BUSINESS
SERVICE
HAVE YOU LOST
THE HUMAN TOUCH?
“Table for two?”, “Have you booked?”, “Is everything OK?”
Do you use the same old robotic phrases, day in, day out?
Tom Vaughan offers his guide on how to give guests a warm,
genuine experience that epitomises true service
I
28 | Caterer and Hotelkeeper | 18 October 2013
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BLACKLISTED PHRASES
Throw those sentiments out into the hospitality industry and every restaurateur, hotelier
and consultant will admit to having their black
book of over-used and robotic phrases. For
Philip Newman-Hall, managing director at
Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons, it’s the expressions “no problem” and “OK”.
For Avis, it is simply the word “no”. “It holds
so much negativity, and that’s not what we’re
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THE DO’S AND DON’TS OF COMMUNICATING WITH CUSTOMERS
DONT'S
Use robotic waiter language:
“Have you booked?”,
“Table for two?”, “Is
everything alright?”
Rush – it will come
across as lack of care and
attention. If you are working
a big section, use your
time wisely.
Use closed body language,
such as slouching, putting
your head down, folding
your arms or turning away
while standing at a table.
Point. It is seen as rude
and aggressive.
Introduce your name to
the table. You are there
to give great service,
not make friends.
Be afraid if you don’t
know something.
DO
Greet someone as if it
were your own home,
while still being polite.
Lower the tone of your
voice, speak clearly and
confidently, stand with
a sense of dignity and
use language people
can understand.
“For Simon Girling, his
bête noires are ‘voila’
when removing a cloche,
‘bon appetit’ when food
is placed, and the term
‘enjoy’ used on its own”
here to convey,” he says. “You should always
give the guest options – you should never just
say a simple ‘no’.”
For Simon Girling, restaurant manager at
London’s Ritz Hotel, his bête noires are “voila”
when removing a cloche, “bon appetit” when
food is placed and the term “enjoy” used on its
own. And for hospitality consultants Mark
Harris and John Davey, it’s the collective term
“guys” and the phrase “is everything alright?”,
Stand up straight, make eye
contact, gesticulate and be
expressive with your face.
Keep your hands open
when dealing directly with
customers – it is more
inviting and friendly.
Use the customer’s name,
especially to greet them, but
only if you know it already –
don’t go chasing it.
Make sure you know as
much about the menu
and restaurant as possible.
With knowledge comes
confidence.
Smile – it goes a long way.
respectively. “Whether you’re paying £30, £50
or £70, it had better be a lot better than
‘alright’,” says Davey.
BODY TALK
Getting the words right and eliminating these
ingrained phrases in front of house staff is
important, but it is far from the be-all and endall to good communication – body language is
key. “There is a psychology to making someone feel more at ease in the way we communicate and, interestingly enough, it’s not all that
complex,” explains clinical psychologist
Dr Siri Harrison.
“If you hope to make the person you’re
speaking with feel at ease, you have to be at
ease yourself. Lower your tone of voice, speak
clearly and confidently, stand with a sense of
dignity, use language people can understand,
stay calm and, most importantly, be kind.
A smile also goes a long way.”
18 October 2013 | Caterer and Hotelkeeper | 29
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ILLUSTRATION BY CHRIS KING
magine opening your front door to a dinner
party guest with the words: “Table for eight?”
“You just wouldn’t do it!” raves Steve
Holmes, managing director of restaurant
chain Ask Italian. “You would say, ‘Come in
from the cold’ or ‘Let me get your coat’. And
even if you were front of house at a restaurant
and felt the urge to say it, you don’t have to –
the guest says it themselves.”
“It’s only words, and words are all I have,”
sang the great Barry Gibb, and while it might
have afforded him and his falsetto brothers a
top ten smash, it’s not technically true. “Verbal
communication is only 7% of what you say,”
says Peter Avis, restaurant manager at Babylon
at Kensington Roof Gardens in London. “The
rest is down to how you say it and any
non-verbal cues your body gives away.” Avis is
right: at least 7% of communication is words,
38% is tone of voice and 55% is body language.
But mastering the art of service is to master
all three, which is why Holmes has banned the
phrases “Table for…?” and “Have you booked?”
from his restaurants. “We felt it was becoming
robotic,” he says. “People come to a restaurant
not just for the food and to avoid the washing
up, but to take five from the world. They don’t
want to be treated in a functional way.
So rather than tell waiters what they should be
saying and making it robotic from us, we treat
them with respect and, as a steer, just tell them
some phrases to avoid.”
▲
BUSINESS
SERVICE
At Le Manoir, they work on this a lot, says
Newman-Hall. “It’s about standing up
straight, looking straight at the customer and
smiling.”
Avis helps run a monthly customer service
training session at Babylon, with 20 minutes
spent on mastering body language. One aspect
they work to eradicate is pointing. “Hands
should always be open when dealing directly
with customers, as it is more inviting and
friendly,” he says.
Eye contact is absolutely imperative, says
Sam Harrison, owner of restaurants Sam’s
Brasserie and Harrisons, both in London.
“I went to a favourite restaurant of mine the
other day and they were noticeably off their
game,” he says. “And I noticed it because no
one would look at me for long enough. Waiters
had their heads down when they were walking
across the floor. It’s not only friendly and polite
to be looking around, but obviously if you do
that you spot problems. At my restaurants,
waiters work big sections, but half the skill is
using the short time you have with each table
to make the customers feel at ease.”
Eye contact is key, agrees Dr Harrison, but
don’t forget the rest of your body language.
“Gesticulate and be expressive with your face,”
she adds. “Don’t refuse eye contact, cross your
arms across your chest, turn half your body
away or slouch.”
CONFIDENCE TRICKS
Words, tone, body language – all easy in
theory, but in practice, less so. Of course, it’s
all about confidence, says Holmes. “Confidence is a seriously attractive trait. Confident
people and confident businesses are much
more attractive. And where does confidence
come from? Knowledge.”
A waiter who knows what he or she is talking about will exude a lot of this body language
naturally. At Ask, this knowledge runs deep.
Rather than teach the waiters didactically
about the menu, they teach them about
the Italian seasons. “It’s about an Italian
education. They learn all about the food and
the seasons and then we encourage them to
use the stories they have learnt – say, about
buffalo mozzarella – when it is appropriate,”
Holmes adds.
Again, it’s about being yourself rather than
a robotic waiter, which is why Holmes is averse
to bringing in any of the over-the-top psychological tricks waiters are trained with in America. In a 2004 paper, Dr Michael Lynn, associate
professor of the School of Hotel Administration at Cornell University, scientifically tested
a handful of psychological tricks on diners to
see how much they increased a waiter’s tips.
Some of the results would certainly help
hotels and restaurants of all types in the UK.
Smiling – a genuine smile – saw a 100%
increase in tips. Briefly repeating customers’
orders was also a 100% rise (which is a bit of
advice Newman-Hall uses among front of
30 | Caterer and Hotelkeeper | 18 October 2013
“Confident people and
confident businesses
are much more attractive.
And where does confidence
come from? Knowledge”
Steve Holmes
house staff at Le Manoir). Calling
customers by name saw a 10% increase.
However, others,
such as crouching at
eye level, briefly
touching an arm
and introducing your own
name are all too much for more
reserved UK audiences. “Yes, at
a local restaurant we can get to know customers’ names, and them ours,” says Harrison.
“But when I’m working the floor, I never
introduce myself by my name. If it comes
up naturally, then fine. It’s the same as crouching beside a table – I’m not there to be a
customer’s mate.”
Service isn’t about saying
and doing what you’re told, it
is an intrinsic skill that
comes from experience. “It isn’t just about
waiting on someone, it’s
about communication and
connection,” says Harrison.
“Human beings are social
animals and, deep down, we love
to connect with another. For a waiter
to perfect his or her ability not just
to communicate but to connect with
customers will definitely affect the
success of their restaurant and probably
provide that waiter with a sense of
confidence as well.”
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