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 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 embarrased 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 belive?”

• 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 accomodated.
Be alert to the opportunity to maximise sales

1.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.
2.Using a table for two seatings per session-a 50-seat restaurant can
quite easily serve 70-80 covers per session.
3.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.
4.All you can do is apologise profusely, and offer
another session.
5.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.
6.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!