Staff training is not only a vital tool to boost customer satisfaction levels, but when done properly it can also increase spend per head. The Restaurant Ingredient director Guy Holmes offers advice on the matter

‘Supermarkets sell food, restaurants sell service.’

This old restaurant maxim has never been more true than today, with customers demanding incredibly high levels of service — and, thanks to huge competition in the region, if they don’t get it they will simply frequent your competitors’ restaurants instead. 

The secret of good service

Good service starts with recruiting good staff.

Some people are naturally good at working in the service industry and some are not. The key attributes that you are looking for in a potential employee is that they are friendly, confident and reasonably fast-working — you don’t want someone so laid back that they just stroll slowly round the restaurant during busy periods.

When interviewing staff you should be able to gauge if they have these three attributes within the first minute or two. But it’s always worth checking references; it’s amazing how many restaurants don’t!

All new staff should be employed on the understanding that they are on one month’s probation and that during that time they can be fired without notice. Likewise, if they don’t want to work at your restaurant they too can simply leave without a notice period.

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Training tips

Once you have found good staff, the next step is to ensure that they are correctly trained.
 
I find it helps to write a training manual for each restaurant, complete with all relevant service steps and scripts, as this ensures all staff are trained to the same high standards.

Service steps are essentially all the stages from when a customer makes a booking to them having their meal, paying and leaving. The script is essentially about that whole process — it should offer hints and suggestions about how to phrase questions to the customer and also tips on up-selling.

The staff also need to be trained regarding the menu. I would recommend that the chef does this and that the staff are given tasting sessions, where they are encouraged to write their own tasting notes. This helps to personalise the service that they give.

Food preparation times should also be covered — dishes that take a particularly long time to cook need to be memorised, so customers can be warned in case they are in a hurry.

Increasing spend per head

The benefit of training staff properly isn’t just about giving good service; it’s also about achieving a better spend per head from your customers.

This can be accomplished by the waiting and bar staff through various selling techniques.

There are three basic methods for staff to increase spend per head. These are:

1) Positive selling

Positive selling means keeping the customer supplied with enough food and drink to be perfectly satisfied. For example, you should ask a customer if they would like another glass of wine before they have finished the one they are drinking.
A good general rule to follow is that when there is a third or less liquid in a customer’s glass, you should ask if you can get them another drink.

It’s always best to nod your head slightly to reinforce the positive nature of what you have just asked.