Are Your Hostesses Driving You Out Of Business By Saying "Yes"?

It seems like the last place you would look for sales problems but without proper coaching, your hostesses could be creating unmanageable situations for both your service and kitchen staff simply by saying “yes” to your customers.

When hiring hosts and hostesses it is vital that they be trained to not only greet guests with enthusiasm, smiles and make professional first impressions, it is also important that they control your seatings. Without that control your servers cannot deliver exceptional service and the kitchen staff cannot send out the perfect dishes customers return for. Overwhelming the service staff is bad enough but when you overwhelm the kitchen, your customers are now on the receiving end of food that is not up to your own high standards. The quality of food that customers may not return for and worse, tell friends about.

Your hosts and hostesses hold the key to a smooth, profitable service every night but it takes communication, coaching, exercises and testing.

For instance, if someone called for a reservation at your busiest dining time: 7:00, pm two weeks from today, the hostess should say she has a 6:45 or 7:30 available even if she is staring at a blank page. She should know that 7:00pms will fill in since this is your busiest hour and plus she will also have walk-ins. Saying yes to every call for peak hours is a huge mistake and discovering why they are dining will help disperse reservation times across the evening. When the hostess asks, “…And are you celebrating a special occasion?” If the customer is celebrating any occasion at all she should use this information to push the reservation time in one direction or the other. For instance if the customer says, “Yes it’s my anniversary.” The next thing the hostess should say is, “Oh I have a romantic corner table but it won’t be available until 7:30.” If he takes it great! If he can’t due to time constraints: a show, or work etc., she can offer the other romantic table at 6:45 and make sure the table number is request and reserved for that night so the guest is not disappointed. This helps too if your restaurant uses Open Table and customers can see on line that 7:00pm tables are available. Those are not the romantic, corner, window, booth or “Selfie-Stick tables or tables in “John’s” section who video tapes the best birthday/anniversary elements (Before, dessert plate making, restaurant staff saying “Happy Birthday Debbie!!”, Surprised look of guest and after event comments) and sends an edited version at no extra charge, or “Lisa’s” section who will call you back to find out important details about the guest(s) of honor and create a custom dining experience from handpicked wines to dessert based on their life event … all within budget, no menus needed.

All of the above options should be available to your hosts/reservationists in order to push reservation times either earlier or later to reduce the pressure on your kitchen. When the kitchen staff is allowed to do what it does best your customers return. If they can’t do what they do best there is always a domino effect wave of frustration throughout your entire staff that results in lower work ethic and practices, bad behavior and even theft.

Your hostesses have so much power at their disposal and don’t even know it. They need to be shown that controlling the door starts from the first phone call and ends when the guest is finally seated when they are ready to seat them, not when the guest is ready to sit down. This takes finesse and conversation when the guest arrives. Complimenting them on their outfits or congratulating them on their anniversary and then introducing them to other guests. Telling new guests that this couple is celebrating their “20ith” anniversary forces people to start talking and asking questions…. It also take the focus off when both parties are going to sit down.

Help your hostesses understand how much is at stake and how their decisions and strength in controlling the flow of customers in any given hour affects the livelihoods of hundreds of people. It’s not just a 10% tip for Jeff because he was triple sat, it is 16 frustrated guests who can’t get Jeff’s attention when they want something within a reasonable time. It is 16 orders all going in at the same time and possibly wrong due to sheer volume and traffic at the computer. It is then possible 16-20 proteins on a grill all at different temperatures and 16 entrees on a pass that only fits 10.

Help your hostesses learn that they control the success of the evening service and that discovering important details about customers and occasions will not only put the power in their hands instead of the customer’s, it will also help them build the kind of dining experiences that people come back for again and again.

What are you now doing to help control the flow of your dining room?

Elevate your hiring / staffing / training to the next level PLUS get your servers more engaged with your business and customers: Hire for defined server positions: "video specialist", "event specialist", "som / food and wine pairing specialist" ("just give him a budget and he will delight and amaze your guests with the best parts of the entire menu!!") etc.

People are always looking for the best, most unique dining experiences especially when entertaining friends and guests. Why not make your one of a kind service the talk of the town and stop their search.

Use this one unique idea and never lose another customer for the life of your restaurant. By training your hostesses to offer simple customized dining experiences she can better control the flow of orders going into the kitchen thereby prevent mistakes and loss.

Learning what your server's strengths are and then offering a one of a kind dining experience based on their interests will excite your employees and your customers plus make your restaurant unstoppable in this fickle market.

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LeeAnne Homsey is a 30 year veteran restaurant manager, Author of "How To Double Your Restaurant Sales Guaranteed" and Monthly contributor to "Total Food Service" Magazine.

For more Restaurant / Customer Service Training ideas visit  her: http://HospitalityTips4BiggerThanks.com