Hospitality Training: Waiter / Waitress

There is probably no other profession in the world that so many people will at one stage experience. That of being a waiter/waitress, or a server, food & beverage attendent, or any other of the myriad of official titles that apply.

Before training begins, there are some crucial essentials to the position.

Most of these need to be noted in the initial interview.

Disposition and personality

The reality is that not all people are nice. Some people, no matter how hard they may try, just can't smile easily, are unable to talk to anybody, and overall, have low levels of natural charisma.
While you still can have such people fill this position, it is significantly harder for both the individual and business, not to mention the customers, if it is hard for someone to have a level of personality.

A dour or grumpy person cannot be an effective server.

This should be clear at the initial meeting. A extrovert is more suited to this position.

Still, people without naturally high levels of personality (or introverts) can still be successful in such a role, but being able to talk to people and customers is a key asset in service.

Experience

While it is a position that you can easily train people into, as a manager or business you need to make a decision whether or not you want your "new" team member skill ready.

For training, the first step is to determine what skills you team already have. This is a key in training, to determine the skillsets and how to build your team member accordingly.

Flexibility

Obviously, if someone comes into an interview for a restaurant that is typical with normal trading (that is, its peak periods are nights Friday and Saturday) and says I will not, and refuse to work on Fridays or Weekends, well, then they are not showing flexibility.

Ours is not a regular hours based workplace. However, if someone is willing to be flexible, and is up front with the establishment, then hopefully a good arrangement can come up.

As a manager, nothing breeds morale and loyalty like an ability to show flexibility to your team, which, you should try to do if your team can "scratch your back" as well.

Once these basics are decided, then you can groom your new team member.

The first step of training is to ascertain how skilled your waiter/waitress is.

Often, this will be obvious with the first night, or week.

If it suits the business, you would have a training grid, or series of training process, where you can mark efficiently how "trained" your team member is, and then based on this, you can sign them off on training and the processes.

If you don't have such a thing, often a staff file will suffice.

This is the beginning of a setup, that if the individual wishes to stay with your business, will eventually lead to you being able to groom them for the next level.

The training in itself is a step by step process (assuming they are relatively unskilled)

1. Let them get a feel of the venue, and the staff, for at least a shift, before allocating core duties. Younger team can get intimidated. Let them in slowly.
2. Teach the basics first. A good process is to have them run food, or just clear tables (some estblishments call this a "busboy/girl").
3. Allow them to learn what you sell, via the menu or wine list. A server is essentially a sales person, and a good sales person knows their products.
4. Pair them up with a strong server. Every restaurant has one. And on the first few nights you team them together, make sure that the two of them don't have a full section, so they have time to go through the details of the business.
5. Give them a dummy run, let them place a order, with a manager or supervisor "playing guest". Not only does this allow them practice, but this is one of those golden moments that lets you bond with your team.
6. Wean them in slowly. If possible, give them just one big table or 3-4 small tables to start.

But most importantly, remember they are new/untrained. Follow up is crucial.

Beyond this, break down the key elements of the job, and go through them accordingly.

• Carrying plates.
• How to take a order, repeating the order to the customers for confirmation, etc
• Knowing how to stagger orders from a busy section.
• Communicating with the kitchen "Order in", "Mains away".
• Even as far as how to walk (i.e. call behind when coming up to someone)

Training breeds confidence, and this confidence will enable your business to operate more efficiently.