A restaurant host is the first person a customer meets when entering a restaurant and the last person guests are in contact with when they leave. They represent the restaurant, the brand, and the business owner, and have a great impact on the guest experience.
But a great host isn’t born. They’re made through restaurant host training.
While you might be tempted to leave your host and hostess training up to chance, a defined curriculum can help build a host unlike any other.
If you’re interested in creating the best host in the restaurant industry, read on.
What Is A Restaurant Host
A restaurant host or hostess is the first person a restaurant customer sees when entering a restaurant, usually behind a host stand. The host is responsible for greeting guests, seating guests, and politely engaging with customers.
Beyond greeting guests, the host also manages the dining room, reservations, double bookings, and all other tasks related to the restaurant floor.
In recent years, restaurants have moved away from gendered terms. So, a restaurant hostess, usually a female host, can also be referred to as a host. All mentions of restaurant hosts in this article refer to hosts of all genders.
Why Is Restaurant Host Training Important?
The task of greeting guests and managing restaurant seating doesn’t seem as intensive as serving food or managing a busy restaurant kitchen. It’s for this exact reason that so many restaurants overlook restaurant host and hostess training and opt for lackluster hosting.
A restaurant host does so much more than just greet guests.
An experienced host acts as the restaurant representative. They are a stand-in for the owner or manager and represent your brand to customers and the restaurant industry. They are responsible for crafting a great first impression that puts customers at ease.
A good host also manages the flow of the restaurant, from greeting and managing waiting guests to directing the atmosphere in the restaurant – all to optimize performance and increase revenue.
Without a good host, you lose a critical touch point for growth and brand recognition. It immediately demotes your restaurant to a lower-rung restaurant option, which is a massive loss especially if you’re in the fine dining restaurant industry.
How To Train Top-Tier Hosts
Now that we have the semantics out of the way, use these top tips to train hosts in your restaurant. These tips are guaranteed to improve your restaurant dining experience and help you develop a great host.
Prep The Host Stand
Staying organized is essential in optimizing and maintaining the flow in a restaurant. So, teach your hosts how to manage and prep the host stand. Before each shift, the host should check that they have all the gear they’ll need, like writing equipment, ledgers, and customer data, to keep the restaurant running at optimum speed.
Greet Guests At The Door
For a host, staying at their post — the host stand – is a must. However, there might come a time for the host to leave their post and greet guests at the door.
For example, if the restaurant is empty or guests are waiting outside the door, the host should take the initiative and greet the guests at the door.
Use Customer Names
An integral part of the fine dining experience is personal greetings. Whether you’re dealing with a regular or have the guest's name from reservation software, the host should greet customers using their name, and add a healthy dose of deference to the greeting.
Utilize Software Tutorials
While not the case in every restaurant, many restaurants are moving away from pen-and-paper bookings and management to software management.
If your restaurant uses restaurant waitlist software, table ordering software, CRM software, etc., use the tutorials to ensure your host has a clear understanding of the software features.
Establish Communication Guidelines
How host staff communicate with customers is very important. Fortunately, you can provide host staffing with communication guidelines to help them.
Key points to cover include:
- Greeting: How should your hosts greet customers? What tone of voice and language do you want them to use? How should they handle difficult guests?
- Preferences: Next, employees should always ask for the customer's preferences. Again, cover how you would like your host staff to manage this.
- Apologies: Establish how employees should apologize and fix double bookings, long wait times, etc.
Consider your restaurant’s unique setting and brand, and develop the communication guidelines you feel best suit your establishment.
Help When Necessary
If the wait staff is overwhelmed because the restaurant is very busy, the host should take initiative.
Train them to optimize the restaurant flow, for example, by quickly clearing and setting empty tables that serving staff are too busy to get to. They should help when it calls for it, as long as it doesn’t interfere with their hosting duties.
Prioritise Special Requests
Host staff are responsible for seating guests, usually in different server sections to ensure all wait staff are making money. However, if the guest has any special requests, like a different seating spot, their preference takes priority.
Prepare For Guests With Disabilities
Guests with disabilities require special accommodations. To ensure smooth restaurant operations and a great guest experience, make sure your host knows which seats are the most accommodating for various guest disabilities. This way they can quickly seat guests, make them feel welcome, and keep the restaurant running at top speed.
Establish A Clear Dress Code
The host is the first person of contact in a restaurant. How they look has a big impact on guests’ first impression of your establishment. The host should always look their very best, so establish a clear and defined dress code.
- What uniform does the host wear?
- If there is no uniform, what colors should they wear?
- How should they style their hair?
- Is there a particular way for them to do their makeup?
- Should tattoos and piercings be covered?
Consider how you would like to present your restaurant and create dress code guidelines that reflect that goal.
Conclusion
A restaurant host is the first line of contact in the restaurant industry and how they present themselves and manage guests has a huge impact on the guest experience.
To make the most of your restaurant, put your host through restaurant training. Make sure they know how to prep for work, how to communicate and manage guest seating, how to keep the restaurant flow optimal, and how to handle unprecedented situations.
Not only will this improve the guest experience but it’s guaranteed to improve restaurant revenue.
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