Long after food is prepped, menus are printed, and specials are posted, one of the most important factors affecting a guest’s meal is just beginning. As a chef or restaurant owner, your front of house staff is a key ingredient to any recipe on your menu. A properly trained and educated staff can shed light on an unfamiliar ingredient, suggest a special entree the kitchen is particularly excited about, or make side dishes sound so appetizing that a diner cannot help but add them to an order.
All of these essential staff functions can make food taste that much better by enhancing the dining experience for customers. For a restaurant owner, things like up-selling, making informed menu suggestions, and offering accurate dish depictions are all in the hands of waitstaff. The more time and effort invested in properly training staff to perform these responsibilities, the more effortless it is for a staff to do so.
A well-trained staff can also help avoid potentially disastrous situations for a restaurant. When a chef or owner takes the time to educate staff on menu items, they can easily identify ingredients in a dish that a customer may be allergic to. In recent times, it has not been uncommon to see crippling lawsuits filed towards restaurants who failed to alert diners of potential allergens.
Even for the most seasoned chef or restaurant owner, creating a mouth-watering menu is only half the battle. Guest satisfaction is dependent upon so much more than just a great meal. When guests leave a restaurant remembering not only a delicious dinner but excellent customer service, they turn into repeat business- the cornerstone of any successful hospitality operation.