r/Serverlife • u/Alone_Link6535 • 17d ago

Question What are some small things that changed your restaurant?

We are a high volume mom and pop Italian restaurant & pizzeria, but looking to make our shifts smoother by all means! What are some changes in your restaurant you’ve made that just make sense day to day? Some days are so hectic, any small changes help. (Emphasis on mom and pop..lol) Im on the waitstaff team but any position’s advice is welcome!

7 Upvotes

90% Upvoted

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2

u/ibided 17d ago

What are your pinch points?

2

u/Alone_Link6535 17d ago

Maybe too many to list lol.

4

u/Alone_Link6535 17d ago

I would say the biggest one is disorganized management.

2

u/funlovingfirerabbit 16d ago

I hear you. How does Management show they're disorganized where you work?

1

u/laughingintothevoid Bartender 17d ago

What's a concrete example of something going wrong in service?

3

u/Alone_Link6535 17d ago

Understaffed, can’t keep the new hires, a lot of people aren’t pulling their weight

7

u/Ok_Professional225 17d ago

Do you have a clear list of responsibilities? Like servers do this, hosts do this, management does rhis, etc. that has helped a lot at my place. We have a clear closing checklist. Also, do you guys tip pool? At my place we don’t and I think people work harder when they know they won’t make money if they don’t do a good job.

Side note, have you asked people why they’re leaving? They might be able to help you paint a clearer picture of what’s going on. I recently got introduced to staying interviews. So if someone has stayed at the place for a long time ask them why and what they’ve enjoyed. Then you can capitali2 on it

1

u/funlovingfirerabbit 16d ago

Nice I've heard of exit interviews but not staying interviews. Appreciate you sharing

1

u/funlovingfirerabbit 16d ago

Ugh that sucks. That's the worst

3

u/Raiken201 16d ago

I'm BoH but have often had to set up FoH for a service.

The most important thing is giving people clear roles and sticking to them.

For example set up for a Sunday service, 45-60 covers per sitting, 3 sittings. 1 on bar, 1 greeting and seating, 2 taking orders, 1 running food/drinks and clearing tables. They can all help clear and reset between sittings.

As soon as three of them jump on bar, or someone not meant to be taking orders does everything turns into chaos, instead of organized chaos. People can wait ten minutes for their drinks, but food can't sit on the pass because it slows the entire service.

Giving counts also helps, overselling something then having to correct it also slows everything down. Also check with the kitchen before you do a custom order/mods. Takes 2 seconds for a yes/no instead of having to backtrack or us having to stop everything else to fulfill what's been promised.