I am the In Room Dining Manager of a large hotel.  Our In Room Dining sales have really dropped over the last year.  Our service scores are also suffering.  Where do a start?

Great question!  Many hotels are reporting a drastic decrease in F&B sales per occupied room.  The In Room Dining sales have taken the biggest hit during these tough times.  Guests are really cutting back on the more expensive amenities of the hotels and room service is usually at the top.  Here are our recommendations:

1.  Revisit your menu and specifically your menu prices.  Many hotels dramatically increased their room service menu prices over the restaurant prices.  We recommend that the prices are similar, especially if your hotel is near many other restaurants…  especially if they are within walking distance.  Guests typically look at the room service prices and assume they are the same as in the restaurant.  If a guest feels they are too high, you have lost them as a customer in both room service and the restaurant.  Guests will grab breakfast from a quick mart and eat dinner at the restaurant next door. 

2.  Review the basics of room service selling with your Room Service Operators.  Now more than ever, they need to maximize the revenue on every call they receive.  Check out this article on how to increase your room service sales by as much as 50 percent!

3.  For help on improving your service, check out this article on how to deliver room service orders the right way!

Have any tips of your own?  Post them below!  Have a question that you would like answered?  Post it below or send it to us via the contact page.

Here are the top complaints:

1. Noise (reported in 26% of visits)
2. Poor Service (18%)
3. Cleanliness Issues (10%)
4. Food Quality (7%)

Most people would automatically assume that food quality issues would be the top complaint in a restaurant.  Keep in mind that this study covered restaurants from Denny’s all the way up to Morton’s Steakhouse.  You probably spend a lot of time working on your menu and your food quality.  Keep in mind that this is the area that the fewest people complain.  Where should you focus most?  First, hopefully your hotel restaurant does not have a noise problem. Very few of the restaurants our mystery shoppers visit have any sort of noise problem.  However, many of the hotel restaurants have both a service problem and some cleanliness issues.

Service problems are the biggest problem areas during our mystery shopper’s visits.  Surprisingly, the biggest problems are the most basic service standards.  Many servers struggle to do basic standards such as taking orders, pre-bussing tables, and delivering the check correctly.  Schedule a mystery shop today to see how your service ranks.

We also see a few cleanliness issues during our visits.  The main culprits?  Buffets and bathrooms.  Bathroom cleanliness was also a complaint in the Consumer Reports study.  Have a messy bathroom in your restaurant is probably the quickest way to scare a guest.  The buffet problems we report are issues such as dirty plates in the plate rack and messes left on the buffet from other guests.  Be sure that dishes are inspected after they come out of the dishwasher and before they are put on the buffet.  Also, be sure you have someone monitoring the buffet to clean up the mess left by guests who don’t know how to operatate a set of tongs.

Keep focused on the basics to improve your guest satisfaction scores!

I am a food and beverage manager at a hotel with two bars.  Can you tell me some ways that we can increase our revenues?  We are obviously a little bit slower lately, but is there anything that we can do to help?

The selling area of a bartender’s service is always overlooked. These selling standards are extremely important to generating higher revenues. Bartenders can come across as uncaring and unfriendly if they just approach and ask guests, “What can I get for you?” They also will not sell much more than the minimum guest order. Most hotel bars are not like the bars or nightclubs that stand alone. People usually expect more from a hotel bar. The service of a bartender should be similar to that provided by servers to a table of guests that are eating. There are many selling standards that should be in place for each time a guest arrives at the bar. This includes practices such as offering your drink menu to guests whether they know what they want or not, providing a food menu, suggesting any specialty drinks, offering more beverages, and offering bar snacks. Each of these practices has its own effect and benefit on your bartender’s guest service as well as revenues. Here is a breakdown.

Providing Food or Drink Menus

Having a menu in front of a guest makes it more likely that he or she will order something in addition to their normal order. Something on your menu may catch their eye and the guest might try it, giving you more revenues. They may not have been extremely hungry at the time, but just hungry enough to order that shrimp cocktail appetizer. They would not have known about it if a menu was not given to them. This can be done by simply asking the guest if he or she will be eating and providing them with a menu regardless of their answer. It is surprising how few bartenders do this even if the guests are sitting next to other guests that are eating. You cannot wait for a guest to ask for a menu.

Suggesting Specialty Drinks

Most hotel bars have their own special drink creations. Usually, by placing these drinks on your menu, you feel that they are tasty and charge a premium for them. Why then, would bartenders not try to sell them? In addition to providing a menu upon greeting the guest, bartenders need to offer a specialty drink or two by name. Most guests have their own predetermined drinks, but may try certain things on a bartender’s suggestion and recommendation. Why let the guest order an $8 vodka tonic when you can attempt to pour them a $13 special martini. This makes the bar more revenues and the bartender higher tips.

Offering Bar Snacks

Offering bar snacks to the guests will show that you are being attentive to them. There has been many times where our mystery shoppers sit at the bar and watch other guests eat their bar snacks without being offered any. Yes, most guests will ask for them but why make your guests ask. Provide them along with every drink that is served. Bar snacks also make your guests a little thirstier and can make them order more drinks. It is a small cost to pay to make your guests stay at your bar longer and order more drinks.

Up-selling To Premium Liquor

Many bartenders will just pour the bar’s well liquor if a guest asks for a generic beverage such as a vodka tonic. It only takes an extra second to ask if the guest would like Grey Goose, Belvedere, or Ketel One. This provides a choice of premium vodkas to the guest, earning your bar those extra few dollars in revenue. Instead of making your well brands the standard, why not make your premiums the standard and your well brands a second choice? If the guest asks what other vodkas your bar has, then you can tell them all your brands. It is pretty uncommon for bar guests to ask directly for the cheapest vodka you have.

Offering a Second (or Third) Drink

Before the guest is finished with the beverage in front of them, make sure that your bartender is offering them another one.  By doing so, you are attempting to keep the guest there longer and ordering more drinks.  They may not have stayed but by asking if the guest wants another beverage frequently causes the guest to quickly finish up their current one and agree to another one.  Everyone knows why guests go to your bar, so you have got to keep them ordering before they think they have had enough.  Obviously, remember your TIPS training and do not overdo it.

To make sure that your bartenders are consistently hitting these selling standards, continue to do regular mystery shopping.  You will see your revenues start to climb up in no time.

Have any tips of your own?  Post them below!  Have a question that you would like answered?  Post it below or send it to us via the contact page.

First, a brief overview of how we see the bussperson position. Bussers are the key to a restaurant’s cleanliness.  They are relatively inexpensive to have on the floor during busy times.  However, they can really hamper good guest service.  Restaurants tend to use bussers to help the servers serve guests by doing things such as offering beverages and pre-bussing.  The problem is that guests cannot tell the difference between a server and a busser.  It does not matter if their uniforms are different.  When an employee approaches a guest’s table and offers a beverage, the guest expects that person is going to serve them.  Unfortunately, they do not always speak English and are not trained to properly serve the guest.  Many guest’s questions are answered with a blank stare or with, “I’ll get the server”.  Servers should serve.  They should be the first to greet the guest when they are seated.  They should take the drink orders and deliver them.  They should pre-buss and should deliver the checks.  A busser should never go to a guest’s table while there is a guest present.  If a busser is doing any of these tasks out of necessity, your server probably is unable to handle the number of tables he/she has been assigned.  You should reduce his/her table count until his/her service improves.

What should a busser do? A busser should be bussing tables, cleaning tables, and resetting them.  They should be focused entirely on the cleanliness of the restaurant and not on guest service.  Unless you specifically train your bussers to serve guests at certain moments of their meals, as most high end fancy restaurants do, make sure the busser’s job description clear.

So, when do you need a busser on duty? Only during high volume times, when the restaurant is at least 75 percent full.  We think bussers are a necessity during breakfast hours if you have a buffet, because of the fast paced environment.  This is the same for lunch, if you do a lot of lunch business and have a buffet.  The busser has extra duties during a buffet service like stocking the buffet and cleaning the buffet area that wiill continue to keep him/her busy.  Bussers are usually not needed during a hotel restaurant’s dinner service.  Dinner is much slower paced and it shoudl be easier for the servers to keep up.  You may need to schedule a few additional hours to do some of the deep cleaning of the restaurant each day.

If you are a small or medium sized hotel, you may only need one busser for a few hours each morning.  Try borrowing someone from another department instead of having a dedicated busser.  For deep cleaning, work together with housekeeping to keep the restaurant looking perfect in between meal periods.  Cutting costs effectively means using each of your departments efficiently.

While you are making the changes, schedule an extra server or two and shrink each server’s section.  It will take the servers some time to adjust to their new responsibilities.  The good thing about extra servers is that they always want to go home early if there are not enough guests and tips to be made, unlike bussers who stay for the full 8 hours and usually get paid more than servers.  Just make sure everybody is completing their checklists and sidework prior to going home.

If you are really brave, have the F&B Manager be the busser for a day or two.  Have them track what times the busser is needed and schedule an employee to perform the duties for those times.  Do not forget to merge your busser’s daily checklist with your server’s daily checklist to make sure that no tasks are missed.

We have seen a dramatic increase in internal theft while in the field and expect to see a continued increase in 2009, especially in employees who rely on tips for a large part of their salary.  Many hotels have been forced to dramatically reduce the number of hours as occupancy declines and many of the hotel restaurants have slowed down.  Many employees are now really struggling to make what they made in the past and most cannot afford to take a pay cut and still pay their monthly expenses.    

What can you do to make sure your employees don’t turn to theft to make up their lost tips?   

First, have a good long term forecast and reduce your staff accordingly.  Many hotels make the mistake of forecasting their labor week to week instead of quarter to quarter.  If you do a quarterly forecast, you can make better decisions.  Unfortunately, many hotels will be laying off employees over the next year.  If you evaluate your staff now based on forecasts, you can consider laying off a few employees now rather than just reducing everyone’s hours until moral really suffers.  Be upfront and honest with your associates and how the decreased business will impact their jobs.  For many employees, this is the first recession in their working lives. 

Second, make sure you are reviewing your internal controls.  One of the most important tools to have now is a system to track all employee’s sales and tips by day.  Be sure to compare each employees’ percentage of cash sales to other employees’ percentage and investigate any inconsistencies.  

Finally, continue to do what you have been doing in more successful times to keep theft out.  Many hotels are tempted to spend less hours reviewing internal controls or reducing mystery shopping to save money.  Don’t be short sighted.  Think long term.

Three of our team members went to the Hard Rock Cafe for a quick lunch.  Because the Hard Rock is a tourist destination, they really had a lot to sell.  The host sat us at a table, handed us menus and said that our server would be over in just a minute.  A minute later, the server arrived and greeted us.  She asked for our drink order.  Instead of just asking ‘what would you like to drink’, she also recommended three beverage selections including their specialty iced tea.  When one of us ordered a soda, she casually tried to up-sell him on the souvenir cup.  It probably would have added another $4 or $5 to the tab.

After taking the beverage orders, the server offered us an appetizer.  Instead of just asking ‘what can I get for you’, she recommended an appetizer sampler platter for us to share.  The appetizer platter was $19.

When she came back to take the entree order, she came up with creative ways to up-sell.  She offered different side order choices (at a premium price of course) and extra toppings on the sandwiches (add another buck for bacon, etc.).

While we were waiting for our food, she brought over a miniature catalog of Hard Rock stuff from the gift shop.  She said that if we wanted to purchase a t-shirt or something, she could get it and add it to our bill. 

After the meal, she attempted to sell us on some deserts.  The desert menu was cleverly placed inside of the check presenter so you would be forced to look at it. 

The server was great at selling and had a lot of opportunity.  She was very casual about everything that she offered.  It would have been very easy to say ‘yes’ to many of her choices.  She probably does very well with her tips and her average check is probably well over $20, even though most entrees are only around $10.

 The server came by to take our orders.  I ordered the baby back ribs that I love and my wife ordered the fish (the only thing on the menu that she really likes).  The server took down the order and left for the kitchen.  My wife and I enjoyed our beverages and a little conversation.  About 15 minutes later, we were wondering where our food was when one of the restaurant managers came over and said ‘I’ve got some good news and some bad news.  The bad news is that we are out of the fish.  The good news is that we have everything else on the menu available.’ 

 I have no idea why they took 15 minutes to tell us that they were out of the fish.  Did they not know this when we ordered?  Maybe they were fishing out back and the fish just weren’t biting.  Who knows.  Anyway, we were annoyed but willing to move on.  My wife requested a menu so she could choose another entree. 

Not even one minute later, the server brought on my baby back ribs and held them in front of my face while asking ‘would you like these now or would you like me to bring them back when your wife’s food is up?’  Apparently, the server wanted to see me get a divorce!  I told the server that I would wait and eat with my wife so that I don’t have to sleep on the couch tonight. 

The server came back and took my wife’s second order.  A few minutes after that, a different manager came over to tell me that the restaurant was out of fish.  It was almost like they were rubbing it in at this point.  We told him that we already ordered something else. 

About 10 minutes later, the server brings my wife’s entree along with my ribs that were sitting under the heat lamp.  They had a nice twice baked taste to them.  I also enjoyed the twice baked potato that was now a three times baked potato. 

The restaurant kindly offered to give us a free dessert for our trouble.  We rarely get a chance to go out to eat; a free dessert was not worth the ruined meal.  Needless to say, we have not been back.

Got a bad service story to share?  Add it to our comments section!

1.  Position the POS terminal so that customers can see transactions rung up. Most bars have the POS screen positioned towards the bar so that the bartender must turn their backs to use the register. This helps on two fronts; first, all guests can see their transactions rung up and second, it is tougher for the bartender to see who is watching him or her ring up the transaction, making it less likely that they will risk using POS manipulation. If your bar design does not allow the terminal to be placed this way, consider installing a display arm that can be positioned to face the guest similar to ones in retail stores.

2.  Ensure that it is your bar’s standard to have alcohol poured first when preparing mixed beverages. Pouring the mixer into the glass before the alcohol can only mean one thing; your bartender is attempting to adjust the perceived alcoholic strength of the beverage. This is a good indicator that your bartender may be pouring less per drink to steal so that it will not throw inventory levels off.

3.  Require the bartender to give a receipt after each transaction. This is one of the simplest standards to use yet many bars obviously do not require the bartender to give one. Make sure that your bartender knows that if a guest pays cash, it is not some secret code for, “I do not want a receipt.” Even if most of the guests throw the receipts away, at least your bartender gave them one and hopefully rang up the transaction.  Check out our article on how bartenders split and re-present checks with the POS.

4.  Have your bartender request some sort of payment or tab from each guest immediately after serving drinks. This can be as simple as placing a receipt in a glass in front of the guest. This way, the bartender does not forget what has been ordered and the guest can keep a running total or pay whenever they would like. As you can probably imagine, many types of POS manipulation, whether intentional or not, can occur if this standard is not followed.  Also, make sure your bartenders are properly controlling drinks they prepare for cocktail servers by reading this article.

5.  Issue POS cards for all your bartenders and servers. Do not allow codes to be used to access the POS systems. Fraudulent actions can occur if bartenders or servers get a hold of each other’s access codes.

6.  Security cameras should be installed and facing each register. You can always go back and refer to your tapes if necessary.  There are also new systems available that show the POS transaction details on the security footage.

7.  Give each bartender their own separate cash drawers. Any mistakes in cash handling should be traceable to the associate responsible for each drawer. Sharing cash drawers will make it difficult to trace back to one associate.

8.  DO NOT allow the ‘No Sale’ button to be used. Most POS systems show “NO SALE” very largely on the computer screen when it is used for a reason. There should be no reason to ever use this button that opens the cash drawer without entering a transaction. If change is requested by a guest, then have your bartender make change out of the tip jar, or have a manager witness the change transaction. No sale button pushes should be tracked and researched.

9.  Bottle for bottle exchange should be used as your bar’s requisition system. See our article on bottle for bottle exchange for details.

10.  The bartender’s tip jar should be placed away from the cash register. This will ensure that the bartender cannot easily transfer cash to and from the tip jar.  We recommend a minimum of 5 feet from the register.  The tip jar should be a one way jar.  Money should go in and not come out until the end of the shift. 

11.  Have a log that is kept at the bar to log any spilled or complimentary drinks given to guests. This will help prevent bartenders from abusing the system and help reconcile the beverage inventory when the time to count arrives.

12.  DO NOT allow unauthorized associates to go behind the bar area. Only bartenders, bar backs, and managers should be allowed behind the bar area, reducing the number of possibly responsible associates for issues that occur.

Visit our seminars page for information on our Liquor Costs Seminar by clicking here.

Before we talk about suggestive selling, the first thing we have to talk about is how to ask the right questions.  The most important thing to keep in mind is to never ask open ended questions.  When I call room service, the room service operator typically asks, ‘what can I get for you?’ or, ‘what would you like this evening?’  If you ask either of those questions, you have lost all opportunity to sell.  At that point you are only an order taker.  Your questions have to be specific and lead the guest to buy. 

The first question you should ask the guest is, ‘how many guests should I set the tray for?’  Almost nobody ever asks this question.  They usually just guess based on the number of entrees ordered or just assume that the order is for one person.  Without knowing how many guests the meal is for, you cannot set up the tray properly… but more importantly, you cannot sell correctly!

Once you know how many guests to prepare for, you can start selling.  Selling is simple.  It is about anticipating the guest’s needs and making recommendations to match. 

The next question you ask is to take guest’s appetizer order.  With all of the questions that you will ask the guest, keep the following in mind:

1. Order taking is asking, ‘what would you like this evening?’
2. Selling is asking, ‘would you like to start with an appetizer this evening?’
3. Suggestive selling is specifically asking, ‘would you like to start with an appetizer such as our fresh shrimp cocktail or our famous red hot buffalo wings?’

Order taking is what they do at McDonald’s.  Selling will improve your results slightly.  Suggestive selling will increase your revenues (and tips) up to 50 percent.  Your guests will respond when you ask the right questions and make the right suggestions. 

Once you have sold the guest on an appetizer, move on to the entrée.  At this point, you should go over the day’s specials and offer help with any questions the guest may have.  You can always make a suggestion or two.  However, you typically do not have to steer a guest towards an entrée selection.  They most likely have already decided on an entrée before calling.  Even though you are not steering, you are still selling here… specifically, up-selling here!  Have your up-sell items prepared in advance for every entrée.  If the guest orders a burger, recommend adding bacon.  If a salad or pasta is ordered, be sure to recommend adding shrimp or chicken.  Be sure the up-sell options are programmed into the point of sale system as a reminder.

Now that you have the guest’s appetizer and entrée selections, you can match their choices with your beverage menu and sell them a drink from the bar.  If the guest ordered a steak, recommend a great glass of wine.  It works best if you recommend a mid-priced glass so they are not surprised by the check total when they see the bill.  If you are preparing a meal for two, recommend a bottle.  If the guest orders a more casual meal like a burger, recommend one of your specialty beers or a mixed drink. 

Even if the guest is not interested in an alcoholic drink, you still have work to do.  If they ask for soda, sell them two (remember, there are no refills in room service).  If they ask for water, make sure you go over the choices of bottled water.  You should have at least two types of water available in at least two sizes. 

After the beverage order, you are ready to sell the dessert.  The great thing about room service dessert is that the guest orders the dessert before they eat the meal.  They do not know whether they will be too full for dessert yet and they are much easier to sell as desserts have a high appeal to many people.  Therefore, you should sell at least twice as many desserts in room service as you do in your restaurant.  When asking the guest for the dessert order, go back to your suggestive selling and take the same approach as you did with the appetizer.  Ask a specific question such as ‘would you like to include a slice of our chef’s cheesecake topped with raspberry and fresh whipped cream?’

If the guest orders a dessert, you can usually also sell them on a specialty coffee or desert liquor.  Again, just match the dessert with the beverage.  Even if they said no to the cheesecake, make sure you offer the specialty coffee. 

Some other things to keep in mind when selling room service:

1. Make sure you compliment the guest on their selection if the guest orders a great dish.  Guests are nervous when ordering a dish, especially if it is expensive or unusual.  Put their mind at ease by saying, ‘that is a great selection’ or, ‘the New York Strip is my favorite as well’. 
2. Make suggestions based on items that are your favorite dishes.  Do not recommend a dish that you have not personally eaten.  If you have not sampled every item on your menu, you should not be answering the phone!
3. Use positive words to describe every dish.  You do not just have a burger; you have a ‘terrific half pound grade A burger cooked to perfection with your choice of toppings.’
4. Do not forget about the basics:  use the guest’s name, quote a delivery time, and show appreciation!

Links:

Click HERE to download our sample scoring form to train and test your room service team.

While there is a lot of great advice on preventative measures, the book does feel a little outdated.  Also, many of the recommendations for beverage control seem very costly when it comes to supervision.  Hotels that do not have a F&B Manager on the floor at all times will have a very hard time with the recommendations.  In addition, many of the recommendations are just way too time consuming and small to midsized hotels will have a hard time finding the time and manpower to do them. 

Overall, we recommend the book for managers who are new to beverage control.  Veteran mangers can probably skip this book.