Learn how to create a waitstaff that dazzles, delights, and delivers results. In this video,you'll learn about serving main courses.

Video Transcription

Male: Looks like John forgot his tray jack. John: Okay, the lasagna. Male: And those appetizer plates won’t clear themselves. You’ve got to be kidding, that’s horrible. Just put that anywhere. John: Okay, the Chicken Florentine. Male: The food option, this isn’t eBay John you doesn’t even know who ordered what? John: The shrimp especial, all right is there anything else that I can get you. Male: I ordered the shrimp with the peppers not the asparagus. John: Oh, man I’m such an idiot, I’ll take it back to the kitchen and have them redo it for you, okay. Male: Well how long will that take. John: Only a few minutes. Male: So, okay would you take all the on trays back and keep them warm please. John: Yeah, sure. Male: Well this was a real mess, let’s recap John forgot this tray jack then when he found it and got out there, he’d forgotten to clear the appetizer plate. Now if your restaurant has bus boys this is they’re job, but you still need to make sure it’s been done. Then he stake the plates on the table which is dangerous and causing spills. Next it sounded like he broke all the china in the restaurant and finally when he got back and was ready to serve the food. He didn’t know who got what and he wind up auctioning off the food. This is a big, no, no, there are a couple of ways to avoid this, if you don’t have a great memory, then you can place order slip on the tray as reference as you pick up the plates. If you’re restaurant has an expeditor they will most likely arrange the plate by sit number on the tray. Otherwise do this yourself, when you took the order you should have written everything down according seat number. And if that wasn’t bad enough John put in the wrong dish for one of his guest and then invaded the guest personal space by patting him on the shoulder. If John had taken the time to clarify his order there wouldn’t have been any confusion. Now John has to go back to the kitchen and explained that he made another mistake. Not the best position of being, let’s check back with the tables and see how things are turning now. Jane: So how are the soup and salads? Female: Excellent. Jane: How’s the pizza. Female: Very good. Jane: Well you guys just let me know if you need anything else. Female: Thank you. Male: Thank you. John: All right here we go Chicken Florentine, lasagna, salmon with dill sauce and the spicy shrimp with penne and peppers. Now does everyone had the correct dish. Male: Yes, I think you got it right this time. Male: I’ll have a glass from the little please. Male: John made a decent recovery, he was able to get the tables food back to them relatively quickly, he did however miss an opportunity to up sell from a house glass of Merlot to a more expensive wine by the glass. Jane did an excellent job checking on her table two to three minutes after serving the soups and salads. She was unobtrusive but was able to find out the necessary information. Is the table happy, how far longer are they in their salads? Is it time to send in their on tray orders? Does anyone need another beverage? John: Is everyone enjoying their meal? Female: Actually my pasta is a little dried out, I guess from sitting out while his was being redone. John: Yeah, probably while it was staying warm in the calamander. I can take it back to the kitchen and have them make you a fresh dish. Female: No, that’s okay I already ate a good portion of it and I’ll keep picking at it. John: Okay. Male: Ana would you care for something else instead, a dessert maybe? Female: Oh, sure. Male: You can do that can’t you? John: I’ll check with the manager first but it should be okay. Let me get a dessert menu for you. Female: Wait I am not finished with that. John: Oh, I’m sorry. Male: Poor John, his trouble seemed to be never ending with this table. He started off by carrying the merlot incorrectly. The heat from your hand could affect the temperature of the wine. And you could place you’re hand on the edge of the glass where the guest would drink from. You always want to carry the wine by the stem of the glass or place it on a tray of husk. This guest didn’t appear to notice but if he we’re a wine kind of sore he would surely object. John also had to deal with another dissatisfied guest Ana, her pasta dried out when it was being reheated in the broiler while the shrimp was being remade. John actually refers to the broiler as the calamander which resulted in a slightly confused looked from Ana. You should avoid using slang especially server or kitchen lingo. John offer to have her pasta remade but he should have also offer her a complimentary dessert or drink instead of the guest requesting it. Lastly John did not read the body language of this table very well. He tried to clear Ana’s plate before she was done. Body language is so important in this business, he should notice that Ana’s plate was still in its original position and then she still had fork in her hand. On the other hand let’s look at Jane’s table. Her guest are letting her know that they are finished this guest has placed the salad fork times downward on the plate and push the plate slightly away. This signals along with noticing if you’re table is still eating will help you know when you’re table is finished with the course. And remember it is best to let everyone finish before you begin clearing the table. Now let’s look at how you’re body language affects the guest impression of you. Here John is waiting for his guest to order. His tapping his pin on his orders slipped and looks slightly annoying, not good. You are there to serve the guest you should seem to have all the time in the world for each table. Here we see Jane standing straight and smiling, looking directly at the guest as they order. Jane seems intensive and helpful. Even the way you walk can give you’re guest the impression that you don’t care. Don’t drag you’re feet. Jane: A spinach ravioli, Tuscan chicken and shrimp penne with asparagus. Isn’t there anything else I can get you at the moment? Female: Everything looks wonderful, thank you. John: Have you had the chance to look the dessert menu over? Female: Well I’ve glanced at it but nobody is else done so I’ll wait. John: Okay, I’m sorry I thought you are all going to the sympathy tonight that’s why. Male: No, just off for dinner. John: Okay, well just let me know if there’s anything else that I can do for you. Male: Okay. Jane: So is everything prepared to your liking? Female: Oh, it’s wonderful this chicken is to die for. Excellent! Male: John is attempting to redeem his earlier failures so far it doesn’t seem to really be working. But maybe the count of dessert will do some good. Jane’s tables seems to be in happy, everything is going perfect. They’re very first impression of Jane put them at ease. They knew that she was going to take care of them. Jane checked on the table two to three minutes after serving them their on trays and did you notice how she refilled the waters? She removed the glass from the table, so she didn’t spilling any water on the table food or guest. Good job, now all she has left to do is clear the table, present the dessert and after dinner drink items and close the deal.