How to Train Restaurant Servers: 8 Expert Tips

Learning how to train restaurant servers is crucial for any restaurant owner. A great staff is educated on all aspects of the menu, from food to wine, and in providing friendly service. Effective restaurant training equips your staff with guidelines and an understanding of your restaurant’s expectations, ensuring they are well-prepared to upsell and assist guests in your preferred style. Follow the eight easy steps below and you’ll have a well-equipped and knowledgeable front-of-house staff in no time.

1. Write a Server Handbook 

Start with a well-written server training manual unique to your company. This handbook is a comprehensive resource for your servers to reference for any questions about the restaurant. It should cover all the bases, even areas you may not think are necessary. This way, if any issues should arise, you can refer back to it as a master list of rules for your restaurant.

• Restaurant information: This could be everything from your street address to owners’ names, history of the business or building, hours of operation, and website address.
• Policy information: How do you want servers to contact you if they are running late? How should they get shifts covered? How do they request days off? Do you have a staff dress code or uniform requirements? These are all policies that new servers need to know. 
• Mission statement: This should be covered first thing with an explanation of what it means and how to uphold it.
• Training expectations: Let new hires know what to expect during the training process, including how many days training will take and what is expected of them. Set daily goals and quizzes. 
• Service information: This is the operational service knowledge a server needs to navigate your space, like table numbers, seat numbers, and where service stations are located. If you expect certain timeframes for how long a table waits to be greeted, when their order is placed, and the length of acceptable wait times between courses, you’ll want to communicate that, too.
• Server etiquette: Every nuance of the serving experience at your restaurant should be addressed here: when to bring out silverware or if it should be in roll ups, already set on the table when guests arrive; when to bring out water—if it is brought to every guest or only when requested; whether the server or the bussing staff brings the water. 
• Dress code: Your dress code should be as detailed and specific as possible, with instructions on whether or not to cover tattoos, what type of jewelry can be worn, if nails can be polished or acrylic, if hair should be pulled back, if uniforms should be pressed, specific colors, types of non-slip shoes, pants, aprons, etc. Address how you’d like men’s facial hair to be trimmed and include any personal hygiene guidelines. This helps you avoid arguments with people who would like to challenge the rules.
• Scheduling: Detail when new schedules will be posted and where and what to do if you need time off. Outline how to request time off, how early it should be requested, and how to switch shifts with other employees. A number should be given in case the staff member needs to call out sick with a voicemail if it’s outside of restaurant hours. 
• Check-out procedures: Cover what to expect at the end of the night, how to add tips into the POS system, how to claim tips for taxes when checking out, and what tip out percentages should be given to the bartenders, bussing staff, and food runners, if applicable. 
• Paychecks and benefits: Where and when should staff expect their paycheck? If it is paid bi-weekly or monthly, trainees should be given instructions and details about their healthcare, direct deposit, and 401K.
• Sidework: Include examples of what to expect before and after shifts to set expectations. Some restaurants expect a lot out of servers for side work while others have very little. Examples would be filling salad dressings, salt and pepper, and sugars, cleaning tops and under tables, rolling silverware, and polishing barware.

2. Create a Training Schedule

Before you have any staff to train, you should write a training schedule for each employee role. Ideally, you would do this before you open your restaurant or hire your first employee. But if you haven’t written a training schedule yet, pour a cup of cold brew, grab a pen, and make a list of all the information a server needs to know to be successful at your restaurant. Your training schedule ensures you set aside enough training days to teach your new employees all the information they need to know. 

Be sure to include:

• Food knowledge: If you serve a complex cuisine—like New American, or traditional Italian, French, Thai, Indian, etc.—your servers may need time to learn the cuisine in addition to just memorizing menu items.
• Beverage knowledge: Your new staff will also need time to learn your beverage offerings, from non-alcoholic beverages to beer, wine, spirits, and cocktails. 
• Skills: Some restaurants require additional tasks like carving steaks, boning fish, or preparing salads tableside. Many restaurants serve wine by the bottle tableside or require staff to carry three or four plates simultaneously. Note any additional skills a server in your restaurant will need to be successful.

Estimate how many hours a new server will need to learn the information and skills on your list. Then divide that number by six. This gives you the number of days you need to schedule for new server training. Now plug in what information you plan to cover in each shift. Congratulations; you now have a server training schedule.

3. Use Orientations for Group Training

If you’re training a whole new staff or several people at once, an orientation is a great way to bring everyone in and streamline the training process. You can bring in your best trainers and make it a party with food and wine tastings. This can create camaraderie among new staff and create bonds that may solidify employee relationships and lessen employee turnover.

During orientation, several topics should be discussed:

• The mission statement of your restaurant. This could include what is important to you, whether your company does any outreach work, and how and when your company started.
• Give your backstory, how long have you been around? What makes your restaurant unique? Is it a chain, do you use locally grown produce, where are your suppliers, do you make all the food fresh in-house? What makes your restaurant unique from the others?
• Give a restaurant tour, a quick layout, and a table map for the front of the house staff to get an idea of the dining room setup. Show them where the freezers are, where side work will be done, and where they will clock in at the beginning of their shifts. Show them where to park so they’re not taking up guest spaces. 
• Meeting the owner on the first day shows that you care and have a vested interest in your employees. When owners show they care about the service staff it helps them to connect with you and your business which in turn increases revenue. 
• This is your opportunity to express the type of restaurant culture you want for your restaurant. Avoid condoning gossip, negativity, or hurtful speech in your restaurant from the start before it occurs. Gossip is a killer of productivity and a positive, cooperative environment.
• Create camaraderie among new hires, shut down any clique behavior, and establish the culture that you expect out of employees.
• Keep a line of communication open among management and staff. Tell them you are open to hearing their opinions and you are always available for disputes or discussions. This helps trainees to feel valued and appreciated and will start your relationship off in the right direction.

4. Host a Wine & Food Tasting

Ideally, hosting a wine and food tasting will be done in a big group to save on food costs. This can serve as a training tool for new employees and a refresher for older workers. All new staff should be able to taste all of the food on the menu to direct guests to their favorites. This will also give staff a better understanding and solidify their memorization of the menu items. A table can be covered in food with staff members or trainees explaining the item’s menu name, ingredients, and descriptions. Staff members can also answer commonly asked questions. 

Wine tastings are often conducted by wine representatives or the restaurant’s sommelier or bar manager. Wine reps are often happy to educate salespeople on their wine. It’ll be even better if they can pair the wine with your menu items. This creates one of the best upsells in the store. Educating servers on wine will impress guests and help them to sell more alcohol which has the highest profit margin in the restaurant.

5. Cross Train

Service staff should spend a few hours working with other team members learning other aspects of the restaurant to solidify their knowledge and in case they need to stand in for a different position.

• Food running: An evening in the window will help new hires remember menu items by sight. They will also get comfortable with the dining room layout and table numbers.
• Hostess desk: A few hours at the host desk will help to teach staff the table rotation and how to greet guests for evenings when the front desk needs extra help.

6. Use Shadow Training

Spending a few evenings shadowing an experienced server will help trainees understand how to use the POS system. Trainees should be allowed time to type in orders, time orders properly to allow guests time to enjoy their appetizers before ringing in entrees, and gain experience printing and separating checks. 

Often, trainers complain their tips go down from working with a trainee. Giving them extra money per hour shows that you appreciate their hard work and acknowledge training as a promotion from the rest of the serving staff. This gives trainers a sense of pride and encourages them to take a sense of ownership over the quality of education they’re giving new hires. 

New hires should be given the opportunity to introduce themselves and take guest orders with help from their trainers when questions arise. During this shift, the trainee will learn everything expected of them during a regular shift, including how to find the sidework chart, where to find new items for restocking, where the server stations are for drinks and utensils, how to properly clean their section before leaving, and what the closeout procedures are. 

7. Test Knowledge

Before a server is set out on the floor, they should be tested on their menu knowledge. Staff members should demonstrate knowledge of each menu item with the ingredients. This is necessary to steer guests in the right direction for their tastes and check for allergies. The more menu knowledge the service staff has, the happier your customers will be. 

This will also pay off with fewer returned meals. Ask the staff member how to upsell menu items and utilize promotions. For example, what are the happy hour prices and times? What is the upcharge for an add-on salad with an entree? Which menu item is best for vegetarians? Is there a gluten-free option, does it contain nuts, onions, etc.?

A comprehensive test of table numbers (and seat numbers if you use them) should also be given in person and on paper. Each server should know where each table and seat is located so they can run food from the kitchen quickly and accurately. 

Roleplay can be used to test trainees’ knowledge before they go on the floor to make sure they are ready for the guests and questions that are often asked. 

8. Conduct Ongoing Training

Each day before the new shift begins, hold a staff meeting to bring everyone up to speed on what to expect for the shift. This is an opportunity for ongoing training for everyone. Let them know of any changes to the menu, go over specials in detail, and ideally let them taste the specials. Remind staff about upsells you’d like them to push that evening. Remind the front of the house staff of your company culture—to stay positive and address any problems that have arisen. Keep it light and positive, praise them on jobs well done, and highlight positive reviews on social media. 

This is a great time to introduce healthy competition for sales goals. Games bring a lot of fun to the evening, giving staff something to strive for during their shift and connect about during the busy evening. Rewards can be simple, like the server who sells the most ribeye steaks wins a free employee meal or a gift certificate to a neighboring restaurant.

FAQs

These are some of the most common questions we get about server training tips.

Last Bite

Your serving staff is the face of the restaurant, they keep it running smoothly and work well under pressure. Training your restaurant servers correctly will pay off with five-star restaurant reviews, higher sales, and a full dining room night after night.