What are tips on being a hostess?

I am being hired as a hostess, what are important key tips to being successful?

• I've never been a hostess before. All I really know is that they seat people and hand out menus. Is there anything else they do? How do they know where to seat customers? Any basic knowledge would be helpful to make my first day a bit easier!

• Answer:

  Well for one, they will train you. Teach you their procedures and what to do. So don't worry :) Yes, basically that is your main job; to seat and hand out menus and silverware. But depending on what restaurant you work at, you probably will have other jobs too. At my job, I have to go tell the cooks every 10 minutes how many people I just sat. For example, I'll go back and yell "16 menus!" I have to do this so cooks can prepare and batch cook food. You probably have other jobs like retrieving menus (servers put them in a holder when they pick them up from the table). And also retrieving silverware from the kitchen, so you always have a stock. You probably have to make sure the Special Board is in clear sight so customers can see. You have to retrieve crayons when you are low. You might have to light candles and close shades. But like I said, your sidejobs depend on what restaurant you work at :) To answer your question about seating people..they have whats called a Rotation Chart. Theres one piece of paper with a floor plan on it. Theres another chart like paper. You are responsible for going to the kitchen and seeing which servers are on duty and who has what tables. You draw it on your Floor Plan Sheet, and write down each servers name on the Rotation Chart. And basically you go around giving a customer to each server, rotating. For example, lets say Teresa, Aaron, Brad, and Bob are on the floor. You give the first customer Teresa's table. The next customer gets Aaron's table, next one gets Brad, and so on. Its pretty easy :) Only problem you might have is customers requesting certain tables. You ALWAYS should give them the table they want unless there is a legit reason you cannot, like it's dirty or no one is serving that table.Your managers or trainer will teach you how to deal with situations like that though. Thats pretty much it. Some tips that might help you: -Always be nice and smile! :) Remember, YOU are the first person they communicate with. You are responsible for making a good impression on the customer. -When you're bored, try to keep busy. Make sure you're stocked on everything. Silverware, crayons, menus. Make sure the board is right. Maybe do some sweeping (servers really appreciate this) -Some customers are really b*tchy, but don't let it get to you. Its nothing personal. Be thankful you're not their server! ;) -Always keep tabs on servers. Make sure to know when the floor plan changes, or when a server goes on break so you know to not seat them. -Never double seat unless you have to! Meaning don't put two customers in the same servers section back to back unless they specifically requested that table or server. Some servers are okay with it but most are NOT. And they WILL come yell at you or worse, tell your manager. Thats why its so important to follow the rotation chart and mark requested tables. You can definitely get in trouble for double seating or not giving servers tables in order. -Servers do yell at you (well really, they scold haha) but don't let it get to you. As long as you do your absolute best to follow rotation and give everyone a fair chance at the customers, you won't get in trouble. Sometimes during slow times servers will pester you asking when their turn is. Just calmly say "you're after this person" or whatever. If they start threatening and you didn't do anything wrong, get a manager. As soon as the manager gets involved the servers retreat. Trust me haha. -The only time you don't follow rotation is during busy times. Then you seat wherever an open table is avaliable. -One last tip; if its a little slow and you see a server does not have any tables, but the person next in rotation does, give them a table. Try to make at least every server have at least ONE table. It's easy once you get the hang of it. It kind of freaked me out once I started but you'll be an expert in a few weeks ;) And it's really fun working at a restaurant!