20 things your service staff should NEVER do

Posted by barblog on Nov 15, 2010 in Bar Service | 5 comments

As owners and managers, we are sometimes blinkered as to the actual experiences being had by our customers as we delegate more and do our “top level” thinking. With this in mind, now is a good time to sit down with your staff and remind them of this list of 20 things they should never do. Maybe you have other suggestions too? Let me know in the comments.

1. Hide the service charge. If there is a service charge, alert your guests when you present the bill. It’s not a secret or a trick.
2. Be unfamiliar with anything sold. Know your menu inside and out. When you serve a Chocolate Guinness Cake, know something about Guinness!
3. Allow double-ordering. Do not let guests double‐order unintentionally; remind the guest who orders french fries with their roast beef that it is served with french fries already.
4. Ignore the Special. If there is a Special of the Day, let guests know about it. Do not force anyone to ask for the “special” menu.
5. Ignore another staff member’s table. Do not ignore a table in the bar because it is not your table. Stop, look, listen, lend a hand. (Whether tips are pooled or not.)
6. Force customers to beg. Bring the pepper grinder with the starters. Do not make people wait or beg for a condiment.
7. Make judgmental faces. Do not bring judgment with the tomato sauce. Or mustard. Or Tabasco. Or whatever condiment is requested.
8. Leave place settings that are not being used. Don’t make a customer feel like they should have company or that they are inferior for not filling a table with friends.
9. Drip feed the table. Bring all the starters at the same time, or do not bring the starters. Same with main course and desserts.
10. Stand behind someone who is ordering. Make eye contact. Thank him or her.
11. Let a customer die of thirst. Do not let a glass sit empty for too long. Approach the table and offer something more to drink.  This will increase turnover.
12. Blame the kitchen sink. Never blame the chef or the runner or the manager or the weather for anything that goes wrong. Just make it right.
13. Make the customers guess. Specials, spoken and printed, should always have prices.
14. Let customers re-use cutlery. Always remove used cutlery and replace it with new.
15. Be plain rude. Do not return to the guest anything that falls on the floor — be it a napkin, spoon or menu.
16. Build a leaning tower. Never stack the plates on the table. They make a racket. Shhhhhh.
17. Invade personal space. Do not reach across one guest to serve another.
18. Lack common sense. If a guest is having trouble making a decision, help out. If someone wants to know your life story, keep it short. If someone wants to meet the chef, make an effort.
19. Burn your guests. Never deliver a hot plate without warning the guest. And never ask a guest to pass along that hot plate.
20. Be creepy. A handshake is as close as you should get to a guest. Never pat them on the back, head or backside.

Why Your Bar Needs A “Ritual” To Crush The Competition

Posted by barblog on Mar 22, 2010 in Bar Marketing | 1 comment

Would anyone buy a bottle of Corona if it didn’t come with a lime? Isn’t Stella Artois a lot like many other beers on the market except that it’s served in a Belgian Chalice. What about Guinness? Doesn’t the two part pour make it unique? And wouldn’t Crispin Cider be just another standard cider if it wasn’t for the fact that it has a ritual of being served over ice?

Rituals are what separate these products from their competitors. The ritual is what makes the customer remember and what allows for exceptional marketing opportunities. Marketing that can be so powerful that a customer who doesn’t get a lime in their Corona will ask for it to be delivered. So it’s clearly not about the beer and consequently, not always about  the product when so many comparable products exist in the marketplace. It’s always a bout the ritual and it’s always about the show.

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