Every year we hear of a new restaurant opening in our neighborhood. The restaurant industry is booming and creating waves as millennials today prefer going out. They enjoy different kinds of cuisines and are ready to experiment. A great customer experience is a reason behind a restaurant’s success. You can achieve it only by providing the service on point.

An excellent restaurant service transcribes huge customer satisfaction, which translates to more repeated visits. To add on, happy customers turn into evangelists and market your restaurant through word of mouth.

Every restaurant strives to give the best customer experience. They find it hard to notice that their staff are potentially making some service mistakes that may cause customers to avoid your restaurant. Maintaining a standard customer service checklist can help you formulate a winning model and provide a stellar customer experience. 

If you have been in the restaurant industry for a long time, you will be aware of how important it is to delight your customers. It is a customer-centric business. Your diners can turn into your prospective marketers if you provide them the best services. 

Running a successful restaurant needs extensive planning and strategy along with hard work. It is observed that 60% of restaurants survive only for a year, and later they shut down. However, 80% of restaurants manage to survive for another couple of years. Serving good quality food and providing excellent service may leave a better impression on the customer. A lack of well-trained staff leads to constant mistakes, which can take away your regular customers. You can set things right if you are aware of the restaurant service mistakes that your staff are likely to commit.

The Service Mistakes That You Must Avoid

Here you will find some critical restaurant service mistakes that are generally committed by the staff. You may equip them by providing the right set of training based on their profile.

1. Warm and Pleasant Greetings

The best way to welcome your guests would be by greeting them when they approach you. The digital medium has made the greeting very mechanical. To make things better, you may consider incorporating a Voice Over in the initial place. The servers are placed as the first point of contact to handle the customers. 

Keeping in mind that the first impression is the last, you need to make your servers customer-friendly. Many large-scale restaurants usually engage staff to extend the warm pleasantries. You may want to employ a team that gives utmost care to customers on their visit as well as during the inquiry.

The staff should be competent to give a warm welcome and address the guests’ requests while coordinating with them to allocate tables and their preferences. 

Based on your finances you may employ dedicated staff for ushering or you may train your existing staff to take up this responsibility along with their other cater of duties.

2. Keeping Drinks Filled

Diners come to the restaurant to be carefree and enjoy their time. They prefer you serve them food and drinks on the table in a continuous fashion rather than picking up their glasses and refilling them at your counter. This kind of abrupts their joyous time, and many diners have been vocal about this. 

Train your staff to be quick in refilling the empty glasses and only pick them once a filled glass is put on the table. A set of well-trained staff can bring more harmony to your restaurant as your customers would be glad for the extended services given by them.

3. Lack of Eye Contact

Greeting your customer with eye contact can make a lasting impact on them. They feel they are welcomed and cared for. This also shows that your staff is happy to have them and is ready to offer the service. 

Eye contact helps assure a guest that he would be taken care of. Train your staff to make perfect and prolonged eye contact; this will make them appear confident and will keep your customers engaged. 

4. Handling The Glassware

Having a trained set of staff can make your restaurant industry boom. The staff needs to take good care while serving the customers. An appropriate way to hold the glasses and cutlery is the prime requisite. 

The staff is expected to hold the glassware correctly rather than hold and place it by the rim. The rim of the glass comes in direct contact with the diner’s mouth, and hence they prefer it to be most hygienic. 

5. Being Over Friendly

A friendly staff is always an asset to your organization. His positive and warm vibes will attract customers. But the staff should be aware of how friendly they can become. Assisting the customer in deciding their menu or suggesting the right place to sit for a longer duration is a welcome step. But if the staff keeps on pestering the customer with questions, that can turn the table.

Diners come to spend some quality time with their friends and loved ones. Respect their privacy and allow them to make the most of it. Take a cue from them by being at a distance.

The staff must know that they should be near the table to offer service whenever called upon and not hang around the diners and interfere in their privacy.

6. Offering Help in Menu Recommendations

The millennials today are so fascinated with different kinds of cuisines that they are ready to experiment. Thus many restaurant owners tweak their original recipes to suit the palate of the customers and call them by fancy names. 

Every restaurant is known for particular food items. A learned staff can assist the customer in choosing and finalizing the menu. Some diners find it hard to comprehend the menu listing. For times like this, let the staff make menu recommendations to help the customer place an order with ease.

In addition to this, helping customers place their orders is a great way of applying marketing techniques and upselling your most sought out menu items. Ensure that your staff is familiar with the menu. It will be worth having a knowledgeable expert on your food when asked by guests.

7. Unkempt Restaurant Staff

Every restaurant has a dress code. The staff is differentiated by the uniform they wear. It gives a clear classification of your front house staff from your servers and chef.

Being presentable is the foremost requirement of your restaurant staff. They should have trimmed nails and wear neat and clean uniforms. They should use mild perfume or cologne, as strong smells can be a distraction to many diners. 

Ever since the pandemic has struck, customers are very particular about hygiene. They look out for all possible measures to be safe. Ensure your staff is abiding by the hygiene standards, or else they may doubt your kitchen cleanliness.

Hence, make it mandatory for all staff to maintain a high level of sanitization standards when on the floor of the restaurant.

8. Making guests wait for the check

Once the meal is concluded, the guests prefer to leave without further delay. Keep your staff informed about a quick wrap-up by giving the customer his check. A delay in submitting the check by your staff shows they are not well trained. This can hamper your reputation.

Bottom Line

Running your restaurant can be a dream come true. But inevitable mistakes can ruin the whole effort you have put in. You can avoid the above-mentioned mistakes by training your staff appropriately, accentuating your restaurant service to ring in profits.