Hey,

How do you guys manage customer service?  Do you have policies on how customers/table should be approached?  How do you ensure the customer service is good when you are not around.

I own a smaller place where most weekdays we only have one server on and cannot afford to have a manager there at all times.  I'm looking for ideas to ensure the servers are acting appropriate to the customers when I'm not around.

I would love to hear how everyone hear handles this.

The only real way to manage customer service is, you have to be involved in the dining room. I always walk up to tables and talked to the people. If you really want to know they will tell you. You can always tell when people are enjoying themselves, they are talking to eachother and not looking around for the waitress. People show a lot with facial expressions, if they have a sour look on their face, I bet its not good..........Take care Bill

How do you manage it when you are not there though?

I used to have camers in my business making sure my employees are doing what they should be doing. I could punch it up on the internet and watch my business. I have to make sure that my employees are who they say they are. If they are great while i'm  there and different when I'm gone, I don't need them.

 I have incentive program for my off shift emlpoyees, The more money they bring in the more they make. I want them to have an ownership feeling. Example Night shift girl works about  6.5 hrs a night, cook/ cashier/server

Base pay 9;00 per hr

$1 to $299 Base pay

 Food sales $300 to $3;49. 10 per hour

 Food Sales$350 to $399. $11 per hour

Food sales over $400. $13 per Hr

I started this about two years ago and I have the employee calling me in the morning saying, guess how much I made tonight. Thye now have a feeling of pride and doing good. Thye think up new food items and  ways of making more money. I pay my employees more than anyone in town. I figure its money well spent for great customer service.

It sreally hard to trust many people with your business, who cares more than you do. The customer servive is a hard part to keep track of when your not in the building. I just need to hire the right people, and train them right........................Take care,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Bill................. P.S The only thing that rings their bell is money. It took me 30 years to figure that one out. Values are lost on a past generation.

Quote (original post by: krwell)

Sorry but a restaurant doesn't run itself.  There needs to be someone there who is responsible for whats going on.  Someone who gets the praise when someone comes in and tells you how good the service was during that slow weekday time they came in.  Someone who gets thier but chewed out when someone comes in and tells you of the horrible experiance they had when they came in during that same time.

You have a server so I guess you have a cook also.  In the long run its much cheaper to have a manager as cook and a server or a cook and a manager as server than a couple of unsupervised people that you are entrusting with growing your  business.

Though of course there is always the ubiquitous "shift leader".  Give someone an extra buck  per hour and convince them they are in charge and that you hold them responsible for how the store is run  when you are gone.  I personaly gave up on the shift leader concept years ago.

A manager on duty will know exactly how you want the store run when you aren't there.  The longest I'll leave the store with no manager would be for a fifteen minute bankrun in the afternoon and even then I make a point to apoint one of my longtime employees as the person in charge till I get back and to be honest I don't really like doing that, but you do what you have to do. 

Ray

http://www.dallasfamouschicken.com/

krwill,

From the statments you have made on this thread I get the impression that you have other interests and do not spend alot of time at the restaurant.

If this is the case, close it now and cut your losses to a minimum..I have seen it to many times and this is the classic serinaro. No blood, sweat and tears = 0 investment. Sorry, this is a hard bizz to make work and it takes HARD WORK to make it... You can be an investor, but there is going to have to be an operator. One that knows the business and can be trusted. Lots of luck!!!

Quality is NOT expensive, it's PRICELESS

 Trust is good, Control is BETTER

 It has become painfully clear, that IQ's should be required
 prior to issuance of a voters registration card!!

Chef Bill,

That incentive sounds great! I'm guessing it is based on a servers sales and not the whole night? I was thinking about offering an incentive like that to my employees, but all of mine are cooks, so how would that work? they never see/speak to the customers, other that to occasionally bring an order up to the counter. 

Thanks,

Rami

Hi Rami, My crew has changed 1000% after I went to the incentive plan. I don't have anyone asking for a raise anymore. I put everthing back on them. I have them thinking, and coming up with ideas. I had one of my crew call me last night, could I do this, or that, what do I think about this. My Sales have gone up about $50 to $100 on that shift. I get better customer service, better food quality ( because they care) my crew is happier, and most of all my employees are acting like owners. The girl I have working on my swing shift is making $4 more per hour at times than the fast food restaurant in town. I put it on their paycheck as reg pay, Bonus#1, Bonus$2 Bonus#3 they love seeing what they did, and they are proud.................I have told others about this and a few restaurant peope told me it would be a pain in the Butt to keep track of it. I agree it is. But the rewards in customer service, food quality, employee moral, and no turnover, out weigh that. Nothing good comes easy. This idea would work different in other restaurants, we would need to talk and figure out how this can work in yours......................Take care.....Bill

I am there a lot right now.  My wife is pregnant and soon we will have our first baby.  I would love to have things set up where I did not HAVE to be there from opening to closing.

Quote (original post by: David_L)

KRWELL, Good Luck with the new Baby coming. The only real answer is. Controls cost money. Hire a Manager, there is no  (same) answer for every Restaurant. I would pay someone enough money to make them CARE. I don't know if you could find anyone to CARE about your business for $1 more per hr. If your time is important to you then, Pay for it, I do. What kind of a price can you put on watching your family grow. Life is to short..........................Good Luck Buddy.....................P.S I had a Night club owner in Hawaii that wanted to pay me $25000,00 a year to sit at his bar and control his liquor sales. the Bartenders were stealing him blind. He figured he was loosing 75k a year in lost revenue. There is a price for everything, it just depends if you could justify it.