Training Staff Menu Knowledge
Published January 7, 2022
All too often, in restaurants across the country, a server or bartender heads to the kitchen to ask the chef a brazenly simple question that, all in all, they should know the answer to. These members of staff represent the location to its guests’ and it is their job to present the menu to the guests in the correct manner. This correct manner is effortless, will confidence, coupled with informative descriptions, and immediate answers to any of the guest’s questions.
Unfortunately, this is not the case all the time. The same issue also exists with beverage menus and a venue’s alcohol offerings. Servers are often seen headed to the well to ask the bartender about a certain drink or liquor, before returning to their table. All these trips away from the table create unease and uncertainty for the guests and also display a lack of professionalism on the part of the server and the establishment.
Many managers are blind to the plight of a lack of in-depth menu knowledge amongst their employees, and many just take it as a part of service. But managers, and their guests, shouldn’t expect this subpar level of service from their servers. Before we jump into training staff menu knowledge let’s first look at the benefits of proper menu knowledge.
The Benefits of Menu Knowledge
- Server Confidence: The more knowledgeable a server is of the menu the more confident they can be in their presentation of it.
- Guest Confidence: When a server leaves the table to answer a question the guest is left feeling awkwardly embarrassed, and can mean they lose some faith in the quality of the venue they’re dining in.
- Higher Level of Service: When the server knows the menu their level of service is elevated by knowledge and confidence. This is noticeable by the guests and gives them confidence in dining in that location; potentially meaning that they’ll spend more money.
- Better Time Efficiency: Running back and forth to the kitchen or bar to ask questions wastes time. Not only the time of the server but also that of the other members of staff and the guest.
- Guest Loyalty: If servers are knowledgeable and confident, guests are confident and trusting of the service staff. Such confidence and trust in a venue and its staff can increase guest loyalty and mean that they’re more likely to become a returning customer.
- Server Confidence: The more knowledgeable a server is of the menu the more confident they can be in their presentation of it.
- Guest Confidence: When a server leaves the table to answer a question the guest is left feeling awkwardly embarrassed, and can mean they lose some faith in the quality of the venue they’re dining in.
- Higher Level of Service: When the server knows the menu their level of service is elevated by knowledge and confidence. This is noticeable by the guests and gives them confidence in dining in that location; potentially meaning that they’ll spend more money.
- Better Time Efficiency: Running back and forth to the kitchen or bar to ask questions wastes time. Not only the time of the server but also that of the other members of staff and the guest.
- Guest Loyalty: If servers are knowledgeable and confident, guests are confident and trusting of the service staff. Such confidence and trust in a venue and its staff can increase guest loyalty and mean that they’re more likely to become a returning customer.
- Server Confidence: The more knowledgeable a server is of the menu the more confident they can be in their presentation of it.
- Guest Confidence: When a server leaves the table to answer a question the guest is left feeling awkwardly embarrassed, and can mean they lose some faith in the quality of the venue they’re dining in.
- Higher Level of Service: When the server knows the menu their level of service is elevated by knowledge and confidence. This is noticeable by the guests and gives them confidence in dining in that location; potentially meaning that they’ll spend more money.
- Better Time Efficiency: Running back and forth to the kitchen or bar to ask questions wastes time. Not only the time of the server but also that of the other members of staff and the guest.
- Guest Loyalty: If servers are knowledgeable and confident, guests are confident and trusting of the service staff. Such confidence and trust in a venue and its staff can increase guest loyalty and mean that they’re more likely to become a returning customer.
Before continuing there is an important note to make regarding dietary knowledge. Specific dietary requirements, be they allergies, intolerances, or preferences, are becoming more commonplace. When a member of service staff can answer a guest’s questions regarding their requirements with authority the guest feels exceptional welcome, gains confidence in the location and is more likely to return or recommend the venue to their friends and family.
The Elements of Successful Restaurant Menu Training
These tools for menu training range from the basic training of food menus to more in-depth methods of menu training for servers in restaurants. There is no one way to train employees on menu knowledge, as everyone learns differently. But, stressing the above benefits to employees can help them see why such knowledge is important to both their success and the success of the venue they work in.
Hard Materials
Standard practice is often to provide new employees with copies of the menus to keep and use how they wish. This should include the food menu, the beverage menu, and a list of all liquors and liqueurs on offer in the location. These materials allow an employee to study the menu outside of the location and gives them no excuse not to learn the menu.
These tools for menu training range from the basic training of food menus to more in-depth methods of menu training for servers in restaurants. There is no one way to train employees on menu knowledge, as everyone learns differently. But, stressing the above benefits to employees can help them see why such knowledge is important to both their success and the success of the venue they work in.
Hard Materials
Standard practice is often to provide new employees with copies of the menus to keep and use how they wish. This should include the food menu, the beverage menu, and a list of all liquors and liqueurs on offer in the location. These materials allow an employee to study the menu outside of the location and gives them no excuse not to learn the menu.
These tools for menu training range from the basic training of food menus to more in-depth methods of menu training for servers in restaurants. There is no one way to train employees on menu knowledge, as everyone learns differently. But, stressing the above benefits to employees can help them see why such knowledge is important to both their success and the success of the venue they work in.
Hard Materials
Standard practice is often to provide new employees with copies of the menus to keep and use how they wish. This should include the food menu, the beverage menu, and a list of all liquors and liqueurs on offer in the location. These materials allow an employee to study the menu outside of the location and gives them no excuse not to learn the menu.
Menu 101 Session
Managers, and even the chef, should sit down with new hires for a 1-on-1 session to discuss the menu in full. Covering everything from the most basic menu items to the signature items of that location. This should be done with the employee’s hard copy at hand so they can make notes on it for their own future reference. It should also take place in a space free of judgement or prejudice, allowing the employee to freely ask whatever questions they want, no matter how silly or basic they may seem. The more they ask now the less they’ll ask later and the more confident they’ll be during service.
Here it is important that all allergy suitable menu items should be identified and marked up, along with those items that can be modified to fit specific dietary requirements.
Tasting
Tasting food allows an individual to connect the dish on the menu with tangible flavors and to talk about it from a first person perspective. However, conducting a tasting for every new employee would be an expensive and wasteful process. What venues can do, however, is offer a new hire an introductory meal from the menu, trying to push them towards the signature items they would want them to try. They can also give them samples of some of the most important elements of a dish.
If a location is conducting a major menu revamp then they can consider producing all of the menu items for an employee tasting before launch. This allows the employees to taste all the new items and to refresh their taste buds on existing menu items. Allowing employees to taste new menu items is also common practice when just one item is being added to the menu.
Formal Testing
Weekly menu tests are a common practice in fine dining, but outside of this world running menu tests for servers and bartenders is rare. Many venues have, however, begun testing new employees before the end of their training period, stipulating that they must pass in order to serve at that location.
Setting formal menu tests ensures that the employee will study the menu thoroughly and be better informed for service than if they were not tested. At a minimum formal tests should cover:
- Most popular items
- Item modifications
- Gluten free items and modifications
- Vegetarian and vegan items and modifications
- Spirits on the shelf
- What beers are available
- signature cocktails
It is up to a particular location to decide if and how often they formally test their employee’s menu knowledge, and some will go as far as to hand out consequences -such as spending a week back waiting or running food- for failing tests.
Continuous and Casual Testing
Asking employees menu questions on the fly in front of their peers can keep them all on their toes and is a helpful tool to ensure that everyone keeps up to speed with their menu knowledge. These impromptu questions work best at line up and during slow periods of business.
The Final Course
There is a lack of expectation in restaurants regarding staff menu knowledge, and the notable improvements it can make to service and a restaurant’s reputation are often overlooked. Ensuring that a location’s employees know their menu back-to-front not only makes life easier for them and their colleagues but it improves their work confidence and, as a result, can severely enhance the guest experience in that location.
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