What should a restaurant hostess do?

Question

I am going to be the head hostess for a resort restaurant. I am looking for advice for organization and running things. Any suggestions would be appreciated, I want to give the best service to the customers (especially since customer reviews have been bad pertaining to customer service)

Thank you!

Answer 1

In addition to the first answer, you need to always know what's going on - what tables are avail, what are about to become avail (check on the table), etc. As the "head", you may have subordinates who should be running around and updating you.  Always keeps the hostess desk manned at all times - it's hard when you first open and you've got a lunch line forming while your subordinates are seating others and you're the only one there - you may feel it won't hurt to seat someone quickly nearby but it actually causes more confusion when your subordinates come back to the stand and the "captain" is gone.  But, once you're on a wait list, that's actually easier than seating a busy restaurant when opening (cuz it's basically seat the next open table).  

During slow times, make sure the restaurant's appearance looks clean - pick up litter, make sure the host stand is clean/organized.  Stack and clean menus, etc.

One challenge to balance is meeting the guests' seating desires (booth, table by windows, etc.) while trying to keep all the servers evenly seated.  You'll find that some server stations have less desirable tables than others.  I found that taking the time to ask what kind of table they are looking for saves you the few minutes wasted when you take a guest to a table you would assume they want and they reject it.   If you ever double or triple seat a server (give a server 2 or 3 tables within a few minutes), help out the server by offering to grab beverages for those guests (if you have enough hosting staff to be away for a few extra moments).  

I always liked when hosts kept track of the number of tables each server has received.  Probably the second hardest task is quoting wait times.  While you want to be as accurate as possible, no one knows the future - but guests have other things to do and your answer will help them make a decision to stay or leave.  I always quoted with my best estimate, with an optimistic lean to entice guests to stay.  

Smile and be enthusiastic!  Good luck.

Answer 2

greet customers upon arrival, ask how many in party, take name and put on list,  tell how long wait, (be very honest as this makes people mad when the wait is much much longer than stated).  Be sure servers can handle amount of customers seated in section,  do not overload. Give at least 3 minutes per seating to allow server enough time to get table started, keep in snyc.  Be sure to rotate the sections customers are seated in.  Thank customers upon leaving. Be polite and gracious.