In his review today one of the (few) things Times critic Pete Wells actually liked about dining at Shake Shack was its exceedingly polite service—which isn't really a surprise as the chain is owned by Danny Meyer's Union Square Hospitality Group which is known for, you guessed it, its hospitality. But with restaurant margins tight and the economy still shaky, now even regular old fast-casual spots are trying to learn to better service their customers.
Wayne Vandewater, vice president of learning and development for Applebee's, explains to the Wall Street Journal the new way in which waiters are trained to improvise the traditional "hi, my name is" script, like so: "We asked what can we do that will set us apart from the scrum, [besides discounting and coupons]. Food is easy to copy, a building is easy to copy, but it's not easy to copy our people." And so Applebee's, and others, are trying to make their servers more servile (while presumably still frowning on waiters who dare try and use their "memory" taking orders).
The crux of the new service world order is the idea of "reading the table" and of course, the folks at Union Square Hospitality are on top of that. Per the Journal:
Reading a table happens within seconds of a waiter coming to a table. By asking for a cocktail menu or smiling and making strong eye contact, "they are saying 'hey, I want to engage with you and I want you to make me feel really important,' " says Mark Maynard-Parisi, managing partner of Blue Smoke, a pair of barbecue restaurants in New York, owned by Union Square Hospitality Group. If people seem shy, "you want to put them at ease, say, 'take your time, look at the menu.' "
Blue Smoke does seven days of training with new waiters, five days of trailing an experienced waiter and two days of being trailed by the experienced waiter. Each day includes a quiz and a focus such as greeting guests.
With parties of four or more, "the most important thing is to read the dynamic between the group," Mr. Maynard-Parisi says. Alcohol (who is ordering more or less) is a potential point of contention. He reads eye contact and body language to see if a group is friendly (looking at each other) or less secure, like an uncomfortable work meeting (glancing around the room, fidgeting). "Am I approaching the table to rescue them or am I interrupting them?"
A good reason to work on service? The biggest issue diners have with dining out, besides bad food, is the timing of the delivery of the check. Apparently studies have found it drives people nuts when they either get their check too early or too late, and so restaurants are trying their best to make the timing better. Applebee's, for its part, has rolled out new check holders that say "I'm Ready To Go!"
On the one hand, it's hard to complain about restaurateurs, even (especially) corporate restaurateurs, trying to make the experience of dining out more pleasant. And for them we highly suggest reviewing this list of 100 things servers must stop doing. On the other hand, we can think of a REALLY easy way that restaurateurs can assure better service without spending extra weeks on training: just pay your employees better.
