10 fine dining food service etiquettes.

1. Smile – It’s the number one rule of customer service: be as warm and inviting as possible when
greeting or talking to customers.
2. Keep the chat light – This is where your best judgment needs to be on display. Does the
customer seem like they want to chat, or should you just seat them and leave them be?
3. Wash your hair – Okay, we’re only half-joking on that one. Your physical appearance is almost as
important as your demeanor in representing the venue. Whether you have a formal uniform or
stick with the classic black jeans and t-shirt combo, it’s important that you look presentable.
4. Get your spoons in order – For many venues, setting the table will occur before a customer is
seated. Some venues will just offer up basic cutlery and side plates, while others will have a full
silver service set up. 
5. Know your menu – Remember; this is your home ground! Make sure you know the menu and
the specials, and can explain dishes to customers where required. Ensure that you are across
key ingredients to advise customers with allergies or diet preferences on appropriate dishes.
6. To the Left, to the Left – If you work in a fine dining restaurant, it’s likely that you’ll be guided in
your initial restaurant server training on the best serving etiquette for that particular venue.
7. Check your hand placement – When it comes to pouring a glass of wine, laying out cutlery, or
placing plates of food down, the way you hold an item is far more important than you may
think. No customer wants to end up with your fingerprints on their glass or fork!
8. Keep an eye out – There is nothing worse than dining at a restaurant and not being able to catch
a server’s eye to ask for another drink or the bill.
9. Chill out on clearing up – When you work in a busy establishment, it’s easy to think in terms of
what needs to come next – but that isn’t how your customers are thinking.
10. Money, money, money – It is never good form to bring out the bill before the customer asks for
it. Even if their plates are cleared and they seem to be nursing their final drinks, hold back on
handing it over.

10 food servers grooming standards

1. Personal Hygiene and Sanitation – Every hotel employee has to really pay a good attention to
his/her personal hygiene and self sanitation, outside or within the working environment. Here’s
how:
1) Shower twice, daily.
2) Use deodorant or perfume fairly, our scent should not linger after we leave.
3) Shave or remove facial hair daily for male associates.
4) Shave legs and underarms for female associates.
5) Brush our teeth periodically during shower, after each meal and after having some cigarettes.
Use mouth freshener if necessary.
6) Maintain our health by checking up to a doctor periodically.
7) Wash our hands after each activity, especially after going to the toilet, before and after each
meal and cigarettes, and before going back to our activities. Washing our hands is also very
important before we handle any foods.
2. Uniform and Name tag – Uniform is our company’s identity that we have to represent positively.
We need to keep our uniform clean, tidy and free of stains and tears.
Nametags make life easier for our guests and for our fellow associates. To guests, our nametags
show that we are someone they can ask for assistance. To fellow employees, it helps create a
positive environment when we call each other by name.
3. Hair – Our haircut must always be properly maintained in a neat condition. We need to
shampoo at least once every couple of days and most importantly, we need to keep our natural
 hair color. Other things that we need to consider are:
1) Utilization of hair wig is not allowed.
2) No hair-doing in the working area, especially not in front of our guests.
3) Hair bangs must be kept above eye-brows, no hair covering your eyes.
4) Hair accessories must be kept simple and black in color.
4. Shoes, Socks, and Hosiery – Appropriately, we need to use:
1) Simple plain black socks and hosieries.
2) Plain black lace style or plain black slip on style shoes with low heels.
3) Non-slip sole to avoid injury.
4) No sandals, open toed or strap shoes are permitted.
5) Well-polished shoes at all time.
5. Belt – Only plain simple black leather belts are allowed.
6. Nail – Only clean, trimmed and well-manicured finger nails are allowed.
1) Nail longer than the fingertips are not permitted.
2) Artificial nails and nail arts are not permitted.
3) Only clear or natural nail polish is permitted.
7. Make up – 1) Present a polished, professional, five-star image.
2) Look natural, be well applied, with no garish colors.
3) Earth and Natural Color is highly recommended.
8. Teeth Braces – Only clear and silver braces are allowed.
9. Eye Glasses and Contact Lenses – Only plain simple black, brown or silver framed eyeglasses
with clear lens are permitted, as well as only clear contact lenses are too.
10. Jewelry – Here’s how hotels or hospitality industries usually make the rules on jewelry:
1) Wedding & engagement ring is permitted
2) One additional regular ring also permitted
3) Simple in model
4) Plain, no stone/ diamond/ other additional material
5) Gold, silver, or its combination color only.
6) Large bulky rings & rows of rings on each hand are not permitted
7) Toe rings are not permitted