What do you think of upselling at restaurants?

Question

Some waiter tried to upsell some imported water from Italy on us. I felt like telling him it was probably just tap water from some Italian faucet.

Answer 1

Upselling can help your server out (and sometimes you out) in ways you can never dream of. Say I am a server and I sell $750 per shift, taking care of 15 tables. Say I upsell a side of mushrooms or bleu cheese crumbles with their steak. That costs an extra $1.50... say half the people go for it. Thats $1.50 to 7 tables.  That's an extra $10.50. Say I work 5 shifts a week. That's an extra $52.50. Over a year, that is an extra $2,730 .... at 20% tip, I make an extra $546 a year. ... thats what some people pay for car insurance in a year. So I can pay my car insurance by upselling? Sold!!  Other times upselling can help you, like gee you never thought of adding bleu cheese to your steak that could be delicious! And lastly, if you are not interested in the upsell, politely decline, remembering the reasons why they are doing it ( and the reasons the management is enforcing they do it!!) .... and try not to be annoyed.... a server is essentially a salesperson working solely on commision!!

Answer 2

Up selling is something that I am required to do, as a server. My management staff stresses this to us. I don't really enjoy it. I think people will order what they want and that's that. But having worked for a few different restaurants, and up selling being something all places wanted us to do, it's just part of the job.

So, if you have a server trying to up sell you to something, they are just doing their job. At least that's how I see it.

Answer 3

While the servers think upselling is acceptable, I assure you, the best restaurants do not attempt to upsell you. Anytime a waiter tries to upsell me, it lowers their tip in my book. There are tactful ways to upsell, for instance showing the available choices, but once you have committed to something, no waiter should ever try to tell you that you made the wrong decision. Occasionally, when a waiter implies that I made the wrong choice, I ask them why they would have such an item on the menu, to which they often have no reply. Two years ago I went with some friends to Smith and Wollensky in Las Vegas. Every decision we made, the waiter insisted that we were making the wrong choice. I wanted a New York strip? Oh no, according to him I didn't want that, I wanted the porterhouse. Don't tell me what I do or do not want. One of my friends bit and "upgraded" his steak. He ended up with an oversized, overpriced piece of beef that he could in no way eat in full. The waiter told us we ordered the wrong entrees, the wrong side dishes, and even the wrong desserts. I assure you this assumption that I was wrong was reflected in his tip. Remember, the customer is always right. You are buying dinner, not a car, so you don't need a salesman, just someone to take your order to the chef.