By
eHow Careers & Work Editor
Difficulty: Moderately Challenging
Step1
Treat your entire section as one table. Your tables are close by one another for a reason, so take advantage. Each time you walk into the dining room, go to each table and take care of their needs. If you have two or more tables sit down at once, greet them in one round, take their drink orders in one round, and so on.
Step2
Keep your hands full. Think about what you are carrying as you move from the back of the house to the front. A smart server doesn't leave the service area with just one drink on a tray unless the restaurant is really slow. Ideally, a waiter or waitress has drinks for one table, bread for another, and an extra side of salad dressing for a third, ready to go.
Step3
Get your priorities straight. As a rule of thumb, things a customer absolutely needs to continue a meal, like a fork, come first; followed by running hot food, greeting new tables, cashing out a table about to leave, taking a table's drink order, taking a table's food order, checking back on a table that just got their meal, and finally, cleaning.
Step4
Learn how to ask for help. This is, perhaps, the most important restaurant skill along with multitasking. Think about what would really help you out the most. It might be asking somebody to run your food, water your table or box up some leftovers. These are all time-consuming tasks that can be done by a manager, host or server assistant.
Step5
Prepare the check as soon as you think your guests are done ordering. Having the check in your apron as soon as the customer requests it saves you a trip. It also looks professional when a waiter or waitress has it ready to go.
Step6
Stock the service area or do side work while you have a minute. Though every restaurant works a little differently, there are always things that need to be refilled when you get some down time. Stocking while slow is to your benefit, so you won't waste time once you have customers to wait on.
Comments
Springs1 said
on 10/1/2007 Just because it may take less time as a whole to do the tasks doesn't mean it's the FAIR way to do things or the fastest for everyone.
Springs1 said
on 10/1/2007 Another thing, what if the 2nd table wants to fully order? You cannot just refuse to take their food orders. So then that makes table 1 wait a VERY LONG TIME for their drinks. Also, let's say I order a drink from the bar like a margarita, by you getting all 3 table's drink orders and table 2's food order, I would end up waiting 15-20 mins. for the margarita at that rate, because you wouldn't be putting in the order for the margarita into the computer immediately as you should. Also, if the first table orders an appetizer, you are just delaying their food from getting cooked possibly 5 mins. or more, depending on if people asks you questions or if they fully order or even both. I find servers like to blame the cooks for food taking long, well if my server doesn't put in the order as soon as they can, then that's WHY I am waiting much longer for my food or bar drinks.
Springs1 said
on 10/1/2007 "If you have two or more tables sit down at once, greet them in one round, take their drink orders in one round, and so on."
I DISAGREE. For one thing, some people are ready to fully order by the time you come to them, so honestly, it's a bit unfair to let's say the first table, if let's say my server is triple sat as far as waiting around 10 mins or more to get their soft drinks, tea, or water. Think about it. My husband and I have been ready to FULLY ORDER LOTS of times. Also, we have experienced a waiter getting all 3 table's drink orders and bringing them. It took literally(I actually know exactly how long) 10 mins. and we were the FIRST table out of the 3 to order. So if you think it's "FASTER" for everyone, think again. It's FASTER for the third table. This method may be faster to do, but slower for the first and second tables, which is UNFAIR!