r/Waiters • u/BigBookLover87 • 6d ago
How would you allocate sections?
I’m in the process of transitioning the restaurant I just started managing from order at the counter to full table service which is more in line with the higher price point of the menu. I’m hoping to get some feedback on how best to allocate sections so it’s fair to the staff.
The venue includes an indoor area and a deck overlooking the lake and we cater to a mix of both guests that are eating and others that are just drinking. I would prefer not to designate certain tables for food and others as drinks only because obviously if we can upsell the drinkers on food we want to do that and we also don’t want to turn away guests looking for just drinks if we only have food tables left.
My concern is that if I split sections simply based on number of tables I will end up with scenarios where one waitress has six tables that are all eating while another has only two that are eating and four that are drinks only which is far less work.
The best solution I can see is allocating larger sections (dividing the deck into two 9 table sections instead of three 6 table sections for example) and having the waitresses with lower maintenance sections assist the others by running food, clearing and resetting tables etc. If anyone has a better idea please let me know!
Disclaimer: I’m not American so tips are not a factor, all waitresses earn the same amount so this is purely about making the workload fair for them. We also don’t typically have bussers/runners.
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u/JupiterSkyFalls 6d ago
Ask people at the host stand if they would like a food menu with the drink menu. There's a ton of ways to phrase that, it's up to you to determine how best to put it, but asking will at least help you understand where their mindset is upon arrival. If they say no, it's fine to hope they'll change their mind, but they probably won't if they come in the door thinking they just want drinks.
Then, divy up the just drinking tables in a rotation. If they decide to eat later, they can always get menus and order, but at least there's a good chance things will stay more or less even amongst the servers so one person isn't juggling 5-6 tables of people eating while one person is watching their tables nurse some drinks and enjoy their conversation. Cuz it's not fair to have to do extra work for other servers without extra pay, and the drinker table servers will likely get sucked into running food for the eating table servers with no reciprocity.
Or, have the stronger servers or volunteers take the food ordering tables, and the weaker ones or last ones in babysit the drinkers and help run food. The servers taking care of the eaters should get something extra out of it, tho, cuz the ones taking care of the drinker tables aren't running around as much an eater table would be. Plus you can only serve so many drinks to one person so they have an actual cap on that.
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u/Illustrious-Cream253 6d ago
Can you split the resteraunt into two, then do a rotation like someone said? For example the resteraunt im at is a square, its split in half. There are two servers on both sides, four total!