We here at Five Point Capital lease a lot of equipment for restaurants, so we have decided to share tips from our most successful restaurant clients.
Part of the success of a restaurant is how good the food is. The other part, however, is the service. This means not only friendly service, but fast and efficient service as well. While the staff members of your restaurants must be smart, friendly, quick on their feet, and have great memories, if your restaurant is set up in a non-efficient manner, even the most intelligent and attentive servers can seem frazzled and slow.
For a server, the best restaurants to work in are not necessarily the ones with the nicest managers, biggest bucks, or friendliest customers. They are the ones that are easiest to navigate. A restaurant with a good serving station makes any restaurant operate smoothly. A lack of an organized serving station can make any restaurant fall apart.
For example, take a restaurant that has all paper goods stocked next to the computer terminal, next to the silver- and dish-ware shelves. This means that when a server takes an order, he or she can return to this very spot, enter the other, and then grab plates, silverware, and napkins to bring to the patrons all in one trip. If the plates are kept in the kitchen, the silverware in a separate drawer, the glasses by the bar, and the computer elsewhere, every order the server takes means a mad dash about the restaurant.
We recommend designating one specific area in your restaurant as the server station. Make sure this area is a large enough to accommodate all of your servers at one time, to avoid bumping into one another and dropping things. The serving station should consist of the following:
- A paper-goods section, stocked with napkins, paper towels, and beverage napkins
- A silverware tray, filled with clean forks, knives, spoons, and steak knives
- Clean plates, appetizer plates, and bowls
- A trash can
- Three large buckets—one for dirty silverware, one for dirty plates, and one with small sections for depositing dirty glasses. When these are full, they should be brought to the kitchen for washing. This eliminates the need for the servers to hurry back and forth into the kitchen to deposit dirty goods after every bussed table.
- The computer to place orders and run credit cards
- A stack of trays
- Cleaning cloths and spray bottles.
- If servers fill their own drinks, glasses, ice, and straws should all be located near the drink machine, along with a set of trays
The most efficient set-up we have witnessed here at Five Point Capital was a serving station that was set up at the back corner of the bar. At one end of the serving station, plates, straws, and clean glasses stood ready for use, in reach of both the servers and the bartender. Next to that was an empty area, used for the bartenders to pass drinks to the servers. Under the bar area was a dining cart. The top shelf held napkins and a silverware tray. The second shelf held a dirty glass container. The third shelf held a dirty silverware bin. The bottom shelf held a dirty plate bin. Next to the dining cart was the trashcan. On the other side of the empty area, on the bar, was the drink machine. An ice bucket was under the drink machine, while trays were placed on top of the drink machine. Next to the drink machine was the computer. Pens, spare change, and menus were all placed in racks on top of the computer. Cleaning cloths and spray bottles hung on a rack under the bar area, next to the trash can. The only time the servers had to enter the kitchen was to pick up food, to restock paper goods, or to exchange dirty goods for clean ones.
After every order, the servers only needed to return to this area to get everything they needed. There was less forgetfulness, faster service, and less frazzled servers as a result. We recommend to all our clients who are purchasing restaurant equipment to keep in mind the design of their serving station for both the good of their serving staff and the efficiency of their restaurant!
