A career as a restaurant hostess may appear exciting and fulfilling. You spend days greeting customers, conversing with them, and getting to know them. You may have more perks than other restaurant employment, such as paid time off.
If you are a restaurant hostess reading this, you are well aware that the hostessing position is challenging, stressful, and hectic, as gratifying as it is. You’re the first to arrive before the guests and the last to go when the party’s finished.
But how can you acquire high off to ensure everything runs as smoothly and effectively as possible? This piece will explore some hostess tips, and best hostess hacks to optimize restaurant throughput.
But first, let’s go through the abilities required to be a good hostess.
What are the essential abilities of a hostess?
A welcoming hostess waiting at the entrance with a broad smile and menus is the first step to a beautiful dining experience. A vibrant personality, substantial memory, and an eagerness to learn are more significant than predetermined educational qualifications.
Many restaurant owners provide their hostesses with on-the-job training so they may learn serving techniques and how to operate a restaurant. The following are some of the skills you need to develop throughout hostess training:
Customer service abilities
You must have good customer service abilities, whether taking reservations, seating visitors, or handing out menus. You must maintain a professional demeanor while hosting, especially with rowdy clientele.
Author credit: By Wonderlane from Seattle, USA – Our smiling hostess, Middle Way Cafe, Buddhist coffee house and restaurant, menus, t-shirt, Northern Lights Boulevard, Anchorage, Alaska, USA, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=75863899.
As a hostess, you must constantly remain calm and courteous while reacting quickly to client needs. For example, if the consumer wants to know where the restroom is, guide him there immediately.
Organizational abilities
Being organized is one of the essential hostessing tips. Hostesses typically perform many responsibilities in a busy restaurant, so you should be well-organized.
You must respond quickly to any issue that may arise in the restaurant and think to cope with crisis circumstances. You must be able to solve any difficulties that may occur in front of the restaurant unless it requires management attention.
Communication skills
One of the essential skills to have as a hostess is the ability to effectively communicate when greeting and directing customers and with other staff when addressing restaurant problems.
You must communicate clearly, whether you are informing the manager about a customer’s wait time or dealing with clients who are puzzled about their bookings. When responding to concerns, you must have a polite and cordial demeanor.
Decision-making abilities
Working in a restaurant may be stressful, especially during peak hours; therefore, as a hostess, you should be able to make quick decisions. When it’s your turn, go through all planned reservations.
For example, if a client cannot locate a seat, it is your job to find another table as soon as possible. You must understand the restaurant software used for reservation and point of sale to operate correctly.
What are the best hostesses hosting tips?
To perfect the functionality of a hostess, you must continue to study a lot while you work. And, to boost your confidence in your capacity to succeed, consider the following hostessing tips for being a professional restaurant hostess.
Master your table numbers
You will need to know the table order at your restaurant as a hostess so that you can seat your visitors as promptly as possible. Please remember that the particular sequence of the tables may change based on the number of customers in your restaurant.
Remember that memorizing your table numbers will require practice, and you should not expect to know them all at once. To aid in the memorization process, become acquainted with the table’s arrangement, ascending or descending, and you will be well prepared.
Learn the art of rotation
Table rotation may be complex, especially if you don’t have enough experience. When you are in charge of rotation, you are responsible for ensuring that each server receives an equal amount of tables.
To perfect the art of rotation, especially if you are new to the profession, ask one of the other hostesses to lead you through their method and then attempt it on your own.
Be an interactive person
Being involved with individuals from all backgrounds is one of the most life-changing hostessing tips. People may be cruel regarding food; some want you to feel awful if they don’t get what they want. Please don’t fall for it.
You must stand firm and answer diplomatically or seek the assistance of the management if necessary. Overall, try not to allow negative experiences to affect the outcomes of your future attempts.
Acquire the ability to multitask
As a hostess, you should be dependable by not becoming comfortable with merely being responsible for one or two chores. Aside from your typical tasks of directing and seating clients, you must learn to engage in various activities in the restaurant, such as assisting in clearing tables.
Since coworkers and bosses need to know that they can rely on you to do a range of activities without their assistance, you will need to do whatever it takes to get comfortable with performing various chores independently.
Be self-sufficient
All you have to do is trust in yourself and your abilities. Blunders are inevitable, and happily, those mistakes will boost your confidence in your ability to be a fantastic hostess.
Please don’t hesitate to ask for help when needed, and constantly learn from your errors while remaining confident in your abilities. Remember that you are responsible for ensuring that your visitors are properly seated and have a pleasant time at the restaurant.
What are the most excellent hostessing tips for increasing restaurant throughput?
Apart from having them master the hostessing tips, you should expect a few things from your hostess to guarantee that your restaurant works as smoothly and effectively as possible. Share these with your hostesses now, and you’ll start seeing results the next day.
Do not leave unwashed dishes out
The number of people you serve in a day as a hostess depends on how well you utilize your available seats and hence the income you may generate. Make an effort to keep the time between parties at a minimum.
So, while the party is waiting for their check, have your bussers pre-clear soiled dishes. As an extra benefit, an uncluttered table will provide your clients with a more pleasant experience.
Fill tables early by setting a deadline for customers
You can reserve a table for that reservation at 7:00 p.m., but it will remain vacant and serve no purpose for you in the interim. Instead, consider the additional customers who arrive at 5.45 p.m. without a reservation but don’t want to stay longer than an hour.
Therefore, let them know that they have the option of adding their names to waitlists, or you may provide them with a table or a reservation as long as they can leave within the specified time. While you wait for the other reservation, you may use this to make extra money.
Play the odds if you are a significant eatery
Even if it appears that you are having all bookings for the evening, a hostess working in a restaurant with 100 or more seats can probably take a chance and seat a few walk-ins.
There’s a good chance that some of those reservations won’t show up or that the timing will be favorable to you. If it doesn’t, you may still benefit from the policy by giving the reservation guests a complimentary dinner while they wait.
Give the revers at the bar a bit more time to hang out
If there is a party hovering at the host stand first and you are on a wait, use these hostessing tips sparingly. Only if you are positive that the party at the beer parlor is having a blast may you use this tactic. As a result, you’ll get paid more.
Treat yourself
After a long shift, a hostess needs to eat and unwind. Remember that having good eating habits helps you perform better at work. You will drain away the system and workflow if you don’t have good health.
Don’t undervalue the benefits of either taking naps or going for a stroll around the block, which are known to sharpen the mind and improve mood.
Conclusion
It might be tempting to concentrate on ways to make the host stand run more efficiently or to give it little to no thought at all. However, the host stand is supreme for improvement because that is where income creation starts.
There are several throughput hacks, and this is by no means a complete list. We’re hoping we’ve got you off to a fruitful start and you are ready to get your pay.
