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[Richardsap]

One of the most important concepts for providing impeccable restaurant dining service is for the staff to lose their egos before they begin their work shift. This way of thinking and acting must be taught in every waiter training program.

When people go out to eat in a restaurant, they are paying hard earned money to get something "extra." People dine out because they want something that they ordinarily would not get at home. Of course, it is the food, but also service provided by someone who is friendly and interested in them having a good time.

If the waiter is more interested in his/her own well being as opposed to the customer's well being, then dining room service will falter tremendously. This lack of care becomes obvious even when there are flawless steps of the service cycle. All staff must check their extra sensitivity and ego coats at the front door, and thick skin must be put on--especially by the waitstaff. When it comes to dining room service, the waitstaff takes the heaviest pounding psychologically and needs to compensate somehow for mental survival.

Every waiter training program must teach that the food and beverages being served at a restaurant costs 3-4 times more than what it would cost if consumed at home. Therefore, the "value added" benefit comes from not only the food quality, but the restaurant service quality as well. Waitstaff must always be in tune with the customer's mood and feeling long before their own mood and feeling because that is what service is all about (performing for someone else).

Food is completely and 100% tangible as it has a look, smell, taste, and a texture. Yet, restaurant service is 50% tangible--meaning the physical part of how items are delivered, served and cleared from the table. The other 50% is attitude or "feelings" which incorporates the state of one's mind associated with customer interaction. If the waiter does not care about the customer's dining experience, then it will show up immediately in service performance and business will be lost in countless ways including a reduced tip.

Every waiter training program teacher must photocopy the 31 definitions of "service" directly from the dictionary, and pass it out to all of the class. All of these definitions must be transferred to the waiter's overall attitude for providing impeccable restaurant dining room service---especially losing one's ego.

Richard Saporito, keynote speaker and consultant has been upgrading restaurants across the world for over 15 years. He helps owners, managers, and dining room staffs achieve that outstanding service reputation which always sets a restaurant apart from its fierce competition. Discover how to improve dining room service and increase your restaurant's business by visiting: How To Improve Dining Room Service by Richard Saporito | Restaurant Management

[psamuels]

Waiters in Europe are seen as a profession, most notably France, Germany, Austria, Italy and Spain - In Australia it's seen as a filler job while studying and to make ends meet. In my experience I've always sought to hire students from these countries as waiting staff as they seem to understand the service levels required with a minimum of attitude and a maximum of diligence. Just last weekend we were at a coastal town and the waiter that served us was a german girl on study leave - suffice it to say we tipped her in a restaurant that required no tipping because she was so good at what she was doing, even though it wouldn't have been her profession.

I think anyone seeking to do waitering should take a leaf out of the Europeans attitude, not only do they feel like they are contributing to the success of the business, but they get the rewards on top of it. My staff (while i won't say i've had issues) tend to get very good tips and i'm only operating a cafe with a high quality but affordable menu aimed at the younger diner.

[goranm]

I personally do not like Yelp and similar websites, because people are more likely to leave negative reviews than positive ones.I am sick of those customers that keep trashing what we do. I understand that they are sometimes unsatisfied, but come on we never do it on purpose. I did find a way how to fight those customers. There is a websites called Restaurants Fight Back | Resraurant Review
where we, restaurant people can post reviews of difficult customers. Brilliant right? I love this website, such a great idea to vent out our frustrations sometimes. If you ever need something like this check it out.

[ChrisFoy]

Every waiter training program must teach that the food and beverages being served at a restaurant costs 3-4 times more than what it would cost if consumed at home. Therefore, the "value added" benefit comes from not only the food quality, but the restaurant service quality as well. Waitstaff must always be in tune with the customer's mood and feeling long before their own mood and feeling because that is what service is all about (performing for someone else).

When people go out to eat in a restaurant, they are paying hard earned money to get something "extra." People dine out because they want something that they ordinarily would not get at home. Of course, it is the food, but also service provided by someone who is friendly and interested in them having a good time.