Hi. On a busy night, how should a host quickly seat multiple parties that come in while preventing a line from forming? What is your step by step process? Would it be: 1) distinguish reservations from walk-ins - ask parties "do you have a reservation?" yes - "under what name?" no - "ok, please wait to the side" 2) check the statuses of the reserved tables - if available: seat immediately - if not available: tell the party the table is being cleaned and should be ready shortly 3) put walk-ins on the waitlist put: - name - phone number - i dont remember but I believe as the host I put the time (how many minutes away that a table should be ready for them) 2 and 3 go back and forth depending on the flow of people coming in and current table occupancy I really hope to hear from you soon. Thank you.
On #1、instead of "ok, please wait to the side" , I would immediately take care of this guest. Preferably, as a lead host, you should know what kind of table is available (or not) for walk- in at that time and maybe able to say " no problem 😊, it's your lucky day! And you got the last table available." If, line forming at front happens too often, talk with your manager so he/she knows about it. Your manager will arrange something so it is more manageable. At our place, when I expect busy night, or under staffed night, we pre-set menus on the table, watering( the first pour) will be done by other staff. Just, talk with your manager and have protocol for such case and have your team on one page. Good luck!!
@@Sushiyrolls When you specifically are dealing with a guest when another party arrives, how do you specifically approach this? You can't get flustered and abandon the guest you were in the middle of helping.
@@ilovesnoopy889 、 take care of the guest you are dealing with at the moment , by seating or put them in the wait list. Generally, the other guests who just came in will understand you are with other customer. You want to attract guests with good manner. And your good mannered guests wants to bring their business to the place of staff with good manner. So don't worry about having to have them wait for a few minutes. If, you got a moment while you are helping earlier guest, acknowledge the newer guests who are waiting get help, by saying... I " I will be with you shortly ". You can do this right before you escort the earlier party to a table. And then, don't forget to thank them for waiting. You shouldn't forget, because that's how you should be feeling for the waiting guests. Again, this is what I would do, but talk with your manager, because each restaurant has their way of handling.
