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Blog
Is there a waiter in the house?
February 1, 2008
Yup. Paul Paz is right. I should have talked to a waiter or two before presuming to write about the art of upselling. I'm pretty sure had I gotten to the right ones I would have had at least a useful sidebar. (Note: The Palm's Debbie Fox, who did supply much helpful info for a sidebar in the story, was for many years a waitress.) In any case, because Chain Leader doesn't have a letters' page I figured I'd share Paz's epistle with you.: I very much enjoyed Mr. Farkas's article and have shared it with several of my peers. While I also found the offerings from the various restaurant representatives useful, I found one key reference group absent. Professional Waiters themselves!
Too often our industry media and employers overlook the valuable concepts and techniques applied daily by the very service-sales professionals who create the multi billion dollar annual revenues. Many career professional waiters possess incredibly useful and effective revenue and customer loyalty building skills that remain untapped by their immediate employers and/or the industry at large. It would be appreciated to have Chain Leader invite more career hourly restaurant professionals to share their useful and effective insights to the building and sustaining of revenues that support local, regional and national businesses economies.
Thank you for the opportunity to provide Chain Leader with feedback "from the trenches". I look forward to gleaning more useful tableside advice and suggestions gained from Chain Leader publications. In the meantime, Make It Fun... Make It Easy... Make Some Money !!!
Sincerely,
Paul C. Paz
WaitersWorld
Beaverton OR
Posted by David Farkas on February 1, 2008 | Comments (4)
In response to: Is there a waiter in the house?
Paul Paz - WaitersWorld.com commented:
Dear Mr. Farkas... What a delightful surprise... and vey much appreciated! Paul C. Paz www.WaitersWorld.com
In response to: Is there a waiter in the house?
Tyrone Knepper commented:
The corporation that I am employeed with utilizes the front of the house floor supervisors as litmus tests. These result and "pulse" finders focus on the servers and floor persons attitude and opinons with regard to what is on the menu, what is easiest to sell and what menu items would need something extra to give the sales and extra boost or to improve the ease of suggestive selling.
In response to: Is there a waiter in the house?
David Farkas commented:
Tyrone ... If you have a minute, I would definitely like to know more about this service technique at your company. What do you mean by "litmus test" and how is it accomplished? You can reach me at dfarkas at reedbusiness dot com
In response to: Is there a waiter in the house?
MikeTheWaiterDotCom commented:
the first thing to realize is that a good waiter knows his product. In this manner he is able to meet the needs of his guest, by providing a more complete dining experience....and meet the needs of the house by increased sales... peace, mw