The Service That Sells! Cycle of Service follows the guest experience from the time they pull into your parking until the time they walk out the door. So far, we’ve covered Making Guests Feel Welcome, Greeting & Seating Guests, Bussing Tables, and Generating Sales. Throughout every piece in the Cycle, you and your staff have multiple opportunities to deliver exceptional service and create guest loyalty.
Serving Food & Drinks
The next piece in the cycle of service is Serving Food & Drinks. Train your entire staff to deliver exceptional service during this phase with skill and pizazz. Make sure you cover these topics:
- First and foremost, guests need everything to be perfect at their table. Place setting procedures may differ depending on a restaurant’s theme, but one thing’s for sure: guests need clean utensils in order to enjoy their meals!
- Cleanliness is important throughout the Cycle of Service, and that’s especially true when serving food and drinks. Be sure your staff is handling cutlery, dishes, and glasses appropriately.
- Teamwork between your back of house staff and servers is critical during this part of the guest visit. As a manager, you create the tone for how these groups work together, so do your part to present a unified front.
- Food and drinks are only part of the guest experience. Train every staff member to identify opportunities to not just deliver food and drinks, but to also deliver a service experience that sets your restaurant apart from the competition.
Wrapping Up the Guest Visit
The end of the guest visit is no time to relax. A bad impression at the end of a guest’s visit can undo all the previous good impressions you and your team worked so hard to create up to this point. Make sure your staff is trained to end the guest visit on a positive note, including with these specific elements:
- Presenting the check and taking care of payment are important tasks. Not only are these likely to be a server’s last opportunity to interact with guests during this visit, they are also the times when the guest is deciding how much to leave for a tip.
- Train servers on your restaurant’s guidelines and best practices for reconciling payment and protecting guests’ credit card information.
- There are three goals hosts, servers, cashiers, service assistants, and managers should strive to meet with every departing guest: thank them, invite them back, and leave a positive impression.
Your Role in the Guest Experience
As a manager, your leadership is what keeps the Cycle of Service rolling. Every part of the guest experience requires training, mentoring, and ongoing support. That’s your job. Let your entire staff know the impact they have on the guest experience and how important they are to delivering exceptional service, increasing sales, and promoting guest loyalty.
Train your entire front-of-house staff on Cycle of Service with Service That Sells! online training. Check it out!
