The greeting and farewelling are two of the basic skills that everyone should know in the restaurant. Two simple tasks as they may seem, however, both are very important in our business.
So how can we make sure that our staff gives an exceptional greeting and farewelling to the customers? Here 3 tips for you:
1. Have a script
"Hi, welcome to Mattenga's, how can I help you?"
This is a very direct and short script that each of our servers utters the moment a customer comes into our restaurant.
It's very simple when customers walk through the door, they need to say hi or hello.
We are welcoming the customers into our restaurant, and we ask them how can we help them.
As for the farewelling, we also have a script for that.
This time, we have to thank the customers and wish them to come back, and it goes something like this: "Thank you guys for coming in, hope to see you again soon."
So why do you need to have a script for greeting and farewelling in your restaurant?
The greeting is as simple and as important as the farewelling.
Leaving a good impression through greeting our customers will give them a positive judgment about our restaurant and service.
On the other hand, giving a notable farewelling will make our customer's experience unforgettable.
Combining these two, making both of them exceptional, can create a lasting relationship with our customers.
2. Produce training videos
You must have training videos so you are not repeating yourself a million times. Because we are in an industry where there is a lot of turnovers, this is what we do.
We have a script and training for the greeting, and ultimately it's just saying hello the moment a customer walks in through the door.
We are welcoming the customers into our restaurant, and we ask them how can we help them.
We have a training video for this and also for farewelling. We are thanking them for coming in, and we have a script for that as well.
We also train the staff to approach the customers on their tables when they are about to leave and then open the door for them.
We have a lot of details about this training.So maybe you do have the training, but the question is, is that being used? or are people doing what they are supposed to do every single day?
The way we train people is not a traditional classroom set-up kind of training. We have video training for our staff that they get to watch unlimited.
So we recorded it once, we edited it, we made it nice and pretty. We don't have to do it over and over again.
We don't know if you do that in your company, but you've got to have that. That is called efficiency and that definitely works in every business!
3. Observe if the staff follows
We have a lot of new people all the time.
There was this one instance when we came over for dinner with our family to our restaurant.
And then we heard, customers walking in, and our servers were welcoming them by saying "Welcome in", and we were like, what is that? This is not an in! Is this a motel?
That day we have to sit down with the restaurant manager and all the servers to remind and reinforce them.
So the reason why I am telling you this is for you to observe your staff if they follow rigorously.
Because yes you may have a script already in place but, is that being used consistently? Is every single server you have in your restaurant bought into that idea if that mattered because that really does matter.
Again, the first tip I have for you is to have a script. If you don't have a script, get that going, you need a fixed script. You need to train your people on that. Get it on a video or one of the things that you can do is to put it into writing.
Include what the script needs to be and have the name of every single one of your servers on it. They need to read that document and sign, and that from now on they are going to be obsessed doing that.
Lastly, you need to be watching for it because as much as they say that "they know", of course, everybody knows, but are they actually and consistently doing it or not?
Download for free!
52 Ideas for 52 weeks of the year to market your restaurant!
The Ultimate Restaurant Marketing Guide
Tune in and Subscribe to the Show
