In 2019 a whopping 70% of OpenTable reservations came from diners booking a restaurant for the first time. Given that you never get a second chance to make a good first impression, we reached out to restaurant owners and managers to learn more about their approach to serving new guests. While it starts with the reservation, that’s really just the beginning. The way the restaurant uses information, trains staff, shares data with servers, records preferences and experiences, and ultimately serves diners are all crucial to turning first-timers into regulars and VIPs.

New or Not?

While you may be able to tell if a diner is new to a restaurant from a reservation, it’s also possible that you won’t know. One person may be reserving for a group, so even if the person reserving isn’t new to a restaurant, someone else in the party could be. 

Of course, the easiest way to find out if they are new to the restaurant is to ask. But should you ask? 

At Saffron Nola, a James Beard-nominated Indian restaurant with Cajun influences in New Orleans, general manager Taylor Adams says yes. 

“We like to ask guests whether it is their first time with us,” he explains. “If we don’t recognize the patron as a regular, we look at a guest’s booking history with the restaurant. Of course, they may have visited before under a different account or with friends, but there is a distinct chance that an account booked via OpenTable with no previous record is a new guest, and many also choose to note that it is their first time under booking notes.” 

Likewise, at Ocean Prime restaurants, Director of Training Tricia Finke shares that servers are given a preview of what is printed from OpenTable when guests are seated. Managers also encourage service staff to ask if guests have dined with at the restaurant before. 

“When making reservations, we train our guest services team to make sure we are getting our guest’s name, accurate phone number, and email address so we are able to identify if they have dined with us before,” she says. 

Jerry Tabije, the general manager at Trailblazer Tavern in San Francisco, says he spends much of his day identifying first-time diners and VIPs. Being able to see who’s been and how often they’ve been in is a big advantage. 

Nearby at Perbacco, owner Umberto Gibin says that while it isn’t a general practice for servers to ask if diners are new, some servers do. It also depends somewhat on when they are dining. “At lunch we have a lot of repeat guests; at dinner we have travelers and locals. With everyone, we listen to what they say.”

Service & Training

It comes as no surprise that it’s important to treat all guests well, regardless of whether it’s their first visit to the restaurant or not. But should they be treated differently if they are new? 

According to Finke, no. “We treat new guests and returning guests very similarly because we believe every guest is a VIP. We train our associates to get to know our guests by genuinely interacting and understanding their wants and needs. It starts with their water preference, to the way they enjoy their steak and continues until we learn their favorite after dinner drink or dessert.” 

At Saffron, Adams says they train staff to read guests’ energy and gauge whether or not a guest would like pointers to navigating the unique menu and experience. “In our pre-shift meetings, we discuss specific guests for the night, emphasizing any notes regarding dietary restrictions, preferences, or special occasions,” he says. 

A high-touch experience is something Gibin strives for, too. He adds, “If the server sees the guest is hesitant or doesn’t understand the menu, if they are less sophisticated, a little extra care goes a long way.”

“I talk with my team before shifts to highlight what we can do,” says Tabije. “It doesn’t mean you have give away the house, but people are looking for the experience. Putting them at a table where you know they’ll have a good time, we curate the experience—if they order a couple of appetizers and they are vegetarian, we might send out an amuse to try out that’s also vegetarian.”  [Read more…]

The Welcome Conference came to Chicago on the first day of Fall, a prescient new start for the hospitality conference’s first occurrence outside of New York. The brainchild of restaurant gurus Will Guidara and Anthony Rudolf, Welcome is unlike most industry conferences, focusing on the front-of-the-house and the real lives of people behind one of the toughest, most rewarding businesses out there.

Kevin Boehm of Boka Group and Donnie Madia of One Off Hospitality, like Guidara and Rudolf during their days at Eleven Madison Park and Per Se, respectively, were fierce competitors until one morning they decided it’d be a lot easier to come together as friends than keep up the charade—so they did. And as newly-minted collaborators and leaders of the Chicago restaurant community, they approached the New York founders with the idea of bringing the Welcome show on the road to Chicago. 

“Our hope today is that you take an idea, a thought, a soundbite home,” said Donnie in his joint introduction with Kevin. “If you do, you’ll score incredibly—because I know you care so much about your restaurants, staff, and taking care of your guests.” 

The star-studded line up included local figures in the restaurant community like Kevin Brown of Lettuce Entertain You and Phil Vittel, longtime Chicago Tribune restaurant critic, along with national icons like Bizarre Foods’ Andrew Zimmern and Union Square Hospitality Group’s Danny Meyer. With moving stories of the ups and downs of partnership (Missy Robbins and Sean Feaney) to those of overcoming personal obstacles on and off the job (Ken Frederickson and Mindy Segal, to name a couple), each person spoke with heart and candor, welcoming all experiences and perspectives to the table in one of the most meaningful industry gatherings of the season.   

While there were so many valuable nuggets, here are a few themes we brought home with us.

Down with the Ego

Hospitality, in its most basic definition, refers to the art of treating others as a guest—which can present conflicts for you, yourself, and you. The themes of managing ego it midst the pressures of service and offering the ultimate hospitality were alluded to throughout a number of talks. 

“Finding joy in being kind.” – Will Guidara, on his hospitality philosophy in introduction to the conference, and why he and Anthony founded the program. 

“Being right too often gets in the way of being generous.” – Danny Meyer, on how to keep yourself in check while focusing on offering the best customer experience possible.

“We left that day [Welcome Conference, NYC] with a new appreciation for the irrelevancy of being right.” – Kevin Boehm and Donnie Madia, reflecting on a humbling experience at Welcome NYC in their talk about why they’ve brought the conference to their hometown of Chicago.

“A great mentor and leader takes the time to teach their team everything – together, we rise.” – Belinda Chang, who spoke about the importance of mentorship throughout her career, charting how each individual contributed to her growth and development. 

“How do you create this atmosphere of grace with people on a daily basis with people whom you might only intersect with for minutes?” – Andrew Zimmern, posing the fundamental question of hospitality in his talk, which shared a set of lessons from his personal experience.

“When we’re actually engaging with other human beings and entering in to a more selfless contract with them, we are not human beings but human doings, being mindful of those other folks out there not being shadows.” – Andrew Zimmern 

Balance Yes + No

Ironically, saying yes and saying no were both hot topics at Welcome Chicago. Danny Meyer suggested that we all need to say more no’s in order to carve space to entertain the opportunities that will change the course of our careers. Ken Frederickson took a slightly different stance, honing in on how how saying yes had propelled his career to where he is now. Both approaches agree that saying yes to the right things is the only way to stay sane. 

“Create a set of rules that serve as a filter – learn what to say no to.” – Will Guidara

“I only want to work with people that I love and am inspired by.” – Danny Meyer 

“When we say yes to everything, it’s not a bad thing – but we’re not always saying yes to the right thing. Saying yes the right way and yes where it’s needed.” – Ken Frederickson [Read more…]