How to Become a Waiter or Waitress

The dress code will depend on the theme of the establishment, but typically a Waiter/Waitress will wear smart clothes such as a white dress shirt, black pants and black shoes.

It is important for a Waiter/Waitress to greet customers politely, take their orders accurately, serve food and drink promptly, and process payments when required to provide maximum customer service.

A good tip for wait staff is to understand the menu, as sometimes customers will ask for recommendations or more information about a particular dish, it is important to be able to describe what they are asking.

You will need to actively listen to customer concerns and be able to cater to their needs. Sometimes they will ask for changes to be made to a dish, and you must note these for the kitchen staff.

A Waiter/Waitress must have excellent communication and customer service skills to cater to visitors. They will also need to be able to multitask while taking orders and delivering food.

It is very important for a Waiter/Waitress to be able to communicate clearly with customers and understand what they want. Always be polite, and in the event of a complaint, be clear and calm with your explanation.

A Waiter/Waitress takes multiple orders, and it is important to actively listen to the customer’s needs, as sometimes they might need dishes to be modified, and it is your job to communicate that to other staff.

Being able to multitask is important for a Waiter/Waitress, as they will be dealing with multiple tables at a time, delivering many plates of food and serving a lot of drinks. It is important to know which tasks to prioritise, and which customers have been here the longest and will need to be tended to first.

You will need to manage your time effectively when it comes to waiting service, as delays in food or drinks, or waiting too long to have their order taken will cause customers to complain.

A Waiter/Waitress is responsible for taking customer orders correctly, managing payments when the customers are finished and ready to leave, and cleaning the dining areas after customers have left, ready for the next visitors.

Be an active listener when taking orders from customers, as it is usually quite noisy in an eating establishment, and you will need to take orders correctly and with any changes the customer might request.

Once you’ve taken the orders it is always best to repeat them back to make sure they are to the customer’s specifications before leaving the table. This needs to be done correctly, as some customers might have food allergies, and the preparation of their food will be different from normal.

Be polite and attentive when taking orders for maximum customer service.

Once a customer leaves, a Waiter/Waitress should be vigilant in cleaning the dining area and removing any food or plates that have been left. For health and safety reasons, and to make the area accessible to the next customers, it is important to remove or replace all cutlery, napkins, glasses, plates, or food from the table before they are taken to the table.

Cleaning the dining areas should be done with specific cleaning products which will be shown during health and safety training.

Customers will usually request the bill when they are ready to leave, it is the Waiter/Waitress's job to calculate the total correctly and take into consideration how many people are paying, and if the bill is split, what each person will be contributing.

For this, it is important to have some numeracy skills, and the ability to work with card payment machines to correctly calculate the total. Some customers will need change, and some will leave a tip, a tip is not calculated into the total payment.