar was hopping with happy hour customers. I had just finished polishing my station and poured myself a nice cup of coffee. Then one of my managers came to find me with a piece of paper in her hand. Those of you who are […]
Learning Restaurant Spanish (Nouns)
Restaurants are growing more multilingual everyday. Hard working immigrants from throughout Latin America are respected and appreciated members of the restaurant world. The language barrier can be daunting, but overcoming it will help you appreciate some of the most interesting people in your restaurant. Learning enough Spanish to be able to communicate effectively is often […]
Understanding Restaurants: The Owner’s Perspective
This is the final installment of a four-part introduction. If you missed the previous posts on the overview, the guest’s perspective, and the manager’s perspective, click the links in this sentence. People ask me on occasion if I aspire to open my own restaurant one day. It always reminds me of the old Mitch Hedburg […]
Understanding Restaurants: The Manager’s Perspective
Archeologists have recently discovered a cave in Egypt believed to be the first restaurant. Obviously it would not meet our modern interpretation of a restaurant. It is clear from inscriptions on the wall that people did come in and were served food. Barter took place and guests typically ate their food there. One inscription depicts […]
Understanding Restaurants: The Guest Perspective
They say that no two snowflakes are ever the same. The number of possibilities in the formation of a snowflake leads to countless subtle differences. While this may be true, there are certain generalizations we can make about snowflakes. They are cold, white, and melt at temperatures above freezing. Snowflakes can be unique while still […]
Understanding Restaurants: The Other Perspectives
Servers are required to constantly juggle multiple priorities on a minute-by-minute basis. Continually reevaluating what is the most urgent guest need and how to address other needs efficiently to prevent anticipatable needs from becoming urgent. Our guests, managers, and co-workers determine our priorities. All three of these groups have no problems speaking up and letting […]
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About The Author
David Hayden was born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri. He took his first serving job in 1996. Since that time, he has worked for over a dozen different restaurant companies. He has held both hourly and salaried positions at independent and corporate restaurants. He has waited on over 100,000 guests and trained hundreds of servers. He has been named "Best Server in Kansas City" the last three years by the local weekly paper.