I stopped off at a place for a drink after work the other day, an old haunt I have been known to frequent from time to time. Now, remember, I work nights, so when I say ‘after work’, I am talking about 10:00 P.M., not 5:00 P.M I make my way in to the bar…
Category: bar
Don’t Bump in to My Chair!
Back in the old days, when I was a server at Spago Restaurant in Los Angeles, and we did over 4oo dinners every single night, I would often find it difficult just to get to my customers. That was a challenge. On some nights I would be handed a party of two, and when they…
Perfect
That word doesn’t exist. Not in the real world, anyway. In fact, I don’t even understand why that word is even in our vocabulary. We will never achieve it. Doesn’t mean, however, we aren’t going to strive for it, though. Otherwise, what’s the point? I have been accused over the years of having too high…
No
“No, we can’t do that.” “No, we don’t seat incomplete parties.” “No, you can’t switch out the fries for a baked potato.” “No, we don’t allow any substitutions.” “No, I can’t take an order until your party is complete.” Heard these precious gems before? Don’t be the restaurant of ‘NO‘ I think worse than being…
Tell the Kitchen
I have worked in my share of restaurants. 10 to be exact. One thing I have often noticed is that the kitchen can feel left out from time to time. It’s no wonder that so many places end up with front-of-the-house vs. back-of-the-house conflicts. Include them The front-of-the-house folks get to see the look on…
Culture
Create a culture. That is your best recipe for success. Higher the right people, train them, and then make sure you are sending the right messages with your actions. Your behavior will set the tone for your employees. If you are standing around doing very little work, what do you think your employees are going…
Internal Marketing
“Internal marketing should precede external marketing.” At first, I didn’t fully appreciate what the hell that meant, but I quickly realized the importance of it. There is no point in spending a bunch of money putting together a big marketing plan, unless you are sure to start with your employees first. They are the ones who…
Check Average
There are two ways to up revenue in your restaurant: 1) Get more people to come in. 2) Get those coming in to spend more money. I have spoken before on Marketing. https://tabletalkpdx.com/2013/07/09 Yes, you could come up with strategies to figure out how to get more customers through that front door. In fact, you…
Address it Now!
I like to sleep at night. There are many other things I like to do at night, but we won’t go in to those now. Let’s just focus on the fact that I like to sleep, and don’t like having things weighing on me that might interrupt that process. One of the beautiful things about…
Haven’t You Eaten Here Before?
Even though our real objective in this business is to get the customer to come back, we as restaurant employees cannot make the assumption that they have come back, and therefore understand how it is all supposed to work. That’s our job. Help them out Unless you recognize them as a repeat customer (and even…
Date Night
So my wife and I are on a date. Please bear in mind that I work nights, and we have teenagers, so the date night does not come around as often as we would like. Well, as often as I would like. I can’t speak for my wife. Burnt-orange peel We walk in to a…
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