How often have you taken the first bite of your meal only to be asked mid chew “how everything is?”. What about as you leave. “Have a nice day, we miss you already…” or my personal favorite “I'm Dave and I'll be taking care of you”. Really Dave? If our dining journey together starts with this, I'm pretty sure you won't be taking care of me, you'll be regurgitating set pieces like those above mistaking them for service.

There's a big difference. How about instead of telling staff what to say, explain to them what you're trying to achieve:

“As a restaurant our goal is to ensure every single guest leaves dying to tell their friends about how amazing their experience was. We strive to provide the highest levels of hospitality to ensure the guest feels completely satisfied. We will do this through the provision of world class menu items served by friendly, happy, competent staff”

By all means train staff to a required service level but at some point you have to step back and let personalities come to the fore. As a waiter I was trained to a five star level but was never told what to say to a guest or to introduce myself. There are service standards that can't be compromised and there are personalities that you don't want to beat into someone, you just want them to naturally come to the fore.

I've always been a proponent of hiring for attitude not skill, because the former can't be taught nor should it be attempted. Think about how your hiring process can affect how service is delivered. It's easy to see when a server has used the same lines over and over again. It prevents them from having to think about what their doing. “You told me to ask them how everything was with their meal”. “Yes, but I was hoping you'd wait until after they received their meal…”.

Just a thought.