How to be a good server

To be a good server, you need to be sociable and professional, seriously consider all of your customers' requests, and memorize your menu. Here are some details on these steps and others you can take to be a good server:

• Be sociable and professional

Practicing effective communication strategies as a server is a critical part of your job. This helps you answer questions and respond to requests in a polite, engaging, and timely manner. It also helps to promote positive relationships between your customers, you as their server, and the restaurant you work for. It can also help them become returning customers.

• Seriously consider all of your customers' requests

You should try as much as possible to say "yes" to all of your customers' requests. And if a request is off-color or potentially unsafe, try to make an alternative offering that might satisfy the customers' needs or desires. Customers are prone to remember you as a server if you do this, and you are more likely to receive more generous tips.

• Memorize your menu

Memorizing your restaurant's menu is absolutely essential to being a good server. Knowing the fine details of your menu allows you to make suggestions that you think customers might favor. This also ensures that you will know the answers to any specific menu-related questions from your customers.

• Greet your customers warmly

You should try to be inviting and enthusiastic when greeting your customers. Don't go overboard of course, but your customers have come to your restaurant to have a nice meal and have a good time, so you should help them to start out this process with a positive interaction. Enhanced personal attentiveness can also garner better tip results.

• Try to anticipate your customers' requests

If you know your menu well, this makes it really easy to anticipate customers' requests, especially if they are regulars. Try to refill their drinks before they ask, and get to know their preferences on items like condiments, so you can have them prepared with the food when you bring it out.

• Take criticism with grace

Most servers eventually have to deal with customer criticism about their performance or complaints about the restaurant. It is very important to remain calm in these situations and try to take in the complaint and then repeat it back to them politely to make sure you got it right. Suggest solutions, or if necessary, ask for the assistance of your manager.

• Multitask when you can

Multitasking is when you switch quickly between different tasks to finish them in the same relative time period. Servers often rely on multitasking because restaurants can get really busy, and there are a lot of tasks to complete.