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Service
Is Your Host or Hostess
M.I.A. (Missing in Action)? Say Good Night to Great Service!
By Peter Langlois
I’ve always believed life
is not about how you start, but rather about how you finish. It’s my
opinion that the same is true when it comes to servicing guests in our
restaurants. While we do a relatively good job in opening our restaurants
and managing them during crunch times, we don’t always finish the job the
way we should.
Greeting and seating
guests in a timely and friendly fashion is undoubtedly a big key to
customers feeling they’ve made a good decision by choosing our
restaurants. I’ve had a top consultant tell me that about 25 percent of a
customer’s service perception is formed in this initial encounter. I’ll
admit that entering a restaurant to find a host or hostess with his/her
back turned to the front door is a huge turn-off. On the other hand, a
host opening the door and greeting me gets things off on the right foot.
Once guests are seated,
it’s estimated that about 50 percent of the service perception is made
throughout the next 45 minutes to two hours, depending upon your concept.
The remaining 25 percent is where we sometimes drop the ball.
With our focus on labor
cost, we utilize technology to measure hourly productivity throughout each
shift. As productivity begins to decline, we close sections and look for
other opportunities to cut back. Too often floor managers decide to
reduce the host staff, leaving the restaurant in jeopardy with respect to
that last 25 percent of the service experience.
Is there really any
excuse for not thanking your guests and asking them to come back soon?
Just as you should open the door to greet them, you should likewise open
the door as they exit. It’s a terrible last impression for guests to walk
by an empty host station and not have anyone thank them for paying
everybody’s salary and wages. You could undo all the good things you’ve
done previously if your host or hostess is missing-in-action at this
critical point. If every single guest isn’t thanked and invited back,
you’re not finishing strong. And isn’t that what separates winners from
losers?
Bio:
Peter Langlois is founder of
www.RestaurantU.com: Tools of the
Trade for Business, for School, for Free!, co-editor of Weekly Restaurant
Connections (e-Newsletter):
www.wrcnewsletter.com, Instructor, The Art Institute of
Houston-Culinary, and Management, Marketing and e-business Facilitator at
The University of Phoenix (Houston). Langlois is also a Malcolm Baldrige
2004 Examiner. He has a Political Science degree from Michigan State
University (Modern International Chinese Relations) and an M.B.A from the
University of Houston (Marketing and Business Strategies). A detailed CV
outlining his hospitality career is available on both web sites.
Contact information: 832.860.5595 or
peter@wt.net
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