Lead Host

The Table is looking for a host Friday - Tuesday PM that has experience in restaurant hosting at upscale casual or fine dining.  Open to paying a higher base wage plus tips.  Please be 18 or older.

POSITION SUMMARY

The The Hot Behind You Hospitality Management Group host is responsible for greeting and seating guests in a friendly, charming manner and bidding farewell to departing guests. Communication between the host, management and floor staff is critical. The host is also responsible for managing the flow of guests in the dining room to maximize seating and ensure guest satisfaction and dining pleasure.

Our guests’ experience of genuine hospitality begins with you. You personify what this industry does by making people feel appreciated. Greeting people with a smile, a warm “Welcome to The Hot Behind You Hospitality Management Group,” anticipating their needs and bidding them a fond farewell will make people feel appreciated. First and last impressions are lasting ones, and it is your job to make everyone feel comfortable and welcomed. You are very important to us and your job is very important to our restaurant. The following guidelines will clearly outline our expectations of you and present tools for you to perform your job effectively. We are not able to outline every possible situation you will face within this manual; therefore, you will be expected to handle all aspects of your job with professionalism, elegance and sincerity.

SERVICE

Service should be professional, unobtrusive, accurate, and consistent, offering a level of sophistication to match our discriminating guests. Service is anticipatory not reactionary—what is needed precedes the need (preset silver & glassware, wines before food, etc.). Service is an inherently personal commitment; to serve requires the work of the mind and a friendly and gracious attitude.

What you need to know to do your job changes from day to day. The menu, wines and drinks we feature will often change on a daily basis. Study and keep abreast of these changes; it is your professional responsibility to keep up. You must know the hours of operation, approximate seating capacity, directions, dress code, and phone numbers for the Restaurant.

It is essential that you know the menus we use. You must know preparation methods, ingredients, preparation times, and portion sizes for all food and beverage items. You must know the wine list well enough to answer guest’s general questions and be able to recommend wines and beverages to pair with specific menu items.

HOST STANDARDS AND EXPECTATIONS

• You are responsible for maximizing the seating of the dining room.
• Proper grooming and appearance standards, as stated in the training manual are expected at all times
• Dress code : professional yet casual attire.
• Treat all colleagues with care and respect
• Maintain a clean and presentable entrance
• Always be nice, warm, friendly, caring and helpful.
• Address every guest when they arrive and depart (First and last impressions).
• Handle all phone calls that come into the restaurant.
• Maintain stock of clean, presentable menus.
• Maintain Front Desk binder with current copies of restaurant info, kid’s menus, etc.
• Plan seating for every table in the restaurant.
• Manage all reservations, small and large parties as well as celebrations, special requests and VIP Guests.
• All VIP, Regular Diners, Occasion Diners and Diners with Special Needs / Requests should be communicated to service staff with Yelp Reservations Receipts.
• Re-set tables upon guest departure.
• Keep managers and chefs informed of cover count, tables to be seated, guests who have been waiting for a table and any changes to expected reservations.
• Take messages and transfer calls for The Hot Behind You Hospitality Management Group
• Maintain clean and stocked restrooms—checking every hour, on the hour.
• Restock all supplies at the beginning of each shift.
• Take to-go orders. Ensuring contact information is accurate and proper payment is received following the Cash Handling Requirements outlined in the employee handbook.
• You are expected to complete all assigned side work prior to departure.

ROLES FOR HOST

Anchor – cannot leave the host stand (tremendous amount of pressure)

Runners- determines status of tables and relay information to the anchor

Greeter – the great communicator

Communication

Maximizing Seating – Think of like a game or puzzle

“On busier nights, the host is playing a game of statistics—with a limited number of tables of a certain size, seats are reserved based on an average mealtime of around two hours (dependent on the type of dining). Not knowing when a table will leave gives a lot to chance and can result in long waits for those with reservations. This makes the host and restaurant look bad and puts a bitter taste in the mouths of customers. Compensated glasses of Prosecco only go so far to wash that taste out.

Wait times are often gauged in terms of where seated tables are in their meals, so if you're planning on talking with fellow guests over a long cup of coffee after you've received your check, tell someone. The more you can do to communicate your plans with your server (who will relay that information to the host stand), the better for everyone involved.”

Ways to maximize seating

GENERAL RULES

We do not want to overwhelm any server or stations, as this deters from exceptional guest service. Each seating should be recorded appropriately in the Yelp Reservations system.

GREETING

Guests should be greeted in a warm and courteous manner.  A pleasant smile goes a long way in making a favorable impression. Always acknowledge the guest promptly. Maintain good eye contact, speak in a clear and concise manner, and greet the guest by name. Even when you are on the phone or busy with other guests, you must make eye contact or otherwise acknowledge the waiting guests.

Our emphasis should be on those guests who are in our dining area at any given moment. When busy at the door, politely ask phone callers to hold, and take care of the guests who are physically present.

When a guest comes in alone, greet him or her pleasantly, using a greeting such as “Good Morning / Afternoon / Evening, welcome. Will other guests be joining you?” Do not say “Just one?” or “Table for one?” We should make every effort to make the single diner feel welcome and comfortable. Offer service quickly; since the single diner has no one to converse with, time magnifies quickly. These guests should be offered a seat at the bar first and then taken to a table in the dining room if they prefer : “may I show you to a seat at our bar counter with (Name Bartender on Duty)?”

SEATING

You will use the Yelp Reservations system to map out a seating strategy for the meal period. Large parties (6 people and larger) are best accommodated at the communal table. The seating strategy is often amended as the meal period progresses for reasons such as no-shows, cancellations, late arrivals and last minute changes in the number of attendees—you should never feel “married” to your pre-assigned seating strategy as business needs can change.

The manager, wait staff, and chef should be notified of all VIPs and other special requests or problems. Constant communication between you, the manager and the chef will contribute to a smooth operation.

Tables should be left vacant for as little time as possible. The more quickly we can get guests seated and started on their dining experience, the more covers we can accommodate over the course of the meal period. An efficient host knows what seats are available without having to ask the guest to wait while he / she looks for a table.

Common sense dictates where parties should be seated in our dining room. Utilize tables according to table size. Elderly or handicapped persons may wish to be near the entrance of the room so they don’t have to walk as far. An anniversary couple might prefer an intimate corner. In any case, the table should be set and ready for the exact number of guests you plan to seat. Don’t walk too fast when escorting guests to a table otherwise you might “lose them.” Interact with all guests; you are building the impression. Leave the table with a salutation such as “please enjoy your evening”.

TELEPHONE PROCEDURESAnswering the telephone is an important part of your job and often is the guest’s first impression of our restaurant. The impression we give to the caller through our words, tone of voice, and knowledge of the restaurant may be the deciding factor in the guests’ decision to dine with us. Remember to put a smile in your voice.

TO PLACE A CALL ON HOLD

RESERVATION STRATEGY

Effectively planning and booking our reservations is critical to the success of the restaurant. It is our responsibility to maximize our dining room to serve the most guests while still delivering impeccable service. To do this we will use a few guidelines to help shape our seating strategy :

RESERVATIONS & DETAIL CAPTURE

As a host, one of your most important responsibilities is to manage and record our guests’ information for reservations. When making reservations, we ask that you gather 2 types of information : Critical and Important . Critical Information is what we use to plan each service to maximize the number of guests we can seat in the dining room and provide with great service. Critical Information includes the guest’s full name, the guest’s phone number, date of the reservation, time of the reservation and number of guests in the party. Important information is the information we use to personalize each guest experience. This includes the guest’s email address, whether they are celebrating a special occasion, if they have any allergies or other dietary needs, if everyone in the party is able to consume alcoholic beverages, etc. In other words, Critical Information is what we need for a guest to reserve a table and Important Information is what we need to give them the The Hot Behind You Hospitality Management Group experience.

WAIT LIST

LARGE PARTIES

Among the many inquiries for reservations that you will receive, you will also take calls from guests wanting private space or looking to reserve a table for large groups. When handling these inquiries, please keep the following in mind :

SAYING “NO”

Although it is always our goal to say “yes,” you will be presented with many occasions where you will not be able to give the guest exactly what they are asking for. It is critical to handle these situations with grace and sincerity.

GUEST RECOGNITION

Recognizing our guests is one of the easiest ways we can personalize service and make an impression. As a Host you will be the first person to recognize and welcome our guests and every attempt should be made to personalize that greeting.

FAREWELL

Bidding our guests a genuine farewell is our last opportunity to make an impression. As the last person that our guests see, you will be responsible for making them feel appreciated during their final exit of the restaurant. Additionally, this is our last opportunity to obtain important information about their visit—service mistakes / successes, food likes / dislikes, etc.

TURNING TABLES / BUSSING

One of your main responsibilities will be to re-set tables for immediate seating. In order to maximize our business, we expect to seat each table three times. Timely execution of re-setting is imperative to keep our business flowing. Seated guest service is the only thing that will take precedence over table re-sets. Consider the following guidelines when re-setting our tables :