“Peak time”, the rush hour of a restaurant, is a test that every restaurant has to sit. It is the stretch of the day that tells you how well you really run the place, and whether you can give customers service they are happy with. Get it right and you leave an impression that brings them back. Get it wrong, and it can end in unhappy customers and real damage to the restaurant’s reputation.
So what can you do to give customers service worth remembering? The first thing is to manage your tables efficiently during the rush. As well as keeping customers happy, it helps you build a customer base that is stronger, and lifts the restaurant’s takings too.
1. Design a floor plan that seats customers efficiently
Start by knowing how many customers your tables can seat and how big each table is, so you can plan the walkways — and set aside a waiting area so that queuing customers are not left standing awkwardly.
In the waiting area itself, you might create a relaxed atmosphere with music, lighting and the right décor, or use screens or planting to divide the space and give people a little privacy.
2. Use a booking system and look after customers while they wait
An online table-booking system lets customers reserve ahead and keeps the restaurant from getting crowded, and a queue system can tell them how long the wait will be. You might also add something extra while they queue — snacks, drinks, or a manicure. That is the approach Hai Di Lao takes at every outlet, in Thailand and in Singapore, and everyone knows how impressed people are with the service. Customers will happily wait at that restaurant rather than at another with a queue of much the same length.
3. However busy it gets, the service still has to be good
Train staff to pay attention to customers and stay friendly no matter how hectic it gets, and to give each customer the attention that makes the experience special. Good, attentive service also takes the edge off customers’ frustration.
Something else that matters is practising how to handle whatever comes up on the spot and resolve problems efficiently. And do not forget to motivate your staff, get them working as a team, and keep them committed to giving the best service they can.
4. Turn tables over more efficiently to seat more customers
During the rush, managing table turnover matters, because it means seating more customers and taking more money. Start by training staff to clear and reset a table quickly.
Efficient communication between front of house and back of house helps too, so food can be prepared and customers served quickly — and that includes how orders reach the kitchen. Having queued for a long time only to wait a long time for the food is not something any customer is going to be happy about.
Train staff to clear and reset tables quickly
Communicate efficiently between front-of-house staff and the kitchen
Allocate tables sensibly, with the number of servers on duty in mind
Consider technology, such as an online table-management system, to work more efficiently
5. Seat people strategically
Seating people is not simply a matter of filling every chair as they come. Seating customers strategically means you serve them better as well.
Allocate tables according to the number of customers and the number of servers you have, so service stays balanced — and you can use Qashier POS, which shows you the table plan and makes looking after customers that much easier.
Which Qashier POS features help a restaurant business?
Table management: the table-management system lets you lay out your own floor plan, mark which tables are free and which are occupied, and assign orders to each table.
QR code ordering: you can also raise the level of your service with QR code ordering which lets customers order at the table, taking work off your staff and keeping service flowing.
And you can make the customer flow smoother still with Dynamic QR payments, which make scanning to pay easier because there is no amount to key in, and the system checks the payment against the bill for you automatically. That cuts the time spent verifying transfer slips and reduces both fraud and mistaken payments — the sort of thing that tends to happen when the restaurant is full.
Managing your tables efficiently during the rush is the key to a successful restaurant. Keep working at how well the operation runs and give customers the best experience you can, and the result is happier customers, higher sales, and a stronger reputation for the restaurant.