If your restaurant is mid- to upscale and incorporates a menu, bar and wine list sprinkled with high-dollar items, chances are you need a staff who can merchandise them to your guests. Many great bottles of wine and cuts of beef sell themselves, and a colourful menu description will undoubtedly impact your order sheets. However, no aspect of your restaurant can overhaul check averages like a dynamic, sales-driven service staff. Servers who come to work ready to sell are the puzzle pieces that complement the diverse and flavorful selections on your menu and wine list. Therefore, an operator must know how to assemble a service staff equipped to sell his product.
Some operators are fortunate enough to walk into a service staff that knows how to sell. Sometimes, the expensive items on a wine list and menu are sufficient incentives for servers to commit themselves to learning how to deal with them. For example, the restaurant I worked for in one of my first server jobs offered an $80 appetiser, and you can bet I learned how to sell it. However, most service staff are formed as a product of a store culture that encourages sales, an effective incentive program and a hiring manager who can identify sellers—first, a few notes on each.
A culture of sales starts with a few leaders on the floor who buy into your menu, bar and wine list. These people have a passion for food and wine and a genuine interest in what your restaurant offers. This may be why Italian-American servers do well in Italian restaurants. Leaders on a dining room floor encourage other servers to excel at sales through their high check averages and big tables. The mere presence of a bottle of Opus One on the server’s table in the neighbouring section encourages a server to want to learn how to sell big bottles of wine.
Conversely, a culture of disinterest in sales can undermine an operator’s extensive work to create an attractive menu and wine list. A service staff that takes orders rather than selling the menu is quickly apparent and is always the fault of the operator and management team. There are too many answers to turn around a service staff that doesn’t sell, including wine tastings, menu tastings, re-training and new hiring. Effective incentive programs can come in a variety of forms. They can be overt tools, such as contests and rewards. They can be implicit, such as doling out prime sections, tables or schedules to servers with the highest check average. Generally, every mid- to upscale restaurant should post per-guest-average sheets highlighting the servers leading the way. Contests that offer rewards to servers who sell whatever you want them to sell benefit everyone. They cultivate competition, reflect which servers are working to improve, and move products off the shelves.
Finally, a hiring manager must be able to recognise good sellers when they walk in for an interview. Good sellers are enthusiastic by nature. They are friendly and establish rapport quickly. They also can become experts or already demonstrate expertise in food, wine and liquor. In addition, good sellers typically are experienced servers who can quickly step into and process a new environment. Therefore, the challenges are about mastering the menu and wine list as much as they are about providing good service.
Ultimately, a restaurant’s service reflects the operator’s vision. An operator who cares enough to offer quality menu items and a diverse wine list must be driven to assemble the right staff to merchandise it.
