by David | Jan 30, 2012 | Industry Facts, Server Knowledge, Skills
“They left me 15% and I didn’t even charge them for their drinks” –Rookie Server One of the fundamental truths you learn as a server is that hooking someone up with free drinks, food, etc. does not increase your tip. No matter how fundamental of a truth this is, it...
by David | Nov 5, 2010 | Industry Facts, Server Knowledge, Skills
This morning I read an article regarding the rising costs of food and how restaurants will respond. In the article former server Charles Ferruzza finds a pair of local restaurant owners who say they will refuse to raise prices to compensate for the increase in...
by David | Oct 1, 2010 | Industry Facts, Server Knowledge, Skills
(Note: In the previous post I defined the growing market segment of “aspirational dining” restaurants. This is valuable background to this post and merits a read.) What sets the “aspirational dining” market segment apart was their creation of the perception that...
by David | Sep 30, 2010 | Industry Facts, Server Knowledge, Skills
I am a Mac guy. This means only the occasional interruption for updates from Microsoft. These are most often for Word for Macs. Yet in none of these updates have they added to my spell check dictionary words like “Barack Obama, Al Qaeda, or Facebook.” If they do...
by David | Aug 17, 2010 | Industry Facts, Server Knowledge, Skills
In a previous post about why restaurants charge for different extras, I discussed the difference between the guest’s perception of profits and reality. It is not uncommon to hear a guest say, “I can buy this for half as much at the grocery store.” The problem is...
by David | Aug 13, 2010 | Industry Facts, Server Knowledge, Skills
Yesterday’s post on extra charges for the various items a guest requests caused me to ponder on a larger scale. It is remarkably common to hear guests say, “I could buy that steak/wine/etc at the store for half that much.” This is the same principle as walking into...
