WELCOME AND GREET

GUEST
 Learning Objectives:

1. Apply correct greetings of guest in the

restaurant.
2. Perform correct procedures in
welcoming restaurant guest.
3. Identify special needs of guest in the
restaurant.
 Introduction:
When customers arrive,it is the responsibility of
the service staff to promptly meet them. This normally
includes a smile and an appropriate greeting at the door.

Remember that customers like to feel important

and they should always be treated accordingly. Besides,
first impressions count and as they say “You only get one
chance to make a first impression.”
Greet and check reservations

When guests arrive in your dining area, the first two steps
should be:

1. To greet or welcome them

2. To enquire whether or not they have a reservation or booking.


Check at your workplace to see if this is Standard Operating Procedure or
not.


Where guests say that they have a reservation, you should confirm this in
your reservations book, to identify the table they have been allocated on
the table/floor plan.


Check with them the number of guests expected. often there can be an
extra one, and sometimes there are one or two who will be cancellations.
Where there are cancellations, the chair and cover should be removed
from the table so that the table is not embarrases by empty places.
 Where an extra person has presented with the booking, staff
should immediately set another place and add chair where
possible, or another table should be quickly identified for the party.
The key is to ensure that guests do not feel, in either case, that
they have done the wrong thing, or inconvenienced us.

 When confirming the reservation, also confirm any details that may
be written against that booking-” And you’re off to the cinema, so
you’d like to be away by 8:30, is that right?”, “ And you requested
a high chair, I believe?”
 Where there is a note that a birthday cake, or similar,
has been arranged, this should also be discreetly
checked with the host, either at the table or elsewhere.

 A visit to the table informing the host that there is a

phone call at the reception for them can aid in getting
them away from the table. If the guest has no
reservation check the floor plan to see if they can be
accommodated.
Be alert to the opportunity to maximise sales

For instance, by asking someone who comes in at 6:30PM without a

booking, whether they could be finished by 7:45 PM, so that you
can strip their table and re-set it for the 8:00 PM booking.
Using a table for two seatings per session-a 50-seat restaurant can
quite easily serve 70-80 covers per session.
There are some people who will breeze in to a restaurant, claiming
they have booked when in fact they never made one. If you have a
vacancy, then this really isn’t a problem, but where no vacancy
exists, the potencial for trouble exists.
 All you can do is apologize profusely, and offer another
session.
 Your house policy may dictate some other form of
additional gratuity (a discount voucher, voucher for free
item or a free drink), but many establishments adopt the
stance that says ‘If we can’t find your booking, you didn’t
make one.
 If the situation looks like getting out of hand, call your
supervisor or the duty manager.
THE GREETING ON ARRIVAL
What you say by way of welcome to your guests may be
determined by house policy with certain required statements
and facts to be covered, or you may simply be expected to
use your common sense and good judgement on a person
by person or party by party basis as indicated by:

• The weather
• Sporting events
• A special events
• A special in-house event
SPECIAL NEEDS CUSTOMERS
Some guests may have special needs and simple observation will identify many of these. Don’t wait
to be asked if you think there is a special need.

Get proactive and offer:

• Alternative easy access to their table because of a disability
• A high chair for infants
• Warming of a bottle for babies
• Appropriate food for those with special dietary needs as indicated in the
reservations book
• Privacy for romantic couples, and business people-to the best extent possible
given other bookings
• Room on a table to spread out where business looks as if it is going to be
conducted
• A table near the door for someone with a walking stick
THANK YOU !