Staff training is a vital component of ensuring quality service in your restaurant, and this should include an education around the dishes on your menu. In this article, we outline five key benefits to making sure your front-of-house team knows your menu inside and out, and outline how you can introduce this type of training.
Five reasons menu training is key
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Upselling: Staff training is crucial in order for upselling to become a regular and successful part of your operation. When your employees feel knowledgeable and empowered enough to make helpful and smart suggestions to customers, this expertise can be easily translated into bigger bills at the end of the night.
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Authenticity: The more educated your servers are when it comes to your dishes, the more confidence they’ll have when responding to customer questions. Recommendations without the knowledge to back them up often fall flat; in situations where a server is asked which starter they would choose, or to recommend a wine pairing for the main course, a confident, in-the-know answer is often discernible from one that is pulled out of the air — and carries more weight.
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Better service, improved loyalty: The level of service provided by your front-of-house team is elevated by expertise. When servers are knowledgeable and confident, this generates trust, increasing customer loyalty and making return visits more likely.
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Better time efficiency: Running back and forth to the kitchen to ask questions wastes everyone’s time. In addition, when a server leaves the table to “check with the chef,” customers can lose faith in the overall quality of the establishment.
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Smart allergen management: When customers have questions about potential allergens in your dishes, it’s essential that your staff is well-informed. Staff who can answer questions with both authority and accuracy will make guests with allergies feel welcome and safe. Not only can extensive training in this area prevent serious incidents from occurring, but these guests are more likely to return or recommend the venue to friends and family.
Ways to involve and educate your staff
- When you’re developing a new or updated menu, we recommend involving employees from the early stages. Front-of-house staff interact with your customers on a daily basis; as such, they often have valuable insights that you can use to inform your menu items, phrasing and descriptors.
- Communicate to managers and supervisors that they will need to support you in getting staff up to speed with the menu. Co-create a training plan with them so that they can take ownership of the process and help bring their teammates on board.
- Sit down for a full-menu tasting session with front-of-house staff. As they sample each dish, give them relevant and useful information around its ingredients (including allergens, if any), preparation, presentation, price and biggest selling points.
- Explain how this training will benefit staff members; for example, discuss how the information provided will make upselling easier, boosting the average bill size and having a positive effect on tips as a result. Emphasise that this knowledge will make their jobs easier by giving them increased confidence in their interactions with customers.
- This is an ongoing process, and should continue as your menu is tweaked and updated. If you’ve got a daily special, ask your kitchen staff to cook one portion at the beginning of the shift. Let servers sample the dish while the chef explains its ingredients, selling points and price, and encourage them to ask any questions they may have.
Menu training checklist
At the end of your tasting and training session, your team should be able to:
- describe all of the dishes on the menu in a simple and clear way, including what makes them special,
- accurately pronounce the names of all dishes and ingredients,
- identify allergens and suggest alternatives where possible,
- answer questions about ingredients and cooking methods,
- explain what sides or sauces will accompany each dish,
- highlight the provenance of your ingredients,
- identify your restaurant’s signature dishes, and
- give appropriate advice around the portion size of each dish.
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