Quarter 2 – Module 2: Welcome Guests and Take Food and

Beverage Orders
Lesson 1 – Welcome and Greet Guests
Welcoming and Greeting Guests Procedure
1. Acknowledge guests as soon as they arrived at the restaurant. When the
guests arrive, open the door. Walk towards the guests, make a pleasant
eye contact, and welcome them with an appropriate greetings. If it
happens that you are busy with another guests, acknowledge the new
guest by making eye contact and say; “I’ll be right back with you.” Or
simple hand gesture or smile will do.
2. Greet guests with an appropriate welcome. Welcome guests with an
appropriate greetings according to their gender, and time of the day.
Address them with the appropriate greeting for the time of the day
3. Checking reservations.

•  Politely ask if they have reservation, if they do, ask the

guest’s name in the reservation list and guide them to the
reserved table. Make sure that their table is prepared in
advance

• .  Another situation is, if the guest doesn’t hold any

reservation. The receptionist must ask how many are
dining and ask their preferred section in the dining
room/restaurant. (e.g., smoking or non-smoking room,
near the window, corner table, among others). “How many
are we expecting in the party, sir/ma’am?
•  The receptionist will also hold them for a moment to check if there
are still tables available. In case all tables are already occupied,
politely inform the guest and ask them if they can wait at the lounge.

•  If the guests will wait at the lounge, they should be informed

about the length of waiting time or period honestly, to avoid bad
impression from the guests. Explain to the guests that there will be a
table ready in the few minutes or the table are currently being
cleared and set.

•  If you anticipate a long waiting time period, the receptionist may

offer complimentary drinks and lead them to a place where they can
wait comfortably
Special needs customers

Guests may also have a special needs and simple observation

will identify many of these. Don’t wait to be asked if you think
there is a special need, be proactive and offer it to the guests.
These special needs are currently include but not limited to:
 Easy access to the guests table because of a disability.
 A booster seat/high chair for infants.  Warmer equipment of a
bottle for babies.
 Appropriate food for those with special dietary needs as
indicated in the reservation information.
 Privacy for romantic couples, and business people – to the best
Offering pre-meal services
As and when circumstances dictate, or opportunities present themselves
like all tables have already been occupied, pre-meal services can be offered
to guests. These services include but not limited to:
 Bar service – it may be appropriate to offer guests the bar services before
they go to their table and/or while waiting for a vacant ready table.
 Lounge and waiting areas. This saves the guests from possible
embarrassment, and rather, demonstrates excellent customer service and
indicates that you are tuned in to individual needs. You can offer the
customer something to read while they patiently waiting.
 Valet services. Common services available for guests include but is not
limited to valet parking, car retrieval, car rental, booking of tickets, and
arranging of taxis to guests.
LESSON 2. Seat the Guest
Escorting and Seating the Guest Procedure

1.Escorting the Guest

 From the reception area, receptionist will lead the guests to
their table. Once the table is available, accompany them
immediately to the table with hand outreach to the direction
where you are heading to and palm open.  Do not walk too fast
and walk little ahead when escorting guests to the table. Be
considerate of elderly or handicapped guests. Say: “This way
ma’am/sir”.
2. Seating the Guest

As a receptionist or Maitre D’ Hotel, you have some consideration to

follow when assigning tables to customers, and this will make them
appreciate and enjoy the dining experience in the restaurant. These
considerations are as follows:

 Accommodate guests’ preferences like smoking or non-smoking, pool

side, window, terrace, etc. whenever possible. If ever the table they
wanted is already occupied, apologize and offer what is available.

 Another is the number of guests in the party. Position them where

they have enough space to sit on.
•  For guests with small children, put them on the corner or
wall side. Don’t forget to offer booster seats for the small
kids to be seated.

•  For the couples, assist them to the seat with the best view.

• Customer with special needs like senior citizen and person

with disability should be seated as close to the hostess
station as possible. Offer assistance without seemingly
overbearing and avoid drawing unnecessary attention to
them.
Ladies must always be seated first and against
the wall if any, pull out the chairs for them if
they let you, push the chairs gently after they
are seated.

 For the groups where there is a host or

hostess, or where there are assigned seats for
the guests, it is customary to seat the
host/hostess last.
3. Unfolding of Table Napkin When the guests are
already seated Food and Beverage Service
Attendant/waiter will unfolds the napkins and
gently places them on each of the guests’ lap if they
let you. If the guests allow you, from the right-hand
side of the guests, remove the napkin that has been
provided as part of the setting. Unfold it into a
triangular shape and drape it across the guest’s lap
without touching any body parts of the guest.
4. Waiter Takeover and Serving Water

The captain waiter/waiter should be well groomed,

s/he should stand erect, make a pleasant eye contact
as s/he welcomes the guests to the restaurant.

Say: “Hi I am (name), I will be your waiter for

tonight. Here’s your water. Please let me know if
there is anything I can do to make your dining
experience more pleasurable”.
5. Presenting the menu card

After serving the water, the waiter will excuse his/herself

to get the menu card. In presenting the menu card, it
should be on the right hand side of the guests. If it’s a
booklet type, menu should be handed open in a right side
up position.

Say: “Excuse me ma’am/sir here is our menu card for your

food selection. Please take you time to read the menu and
I’ll be back to take your order whenever you are ready
6. Serving of Bread

After presenting the menu, you may suggest or ask the guest
if they want to have their bread, after hearing the guests’
response, excuse yourself and tell them you’ll be back with
the bread. When serving bread, present the bread o the
guest and served it the left side hand of the guests where the
bread and butter plate is placed. Do not cross over to the
guests.

Say:” excuse me ma’am/sir, here is your bread. Please call me

whenever you are ready to order.”
LESSON 3 Taking Food Orders
Types of table Service
1. American Service
 Also called as Plated Service because the food is already arranged in
individual plates at the kitchen ready to be served to the guest.
 One waiter for every 15 customers

2. Russian Service
 The food is arranged in a platter with enough serving for one table and it
is also known as platter service, then the waiter dishes it out from the
platter to the individual plate of the guest
 one waiter for every 10-12 customer
3. French Service
 This type of service involves tableside preparation
 The food is usually pre cut at the kitchen, and then it is
prepared in the gueridon at the side of the guest with
showmanship.
 one waiter for every 5 customer
4. Buffet Service
 This is also known as Self Service because the guest have
to line up to get their food in the buffet table
 one waiter for every 20-25 customers
Types of Menu

1.Static Menu-A static menu is a menu that is often

laminated for easy cleanup. It is usually separated into
groups such as appetizers, soups and salads, entrees,
desserts, etc. Fast food restaurants often have these types
of menus. They are the most common.
2. Ala Carte Menu-These types of menus feature items sold
individually. For example, if a steak is ordered it will not
come with a salad or potato. Those would need to be
ordered separately. Higher class restaurants often use these
types of menus.
3. Du Jour Menu-This kind of menu features
an item of the day and changes every day.
They are usually focused on seasonal items.
4. Cycle Menu-These menus offer specific
items for each day. For example, fish may be
served every Friday, Italian every Saturday,
etc. The cycles do not have to run weekly
but may run bi-weekly, monthly, etc.
5. Pre- fixe Menu- meal at a fixed price
. Example: Choose soup or salad, choose 1
of the 3 appetizers, choose 1 of the 4
entrees, and choose 1 of the 3 desserts.
Lesson 3.2 – Order Taking

Order taking Procedure

• stand on the right side of the guest, wait for the customer to call
you
• Presenting the menu
• Do suggestive Selling
• Taking the order
• Repeating the order
• Indicate the time of serving
• Place your order to the ktchen
• Plus minus technique
 Lesson 4 Liaise between dining and kitchen
Types of System Use:
1. The manual system Dining order systems can vary greatly. The type used largely depends on individual
establishment’s preferences supported on matters such as:

 Their previous experience with using an ordering system – including evaluation of how existing systems are
performing

 The number of orders processed – bigger numbers may encourage the establishment to use an electronic system

 Skills of staff and thus the supply of skilled staff – most premises dislike having to train staff.
Types of manual docket system:

i. Triplicate docket system- traditional manual system that

is often used in medium and large sized hotel and
restaurants

 Table number
 Number of cover
 Date
 Waiters signature *any cancellation should be
countersigned by the supervisor
Duplicate docket system

used in small, informal type of restaurant. Usually

known as carbon copied system. *other copy is
used for billing purposes for the preparation of the
billing.
Software applications

This computerized system enables electronic

management of food and beverage orders. A main
terminal enables data input to the system. This data
comprises the menus for all the restaurants attached
up to the system, alongside prices of every item. This
information might be input by the F & B Manager or
receptionist.
Types of Software System

i. Electronic Payment – This is the ability for a

restaurant to accept credit card, debit cards, gift
cards and mobile payment options. Restaurants that
don’t have this technology will miss out on 80% or
more of potential sales. There are exceptions to this
rule. The main exception is food trucks and smaller
cash only businesses in busy areas and street
vendors. For the vast majority, a payment system is
essential for a business.
ii. Network – This represents the technology to enable computer
devices to talk to each other and the internet. This is probably the
most overlooked piece of technology in a store but one of the
most important. If the network goes down or is not available, it
can have negative consequences to the store. This next set
includes technology that is highly recommended to enable a more
profitable store.

iii. Inventory Management System – This is a system that will track

inventory levels, cost of inventory and help the store keep the
necessary inventory in stock without over stocking. Many POS
systems for restaurant will offer a basic inventory solution but
usually these solutions are very basic and lack the key features
iv. Digital Menu Boards – This technology
enables the menu in the stores to be displayed
on screens instead of the traditional printed
material. This technology has advantages in
that it will reduce costs of the printed menus
and reduce the labor to change, manage and
send the printed menus. This technology is
most useful for fast casual and quick serve
restaurants where there is not wait staff