Every customer that enters your restaurant must be greeted or acknowledged by your staff in a timely manner. This is the customer’s first impression.

Too many times, restaurant patrons are not promptly greeted or acknowledged when they enter the restaurant. This first impression is vital for repeat business. A positive first impression can not only generate sales, but the opposite can happen if your customers leave your restaurant dissatisfied or dissatisfied. Do you want something as simple as a greeting to lose customers to your competition?

The first focus of restaurants is the front door. Do whatever it takes to ensure that all guests are greeted with a warm, friendly smile.

Some restaurants have limited cash flow and cannot afford to schedule a receptionist. During off-peak hours, no one may be watching the door for customers arriving or leaving. If that’s the case, look for an alternative.

It’s frustrating to walk into any business and then search for staff members who can help you. Even worse is seeing staff members who don’t even acknowledge their presence and employees who are engaged in leisure activities like hanging out with other employees or talking on a cell phone.

Many restaurant complaints occur off-peak hours simply because fewer staff are working and management is often in the office catching up on paperwork. The number one reason for off-peak complaints is that the staff and management have become lax and less customer focused. You need to instill the value of every customer in your staff and managers.

If you can’t always have someone guard the door, use other ways to alert staff of arriving customers. Installing a doorbell or alarm system at the front door would be an inexpensive way to alert your staff members that a guest has entered or left the restaurant, especially when you don’t have anyone available to greet guests.

Install another doorbell or intercom system in the manager’s office from the kitchen and service area. Then, if a staff member needs a manager, staff can use the doorbell or intercom system to alert the manager that they are needed immediately. This way, employees can focus on their work and don’t have to run to the office to find the manager. This also serves the purpose of an alert system in case of an emergency.

If you have customer complaints because no one greeted or acknowledged them, it’s going to be expensive. Your restaurant depends on repeat business. You must take responsibility for making each customer feel welcome.

Teach all staff members, including cooks, dishwashers, and servers, that the front door is the number one priority. All staff members must be able to greet the guest and then seat the guest in a timely manner. Show employees the server’s seating chart and table numbers.

A schematic diagram of the dining room floor should be placed in various areas, including the greeting booth area and the service corridor. The chart should be laminated or on a protective sheet.

The diagram is used in the larger area to track which tables are in use and have a rotation system for seating guests. It’s a good idea to set up several “section” charts, with some of the most “favorite” charts in each section. You know which tables may be most frequently requested, such as booths or tables near a window, private seating for clients on an appointment, or larger tables for families and groups. Make sure these preferred tables are evenly divided into each section, and if that’s not possible, make sure your servers aren’t always assigned to the same sections.

In addition to welcoming guests, greeters should ask if they have any preferences, such as a table or booth. When a large group arrives, there should be no question as to whether the group can sit together. Find a way to make it happen. They are there to share that group experience and if you can’t provide that to your customers, they will find it in your competition.

The serving aisle chart will allow the manager to list all the server names with their table numbers and section assignment. Once the chart is complete it will be much easier to tell which server is assigned to which section along with their table numbers.

The seating chart is also useful for bringing food to guests. This shows, at a glance, the location of each table in the dining room with the table number and the currently assigned server. Make sure server names and table assignments update as servers come and go from their shifts. When a server is running, it’s best to keep that server in one section and not change it mid-shift or when another server arrives.

Begin training on how to greet customers at employee orientation. If you don’t have a training program and don’t know what to cover with new staff, get help learning it because that’s another key to your success.

Explain to all employees that it is their responsibility to greet all guests as they enter and leave the restaurant. Teach all staff members how to recognize a guest if their hands are full. For example, if a server is bringing plates or glasses and cannot immediately seat the diner, the server must still greet all diners entering the restaurant. They should welcome the customer and reassure the guests that someone will be okay with them. That server then either moves on to seat the guest or tells the greeters or other servers that there are customers waiting to be seated at the front door.

If the employee is on break or has reported to work early and is hanging around the lobby area, it is still their responsibility to greet guests. Ignoring it sends a negative message whether the staff member is on duty or not. That client does not know that the person is out of hours. Train each employee to represent your restaurant whenever he is present in the restaurant, or even outside the restaurant in uniform.

Most restaurants have a policy that employees are not allowed to stay in the lobby area, but it still can happen. It is best to tell employees once they have finished their shift that they are to go home and not stay anywhere in the restaurant. In addition to the negative meaning it can give to guests, off-duty employees staying after their shifts are done creates a distraction for restaurant employees who are actually working.

Every employee who is in view of a customer must have a clean, pressed uniform. If a kitchen employee is sent to seat guests, he must remove his kitchen apron before greeting the guest to be seated.

All employees arriving for work or taking a break or finished for the day or night must be in a clean and pressed complete uniform; their shirts need to be tucked in. They also shouldn’t be sitting around reading, playing games, texting, or talking on a cell phone. The guest does not know if the employees are on break, if they came to work early, or if they are done for the day. Look at it from the guest’s perspective to understand what they see through their eyes and hear what they hear. Putting yourself in the customer’s shoes will help you see and hear a different perspective on customer service. If you were the guest and saw these things, what would you think? This is very important to the success of your restaurant.

Instruct all employees that there is no use of cell phones while on duty or on a break in full view of the guest.

You also must not allow employees to smoke in front of the restaurant or within view of the guest, including during breaks, or off the clock at the beginning or end of a shift. Many restaurants and businesses have designated smoking areas for employees that are out of sight of customers.

A very good idea is to have your staff members add an additional enhancement of excellent customer service by opening the doors as the guest arrives and leaves the restaurant.

Work outside the box and get creative about how you want your guests to be greeted and seated. Do what you have to do to beat your competition by providing service and food beyond the norm.