How to Waitress

Are you interested in learning how to waitress?   The career of waitressing, or waiting on tables at a restaurant, requires you to provide food and excellent customer service to the patrons of that establishment. Waitressing can be a great career or a rewarding part time occupation and waitresses can make a pretty good living if they are good at what they do. In fact, your potential earnings are virtually limitless because you can supplement your income with the tips that you are paid by your satisfied customers at the conclusion of their dining experience. So, how do you become a good waitress to maximize your tips?

The basics of how to waitress just involve:

• Delivering menus to customers and telling them about any specials
• Taking orders when the customers have decided what food to eat
• Putting those orders in at the kitchen
• Serving the food when it is ready
• Presenting the check

Of course, there is more to learning how to waitress than just doing the basics. In fact, there are a few things that you should know that can help you not only waitress, but to be a great, high earning waitress who attracts repeat business from the customers she serves.

Focus on Customer Service

The most important thing you need to know when learning how to waitress is that you always want to pay attention to the customers who you are serving because the customers are your main source of income. 

• Taking notes on what the customers are ordering (especially at a table with multiple customers or if you are waitressing at a busy restaurant where you will be serving multiple tables at the same time) is key to successfully getting everyone their order just the way they like it in a reasonable amount of time. 
• Make sure to take notes quickly, but with enough detail that you and the cooking staff can figure out what each person ordered so that you are bringing the right food to the right customer, and so that the food is done in the way that the customer wants it to be done. 

This will help you get better tips and better reviews from your customers, and it will also help to ensure that you have satisfied customers who will come back again.

Clearing the Table

Another tip for waitressing is to keep the table clear as soon as possible after the customers are finished eating the food. 

• You don’t want to be pushy, but you also don’t want unused empty plates to pile up, causing your customers to be unable to sit comfortably at the table or not having a place to put other courses of food that they might wish to order. 
• By keeping tabs on who is where in the dining process, you will soon learn how and when to come back and ask to remove empty plates. 
• However, before you take any plate away, always ask.  This is especially important if the customer still has food on his or her plate, but even an empty plate may be there for a reason. This means it is good practice to ask politely if you may remove excess plates as soon as possible.

So, now you know how to waitress and you can get started on an exciting new career.