Why you should implement the Fine Dining Steps of Sevice in your restaurant even if you are casual dining!
The fine dining steps of service are a short version of the LQA standard, and they are used to ensure high quality, standardize service for every guest in the restaurant!
It is all about exceeding expectations! I have seen it countless times in my career, and I guarantee 100% it works perfectly for any type of restaurant!
Rich people visit fine dining restaurants not only for the quality of the meal but mostly because of the quality of the service they receive there!
They are willing to pay premium prices for a special treatment. If you offer your guests a similar service, you will stand out from your competition and succeed!
Of course, implementing all the fine-dining steps of service in a casual dining restaurant is impossible for many reasons. We have selected the steps that will turn your service into a pleasant surprise for your guests and ensure that every waiter delivers a professional and personal experience for them.
Here is the shortlist of the fine dining steps of service that you have to implement, no matter what type of restaurant you are running. We will discuss every step in details afterward:
- Great the guests within two minutes of their sitting with a smile and a friendly, personal attitude.
- Present the menu with the daily specials and take the drink order
- Serve the drinks within 6 minutes and take the food and wine order.
- Present and serve the wine before the first meal is served.
- Perform two minutes - two bites check to ensure everything is fine with the served meals.
- Refill wine or suggest another drink if a guest has emptied his/her glass.
- Clear the table after all the guests have finished their meals. Suggest dessert and coffee.
- Bring the bill and complete the payment without a delay when the guests are ready.
- Thank the guests for their visit and wish them well.
- Invite the guests back to the restaurant.
Those ten steps will ensure that your guests receive the quality service they deserve, and every waiter in your establishment should follow them strictly. We will discuss the benefits of implementing the fine-dining steps of service in a casual dining restaurant a little later.
First, let's see what every step means and how it should be performed:
- The best-case scenario for greeting your guests is to do it immediately upon arrival, but this is not always possible! Make sure you welcome them to the restaurant and present yourself by name. When a manager or a hostess brings the guests to your table, and you are busy with other guests, try to make eye contact with them. Not more than two minutes later, you should be at the table to greet them.
- In a fine dining restaurant, the guests usually require more time and more visits from the waiter to accomplish all this. In a casual dining restaurant, neither the guests are inclined to wait, nor the waiter has the time. We combine all those tasks in one visit to the table to save time and effort. Present the menu and the daily specials, and take the drink order. When we bring the menus to the table, we leave the wine list as well. This way, the guests will have a chance to make their choice about the food and the wine together. By the time you serve their aperitifs, they will be ready to order.
- Make sure the drinks arrive promptly on the table. The guests don't like to wait, and we don't want them to spend much time on an empty table. If you see that the bartender is busy and the drinks will take longer, you should advise your guests in advance. When taking the food order, try to repeat it for your guests, so you avoid misunderstandings or mistakes.
- If the guests order wine, they usually pair that with the food they have chosen, so make sure that the wine is presented and served before the food. While you are serving the wine, it is a good practice to inform your guests about the status of their meals. "I just checked with the kitchen; they are working on your order. It will be ready shortly" or "I just checked with the kitchen, and the chef will need a few extra minutes for your order. I apologize for that."
- Two minutes - two bites check means you stop by the table to ask your guests if everything is fine with their meals after they have had two bites from it or two minutes have passed since you served it. It is highly recommended to name a dish or two exactly: "How is your steak, sir, is it well done as you ordered it?" Don't just ask: "How is your meal, is everything OK?" Try to be more specific.
- A waiter should be keeping track of the drinks of his/her guests and offer a new drink when a guest has finished the first one! If the guests have ordered a bottle of wine, make sure you are refiling the glasses and not leaving the guests to do it themselves. Offer another bottle if the first one is finished! If you find time, you could also do a water service, but do this only if you are not busy with something else.
- All guests have to be done with their meals for you to start clearing the plates. Some guests eat slowly. We have to respect that and not put pressure on them by clearing everyone else's dishes. There are exceptions to this rule as for example: when a guest asks you to remove his plate himself.
- The guests don't like to wait too long for their bill and payment! Once the guests have ordered their check, we should bring it to the table as soon as possible and take care of the payment. The worst thing is to anger the guests after a pleasant evening with us because we have made them wait too long to pay. We might lose our TIP, and they will leave the restaurant with a bad feeling!
- and 10. We put these two steps separately to imply their importance! We have to thank every guest for their business when they are paying the check. We want the guests to leave our restaurant with a pleasant feeling in their hearts! Wishing them well and inviting them to return and visit again is what they will remember the next time they chose a place to go out! No guest should leave the restaurant without being thanked for his/her business and welcomed back!
We call them fine dining steps of service because they are used in fine dining restaurants. However, the casual dining establishments are implementing them around the world and are benefiting from increased guests' satisfaction.
Train your waiters to follow the steps of service, and you will see an increase in revenue and more regular guests in your restaurant.
Your staff will also benefit from performing the fine dining steps of service by making better TIP. It is a win-win situation.
It is a hard time right now in the Hospitality Industry, and only the ones who stand out with excellent service and high-quality food will survive.
Use the Free Online Waiter Training Course at The Waiter's Academy to train your staff and improve their knowledge and skills.
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All comments for "Why you should implement the Fine Dining Steps of Sevice in your restaurant even if you are casual dining!"
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Working in a Casual dining restaurant but following the steps of service will give you a great advantage because you will stand out and the guest will see and appreciate that! It means happy guests, bigger revenue, and more money in your pocket!