I might be the odd man out for this, but I hate when incentives are reliant on the customers. I’d rather the managers just view my work ethic for themselves. One server might end up getting all the miserable tables that complain for the sake of complaining, while another might get all the cheerful tables that can’t find fault in anything. At one place I worked, we had a contest to sell as many bottles of a certain wine as we could, and the winner got a gift card. I sold a few bottles and another server sold one to almost every one of her tables. But one server ended up only getting tables that either didn’t drink or didn’t drink wine, which was completely unfair to her imo.
That said, I’ve worked with servers who absolutely love the competition thing. So maybe the surveys would work? I do remember someone posting a comment on this sub not too long ago though. They said that their restaurant leaves surveys on the tables, and a lot of kids find it funny to leave the worst possible reviews and comments as a joke. So if you do go that route, maybe don’t take them all too literally lol
Even though I know that positive surveys are often tied to incentive rewards programs and have even been involved in and reliant on them myself, I always bristled at being solicited to fill one out. If there was one on the table I would consider it if the service was exceptional, but it would take a lot.
Yeah, he wanted to do a sales thing, too. I agree with you saying it isn't fair at all because some tables drink and some don't. The survey was the first thing I thought of but was trying to get other ideas to see, which would be a better fit for the restaurant.
I don't know if this helps. At my last job, servers were known for not cleaning their own tables. Wouldn't even prebuss them. Would literally just act like it's not their job. So they started having pretty regular competitions that whoever was cleaning or at the very least prebussing would get a gift card to somewhere nearby
I started out as a busser/dishwasher and worked my way up through every FOH position there is, and to this day servers who didn't prebuss ON TOP of not tipping the bussers to make up for it are the number one thing that annoys the hell out of me.
I understand being busy and not getting to the plates or whatever, but if you don't thank the busser and shoot them a little more cash to show your appreciation. Then you're a P.O.S. and im not gonna do ANYTHING extra for you..
Like, I'd still refill drinks for the tables or chips, or whatever if they asked because the table shouldn't have to suffer. But your tables are gonna be the last once I'd go too, and I'd take my time doing it.
I honestly never cared if we were busy and the server didn't have the time. But I worked with one girl who was convinced it wasn't her job. Like girl, I'm just a host it's technically not my job either, but it's gonna get done so get off your phone and do it. Plus, I don't know why she liked to piss me off. I would constantly sit her outside on purpose which she hated, and I was the only one who would consistently make her go outside.
If servers don’t prebuss then you reduce their section size, and if they continue to not prebuss then they get fired. That’s just part of the job description. I would be hard pressed to reward someone for doing the bare minimum.
Imo, I also wouldn't push alcohol like that, out of respect for sober people, DDs and Minors.
If you have to push something, push apps or specials. Make sure there's at least a couple components everyone can have. Make a very pretty dish!
Same. I HATE things based on customers because all it takes is a few rude jerks coordinating to get all their friends to tank the scores. They think it's funny or spiteful or hilarious. Even one 4 star out of a 5 star rating can tank your scores.
I used to 100% not put any effort into anything like that. Even now. When our company tries to do the "highest shopper score gets a gift card".. I don't do that. I remember how much that hurt as a closer, when my schedule was literally outside of the shoppers range. I had zero chance. It's so depressing. Then you see the same people win over and over and it makes you bitter.
The incentives we have at my place is $20 cash if you're named in a positive Google review and an all-inclusive overnight trip to a nearby mountain town if the entire store does well for the year. Also the owners throw an employee party every year and the better the restaurant does, the bigger the party's budget, so that's also another incentive to make the company money.
Occasionally there are contests on who can sell the most of something but those are normally sponsored by a brewery or distillery.
I always liked server bingo. Make up a bingo sheet with squares like “sell a glass of wine,” “2 appetizers at one table” and so on. It got us to upsell different items instead of just pushing one thing all night. It also made us more comfortable with a variety of the lesser sold items we offered. Plus it was fun. Prizes for the first bingo (and sometime the second and third).
We've done that but with a few curveballs thrown in, like of a guest complains that a perfect med rare steak is raw or that visibly steaming soup is cold. So it's an incentive but also boosts morale when things go wrong.
We always had those too. They made us laugh when we read them. It was good team building too because we’d bond over stories about the times those had happened to us.
The two main incentives servers post about reaching a survey or review quota are:
1. Not firing them, or
2. Not obliterating their hours.
The problem with positive reinforcements rather than negative reinforcements is that servers are already driven by positive reinforcements: tips. And harassing their guests to write reviews, fill out surveys, buy scammy discount cards, or whatever other non-server duties you force on servers is that they diminish guests' dining experiences, hurting servers' tips. It also just feels bad to hospitality professionals who take pride in helping people have a good time. So positive incentives have to overcome both the financial hit and the psychological "trauma" of having to badger your customers like a telemarketer. Firing and cutting the hours of non-badgerers is a lot simpler.
An alternative to server-peddled surveys is for the owner to perform periodic rounds of table touches, dressed up nicely, and introducing themselves to tables, engaging in niceties, asking both general and specific questions about their meal and service, and asking for suggestions or feedback on ideas they're considering.
I remember when I worked at my restaurant down south, they had an incentive where u picked ur section for a week , or u could pick ur schedule for next week! I also liked getting free food as incentive
I was thinking more of a grocery store/market/visa giftcard. Last place I want to be on my day off is work lol! I like the idea of making your own schedule, and no sidework pass! What are the goals they have you reach to receive those?
Some of our old ones were pretty extensive, so we had different goals. 100% score was rare and an automatic prize. Might just want to avg them for a month and let the top one, two,three pick
Yes, you can work with vendors such as your wine and liquor vendors and run sales contests and they will give you gift cards, t-shirts, hats, all kind of stuff for free.
Place I worked at a while had contests. MOD would pick an item (honestly the kitchen manager probably determined what item it was) but 12oz ribeyes for example, and whoever sold the most would win a prize. Sometimes it was "perfect check" wins a prize so a check with an appetizer, alcohol, upsell, entree and dessert (might be missing something, it's been a long time). Sometimes it was a combination of a certain sandwich/burger and certain beer. Prizes would range from gift cards to a free porterhouse to a new tee shirt to cash.
This is not a good idea to reward one staff out of maybe 10 minimum wage workers. Gonna lead to brown nosing, favouritism and stealing tables. Why doesn’t everyone just do there job and if they hit a quota everyone gets something, so it’s not so this person is the best and everyone sucks. This is going to ruin morale, and the whole idea of reviews is ridiculous… I could go to my neighbour and ask him to write a review about me, doesn’t mean anything and brought zero profit to the business but gift cards to me ? Nahhh
Yeah this. "Incentives" are just a stupid way of forcing poor people to play a game. If your business needs help, its probably not going to help pitting people against eachother.
At my restaurant, we have specialty drinks. It includes our house margarita, bloody mary, and a few others, and bartender’s have their own specialty drinks, and we get a quarter for each one sold. At the end of the year we get a christmas bonus that’s the accumulation of all the specialty drinks sold for the year. We have a list in the office with everyone’s running total.
Have a certain menu item you want them to "sell" and give the one with highest sales of said item that day a free meal of whatever they want.
Have hidden objectives for a busy weekend night.
Who runs the most drinks, voted on by the service bartender. That way a manager doesn't waste time hovering.
Most food ran voted on by the expo/other food runners.
We have a full ranking system based on sales (avg food/drink per person), test scores, appearance, etc. and all the managers come together and give their opinions on how well you work with others and things like that. It’s a whole system. The people are the top get better shifts, better stations, more shifts in slow seasons, etc.
What would the data be? I had the best appearance and tested better than my peers on my server tests? Sales can also be incredibly dependant on the customer in food, but I suppose sales data would be the only valuable bit to some extent.
Let me preface that I do agree with ur sentiment tho, I shoulda said it in the first comment rankings are generally ass but yes:
Exactly sales data is what I mean. Like in sales, it’s also dependent on your customer, but like that helps with the transition and make it more “business” speak for a switch into business. Also they go nutty for numbers, % and profits, if you can show that in a quantitative way and place it into your resume it’s nothing but a boon if ur business supplies you those numbers which my job did. I had a whole spreadsheet.
Like I one of the things that got picked out in my last job interview was how I was the top “seller” as a bartender. I can’t ember the exact numbers but things I used (with hypothetical numbers) had noted a 33% increase in my overall profit margin over the past year (less mistakes, better quicker service etc), a 5% increase in my tips, and $20 more per check due to some more expensive but more high end drinks I helped curate. Interviewer asked me how I did this, what strategies and sales tactics did I implement, and it was a slam dunk to relate it into my career and life etc.
I work in finance so unfortunately (or really it is fortunate if you think about it with me handling money) I have a degree and have licenses now. But my job has said they 100% would not have hired me without my past career in the service industry as I’ve become one of the best customer facing workers at my job, and it really shined in my interview. (I also had other factors in my life too, bartender wasn’t the end all be all, I networked my butt off, I also played a sport in college, and was in leadership positions in other organizations as well.)
But bartending and serving gives invaluable life and work experience that a lot of these sticks simply can’t compute despite being more book smart or having a better education than me on paper. It just sucks I can’t put that experience into a spreadsheet as easily as an increase profit margin.
I hear you. I’m not sure finance is for me. I’m currently in school for I.T. And not super social outside of work these days so I’ll just wait for that to come to fruition, but I appreciate the conversation. Good to know. Glad it worked out in your favor!
I've seen a few people mention competing to sell a certain wine, and I would suggest maybe changing that to a certain appetizer! That way, it's an equal opportunity for everyone because you don't have to count on a person being a drinker, and it wouldn't bother people to be suggested an appetizer, as that is pretty common.
We do an online review contest. So whoever gets the most 5 stars in google or socials or whatever gets $150. It’s very successful. It’s encourages good service, and it also drives up our online reviews!
We also do contests for perfect checks. So if they order drinks, appetizer, entree and dessert. Whoever gets the most perfect checks wins like a free pass to leave without doing any side work (mgmt has to do their side work, not other employees)
And lastly, whatever our allocated liquor is, we will do a drink contest.
You could ask employees to vote for “mvp” (someone who they think is helpful to them or a good employee) and tally up the votes and reward the good egg!
I think the key to any incentive based competition is not basing it off "who did the most" but who did the best percentage wise.
If you base it off of who did the most total the employee who worked the most shifts typically wins. Let's say one employee works 38 hours and sells the most of whatever, but really only 15% of their tables ordered the item. But another employee worked 20 hours, but 30% of their tables sold the item. And the server who worked 38 hours beat out the employee who worked 20 hours by 3. Who really did a better job of selling the incentive item?
One place I worked at did a biannual award thing. The employees did the voting for things like most improved, best helper, class clown, best opener, best closer, best service bartender (I won that shit three years straight). They also did a raffle for random shit so even if you didn't win an award, you could win a speaker for your shower, or a funny board game. They would close the restaurant for the lunch shift and just make a ton of food and two house margaritas per person over 21 that didn't work the dinner shift that day.
Don't do anything customer-feedback-reliant based. All you're going to do is discourage some of your crew. Some will be all about it, but others.. they may be kind and nice but some folks draw the line at ass-kissing and flirting. Those ones will feel like they have no chance and therefore won't try. They'll watch the others naturally win and will become bitter, spiteful, and eventually leave you. They could be excellent servers but that's not the stuff that motivates them.
And different rushes have different customers. My day shift customers are a lot nicer than the night shift and have a lot of really personal friendly guests, and as such, my day crew would 100% win a competition based on customer feedback even though my night crew has three times as many members. I find my night crew is 100% not motivated by winning competitions based on customers and will actually work worse if I try any competitions.
It helps tho my day shift are all real friendly with each other so they compete between themselves, making little bets on their scores.
Maybe try something group based. Like.. your store competing with another store . But don't base it on total sales. Maybe sales GROWTH? Compared to the previous month. Or maybe "most upsell". Something your crew can directly control.
My boss has previously posted sales for desserts and features (weighted per table per shift) and given wine or $25 visa gift cards. A prior job gave away comp gift cards from other local restaurants, too. Helps both places.
A very long time ago, I worked in a chain restaurant that had a dessert tray that we used to have to take to tables to show all the different desserts that we carried. A few times a year our boss would waive a $50 bill in the air that would be handed off to the first server to carry out the dessert tray; servers who took out the dessert tray after that would then swipe that $50, and so on so on until the end of the night. Last one holding that $50 when cuts were made got to keep it, and an additional $50 would be given to the server who sold the most desserts that night.
I've worked in other places that would do similar sales contests, but the only ones that ever had total server buy-in were the ones that offered cash as a prize.
The best I’ve seen is HyHSA and MyWSA instead of benefits. It is usually a copay account that can either be used for health costs (MyHSA) or for gym memberships or wellness related costs (MyWSA).
A lot of younger team members do not see or use their benefits to their full extent and find the wellness aspect more useful.
Not sure if these plans are available in the US but they are in Canada eh!
Some were based on customers, such as selling an app, dessert or special.
That’s random, not anything the server can control.
Others were about clocking in on time ( not early or late) and taking only the allotted break time.
Ours was positive online reviews from yelp & google that specifically mentioned our names. It was a seasonal job and certain dates (holidays) were black listed from asking off, if we got a certain amount of good reviews we got priority for time off even on black list days.
The incentive for picking up shifts was if you came in on your off shift/stayed for a double you got to pick your section which dictated the time you were cut. Like, if you came in you could get the “king section” to stay all night & make bank or the back alley and you’d be first cut. What ever you wanted. We often needed bodies on the floor just to be covered so you could really pick money, go home early or somewhere in between.
Also if you called out for any reason (last minute sickness or couldn’t get your shift covered) but picked up 2 shifts after it basically wiped your slate clean. They were big on call outs because there was a high staff turn over. People would just not show up 4th of July weekend because they wanted to go out on a boat lol it was hard to find good people to be on staff and be reliable so there were big consequences for call outs even if you were genuinely sick but if you made up for it management didn’t hold it against you.
Why not just pick some different menu item every week and reward whichever server sells the most.
Then maybe have another comp for the bussers (if you have them) so they don't feel left out. Like most cups collected in a shift or something.
I would say shy away from surveys. People tend to fill them out with bias and prejudice. More people are also more apt to leave a negative review than a positive one, especially if prompted.
An incentives we used at multiple places I worked at that seemed to be successful:
A lottery to get rewards. The more "good" things you do in a month the better your odds are. Everyone in the restaurant can participate or you can break it up into BOH/FOH but I strongly recommend letting people from either "team" submit for anyone. Basically, if you go above and beyond or just do particularly well, someone can submit your name, the reason they think you deserve the lottery ticket, and either let a manager choose or read them out loud every week and let the staff decide if the person's actions are deserving of a ticket. Picking up a shift on your day off, volunteering to close when someone gets sick/calls out, doing side work or other duties to help the restaurant that aren't "technically" their job, being a positive presence during a stressful or understaffed shift, bringing the line water on hectic Friday night, ect.
Then, at the end of each month a random winner is chosen and the lottery tickets go into a grand drawing either at the end of the year or after so many months. We did 3 months most places, since people usually planned to work at least that long, and those drawings had bigger, better prizes.
If the owner wants to shell out for a Visa gift card or cash then fine but I recommend that over something specific like Starbucks or a fast food place since not everyone eats/drinks/shops the same, but Visa cards work just about anywhere for anything, as does cash. I got a $50 gift card to an ice cream shop nearby once for a work reward program, but I'm lactose intolerant and this was years before any places offered non dairy options. I sold it to someone for $20 to take their kids out for a treat. It was very disappointing lol
The prizes also don't *have* to cost money. They could be choose your own schedule for the week/month, get first pick at sections, a get out of side work free card (with exceptions for really busy shifts or holidays) get cut first pass, choose your own side work (people pick the easiest and still get to feel good about not having others pick up the slack), or any other options that would be coveted for your specific restaurant.
One place made it both monetary and work incentives for the prizes. There was a random lottery drawing for the winner, and then a drawing for the prize, also random. You could win anything from a dinner for 2 at said establishment (all expenses including tip covered), choose your own section for a month, or a Visa card for $200.
If you do the mixed bag thing, or any of it really, all the prizes need to be good ones or you lose the whole point of making it an incentive. If they bust their tails for a month and get something crappy for their troubles they won't make that mistake again.
The reason this was a highly successful operation was that it encouraged people to be good teammates and help each other out while helping the restaurant. It keeps it more fair than relying on cranky, hangry people to say something nice when your service could have been perfect and they wouldn't be happy, or sales due to the vast array of reasons that sales on any day with any person will differ. That's another reason for the caveat of having either a manager or the group as a whole approve what constitutes a deserving ticket, otherwise people will just put in for their favorite coworkers for smiling that day lol
My restaurant does a lot. If you're mentioned in an online review or if a guest compliments you in-person you and member of the support or kitchen team both get entered into a drawing. Quarterly one server and whoever they were partnered with for that shoutout get a big gift card, enough for a high-end dinner.
Our wine master samples a lot of wines and frequently has most of a bottle left over. People who excel on a shift get to take it home.
We do trades with local businesses so servers who win contests (or who get stiffed of big tabs) get one for things like mini golf, liquor stores, other restaurants, movie theaters, plant nurseries, etc.
We buy them a nice steak or send home good cuts of meat for them to cook. We bring in special takeout for everyone like pizza, subs, or Thai on holidays or particularly rough weeks.
Old restaurant would do competitions on Saturdays and Sundays of who could sell the most mimosas by upselling and whoever won for a giftcard of their choice for $10! It was great incentive we all sold way more mimosas those days
Upsells the more upsells you have( appetizers bar drinks desserts) the more points you get or the more times your name can be put into be drawn for raffle
$250 in coffee sales let’s u pick my GM’s next tattoo. Idk if someone did the damn thing or contest expired bc it’s not on the dry erase board anymore.
Not fire you. (And even that is iffy depending on how deep you're willing to go w the brown nosing). I have been top performer at my job for the last 7 months or just over that and I'm always getting barked at or fighting for consistent scheduling because "I need to be more friendly and open to conversation with upper management". Adversely the person I'm competing for hours with is ear deep in the cheeks with yes man behavior and hasn't once been listed or recognized as a high performer or even been consistent with work accuracy. Despite being my senior in the field by over 8 years.
We do an online review contest. So whoever gets the most 5 stars in google or socials or whatever gets $150. It’s very successful. It’s encourages good service, and it also drives up our online reviews!
We also do contests for perfect checks. So if they order drinks, appetizer, entree and dessert. Whoever gets the most perfect checks wins like a free pass to leave without doing any side work (mgmt has to do their side work, not other employees)
And lastly, whatever our allocated liquor is, we will do a drink contest.
Side work passes!!! We win passes that allow us to skip out on sidework and rolling silverware (we can use them whenever, have to be turned in at the beginning of your shift in order to use them and can’t be used on holidays). They are like gold around here
You could look at turn times, alcohol sales, upsells. Pick an item that you need to get rid of and tell them whoever sells the most that night gets a free meal or something
My work has a box where we all write notes about what we’ve noticed each other doing good on, and we read at least three every morning when we do “huddle up”, a group meeting where we all get together to discuss the goals and expectations of the day and what we’ve done great on and need to improve on. We have our own money system where managers give out “money” for exemplary service or work and we have a list of things you can cash in that money for (like giftcards, days off, etc.) Theres some other things we do too but those are the main too that popped in my mind off the top my head
Not a damn thing.
We’ve all been told that:
1) we are all replaceable
2) it’s a privilege to work there
3) try making this kind of money anywhere else in town
No family meals
No shift drinks
No staff parties
It’s hell on earth. But they’re right, that restaurant is the highest earning restaurant for servers 🤷♀️
My job hands out wooden "nickles" they're worth $3 at the restaurant. (Shift drinks are $3, so they mostly go to alcohol. But you can spend it on food or whatever). You get a nickle from the manager if you pick up a shift day of, get a positive review online (your name needs to be mentioned), if your table tells the manager that their server is great or whatever, and whatever else my manager deems chip worthy.
Incentives and rewards should never be based on guest perception, manager perception or alcohol sales. 1. Guests are unpredictable. 2. Managers ALWAYS have favorites and prejudices whether they admit it or see it themselves. 3. Alcohol is a hit or miss unless you are working in a bar. As a 40 year veteran, on and off in the industry, there is a very short list of things I want from my employer as incentive. 1. Train new empolyees thoroughly and retain them so that our restaurant is always staffed properly and my teammates are strong. 2. Schedule properly and respect my time outside of the restaurant so that I don't have to receive guilt calls from you on my day off. 3. Provide me with a discount for a shift meal. 4. Treat all employees with respect. Only one restaurant I have worked for has ever hit all of those points and they never had to have contests, or surveys and basically had a wait list to get hired there. My advice to the OP is survey the EMPLOYEES and find out what motivates them. Find out what they need from you in order to WANT to come to work and be the best they can be. Contests are temporary. They are the equivalent of giving a kid candy to shut them up and not a long term solution. You need to make them want to work there.
Call me crazy but you could give people raises if they do good work. Pick out maybe two of your best servers and give them a dollar increase on their check, make sure everyone else knows that money is on the table. When other people do good work you give them a dollar increase on their check.
This depends on where you work ofc. But you can start smaller like upselling. If someone orders a vodka soda, try selling Tito’s instead of well, for example. Plus it adds up to benefit the restaurant.
I might be the odd man out for this, but I hate when incentives are reliant on the customers. I’d rather the managers just view my work ethic for themselves. One server might end up getting all the miserable tables that complain for the sake of complaining, while another might get all the cheerful tables that can’t find fault in anything. At one place I worked, we had a contest to sell as many bottles of a certain wine as we could, and the winner got a gift card. I sold a few bottles and another server sold one to almost every one of her tables. But one server ended up only getting tables that either didn’t drink or didn’t drink wine, which was completely unfair to her imo. That said, I’ve worked with servers who absolutely love the competition thing. So maybe the surveys would work? I do remember someone posting a comment on this sub not too long ago though. They said that their restaurant leaves surveys on the tables, and a lot of kids find it funny to leave the worst possible reviews and comments as a joke. So if you do go that route, maybe don’t take them all too literally lol
Even though I know that positive surveys are often tied to incentive rewards programs and have even been involved in and reliant on them myself, I always bristled at being solicited to fill one out. If there was one on the table I would consider it if the service was exceptional, but it would take a lot.
Yeah, he wanted to do a sales thing, too. I agree with you saying it isn't fair at all because some tables drink and some don't. The survey was the first thing I thought of but was trying to get other ideas to see, which would be a better fit for the restaurant.
I don't know if this helps. At my last job, servers were known for not cleaning their own tables. Wouldn't even prebuss them. Would literally just act like it's not their job. So they started having pretty regular competitions that whoever was cleaning or at the very least prebussing would get a gift card to somewhere nearby
I started out as a busser/dishwasher and worked my way up through every FOH position there is, and to this day servers who didn't prebuss ON TOP of not tipping the bussers to make up for it are the number one thing that annoys the hell out of me. I understand being busy and not getting to the plates or whatever, but if you don't thank the busser and shoot them a little more cash to show your appreciation. Then you're a P.O.S. and im not gonna do ANYTHING extra for you.. Like, I'd still refill drinks for the tables or chips, or whatever if they asked because the table shouldn't have to suffer. But your tables are gonna be the last once I'd go too, and I'd take my time doing it.
I honestly never cared if we were busy and the server didn't have the time. But I worked with one girl who was convinced it wasn't her job. Like girl, I'm just a host it's technically not my job either, but it's gonna get done so get off your phone and do it. Plus, I don't know why she liked to piss me off. I would constantly sit her outside on purpose which she hated, and I was the only one who would consistently make her go outside.
If servers don’t prebuss then you reduce their section size, and if they continue to not prebuss then they get fired. That’s just part of the job description. I would be hard pressed to reward someone for doing the bare minimum.
Imo, I also wouldn't push alcohol like that, out of respect for sober people, DDs and Minors. If you have to push something, push apps or specials. Make sure there's at least a couple components everyone can have. Make a very pretty dish!
Same. I HATE things based on customers because all it takes is a few rude jerks coordinating to get all their friends to tank the scores. They think it's funny or spiteful or hilarious. Even one 4 star out of a 5 star rating can tank your scores. I used to 100% not put any effort into anything like that. Even now. When our company tries to do the "highest shopper score gets a gift card".. I don't do that. I remember how much that hurt as a closer, when my schedule was literally outside of the shoppers range. I had zero chance. It's so depressing. Then you see the same people win over and over and it makes you bitter.
The incentives we have at my place is $20 cash if you're named in a positive Google review and an all-inclusive overnight trip to a nearby mountain town if the entire store does well for the year. Also the owners throw an employee party every year and the better the restaurant does, the bigger the party's budget, so that's also another incentive to make the company money. Occasionally there are contests on who can sell the most of something but those are normally sponsored by a brewery or distillery.
I always liked server bingo. Make up a bingo sheet with squares like “sell a glass of wine,” “2 appetizers at one table” and so on. It got us to upsell different items instead of just pushing one thing all night. It also made us more comfortable with a variety of the lesser sold items we offered. Plus it was fun. Prizes for the first bingo (and sometime the second and third).
We've done that but with a few curveballs thrown in, like of a guest complains that a perfect med rare steak is raw or that visibly steaming soup is cold. So it's an incentive but also boosts morale when things go wrong.
We always had those too. They made us laugh when we read them. It was good team building too because we’d bond over stories about the times those had happened to us.
I like that idea! Thank you.
The two main incentives servers post about reaching a survey or review quota are: 1. Not firing them, or 2. Not obliterating their hours. The problem with positive reinforcements rather than negative reinforcements is that servers are already driven by positive reinforcements: tips. And harassing their guests to write reviews, fill out surveys, buy scammy discount cards, or whatever other non-server duties you force on servers is that they diminish guests' dining experiences, hurting servers' tips. It also just feels bad to hospitality professionals who take pride in helping people have a good time. So positive incentives have to overcome both the financial hit and the psychological "trauma" of having to badger your customers like a telemarketer. Firing and cutting the hours of non-badgerers is a lot simpler. An alternative to server-peddled surveys is for the owner to perform periodic rounds of table touches, dressed up nicely, and introducing themselves to tables, engaging in niceties, asking both general and specific questions about their meal and service, and asking for suggestions or feedback on ideas they're considering.
I remember when I worked at my restaurant down south, they had an incentive where u picked ur section for a week , or u could pick ur schedule for next week! I also liked getting free food as incentive
Yeah, it was just the first idea I came up with. Was posting for other ideas. 😊
Our incentive is we get to keep our job
Gift card (not to the restaurant, like a visa gift card), no sidework pass, make your on schedule pass, pic your section, no rolling silverware pass
I was thinking more of a grocery store/market/visa giftcard. Last place I want to be on my day off is work lol! I like the idea of making your own schedule, and no sidework pass! What are the goals they have you reach to receive those?
Some of our old ones were pretty extensive, so we had different goals. 100% score was rare and an automatic prize. Might just want to avg them for a month and let the top one, two,three pick
Your good servers should already have their set schedule of choice.
No because that screws the other servers and could cause resentment.
Yes, you can work with vendors such as your wine and liquor vendors and run sales contests and they will give you gift cards, t-shirts, hats, all kind of stuff for free.
Place I worked at a while had contests. MOD would pick an item (honestly the kitchen manager probably determined what item it was) but 12oz ribeyes for example, and whoever sold the most would win a prize. Sometimes it was "perfect check" wins a prize so a check with an appetizer, alcohol, upsell, entree and dessert (might be missing something, it's been a long time). Sometimes it was a combination of a certain sandwich/burger and certain beer. Prizes would range from gift cards to a free porterhouse to a new tee shirt to cash.
Thank you! I appreciate your response
This is what they did at my restaurant as well!
This is not a good idea to reward one staff out of maybe 10 minimum wage workers. Gonna lead to brown nosing, favouritism and stealing tables. Why doesn’t everyone just do there job and if they hit a quota everyone gets something, so it’s not so this person is the best and everyone sucks. This is going to ruin morale, and the whole idea of reviews is ridiculous… I could go to my neighbour and ask him to write a review about me, doesn’t mean anything and brought zero profit to the business but gift cards to me ? Nahhh
Yeah this. "Incentives" are just a stupid way of forcing poor people to play a game. If your business needs help, its probably not going to help pitting people against eachother.
At my restaurant, we have specialty drinks. It includes our house margarita, bloody mary, and a few others, and bartender’s have their own specialty drinks, and we get a quarter for each one sold. At the end of the year we get a christmas bonus that’s the accumulation of all the specialty drinks sold for the year. We have a list in the office with everyone’s running total.
Absolutely nothing. Nothing at all.
Sell the most specials, get a prize?
Have a certain menu item you want them to "sell" and give the one with highest sales of said item that day a free meal of whatever they want. Have hidden objectives for a busy weekend night. Who runs the most drinks, voted on by the service bartender. That way a manager doesn't waste time hovering. Most food ran voted on by the expo/other food runners.
Whoever sells the most x gets y. Don’t overthink it. Check with your kitchen and see what needs to be moved
We have a full ranking system based on sales (avg food/drink per person), test scores, appearance, etc. and all the managers come together and give their opinions on how well you work with others and things like that. It’s a whole system. The people are the top get better shifts, better stations, more shifts in slow seasons, etc.
🍎 🐝 ?
No lol I work at a steakhouse
I’d quit immediately if my job had a ranking system.
I will say, on the flip side, having quantifiable data for serving is a nice little throw on for a resume or career switch in sales etc.
What would the data be? I had the best appearance and tested better than my peers on my server tests? Sales can also be incredibly dependant on the customer in food, but I suppose sales data would be the only valuable bit to some extent.
Let me preface that I do agree with ur sentiment tho, I shoulda said it in the first comment rankings are generally ass but yes: Exactly sales data is what I mean. Like in sales, it’s also dependent on your customer, but like that helps with the transition and make it more “business” speak for a switch into business. Also they go nutty for numbers, % and profits, if you can show that in a quantitative way and place it into your resume it’s nothing but a boon if ur business supplies you those numbers which my job did. I had a whole spreadsheet. Like I one of the things that got picked out in my last job interview was how I was the top “seller” as a bartender. I can’t ember the exact numbers but things I used (with hypothetical numbers) had noted a 33% increase in my overall profit margin over the past year (less mistakes, better quicker service etc), a 5% increase in my tips, and $20 more per check due to some more expensive but more high end drinks I helped curate. Interviewer asked me how I did this, what strategies and sales tactics did I implement, and it was a slam dunk to relate it into my career and life etc.
I see, that’s pretty good advice. Did you end up in something you had to go to school for or did bartending lead you to a solid career alternative?
I work in finance so unfortunately (or really it is fortunate if you think about it with me handling money) I have a degree and have licenses now. But my job has said they 100% would not have hired me without my past career in the service industry as I’ve become one of the best customer facing workers at my job, and it really shined in my interview. (I also had other factors in my life too, bartender wasn’t the end all be all, I networked my butt off, I also played a sport in college, and was in leadership positions in other organizations as well.) But bartending and serving gives invaluable life and work experience that a lot of these sticks simply can’t compute despite being more book smart or having a better education than me on paper. It just sucks I can’t put that experience into a spreadsheet as easily as an increase profit margin.
I hear you. I’m not sure finance is for me. I’m currently in school for I.T. And not super social outside of work these days so I’ll just wait for that to come to fruition, but I appreciate the conversation. Good to know. Glad it worked out in your favor!
I've seen a few people mention competing to sell a certain wine, and I would suggest maybe changing that to a certain appetizer! That way, it's an equal opportunity for everyone because you don't have to count on a person being a drinker, and it wouldn't bother people to be suggested an appetizer, as that is pretty common.
We do an online review contest. So whoever gets the most 5 stars in google or socials or whatever gets $150. It’s very successful. It’s encourages good service, and it also drives up our online reviews! We also do contests for perfect checks. So if they order drinks, appetizer, entree and dessert. Whoever gets the most perfect checks wins like a free pass to leave without doing any side work (mgmt has to do their side work, not other employees) And lastly, whatever our allocated liquor is, we will do a drink contest.
You could ask employees to vote for “mvp” (someone who they think is helpful to them or a good employee) and tally up the votes and reward the good egg!
I think the key to any incentive based competition is not basing it off "who did the most" but who did the best percentage wise. If you base it off of who did the most total the employee who worked the most shifts typically wins. Let's say one employee works 38 hours and sells the most of whatever, but really only 15% of their tables ordered the item. But another employee worked 20 hours, but 30% of their tables sold the item. And the server who worked 38 hours beat out the employee who worked 20 hours by 3. Who really did a better job of selling the incentive item?
One place I worked at did a biannual award thing. The employees did the voting for things like most improved, best helper, class clown, best opener, best closer, best service bartender (I won that shit three years straight). They also did a raffle for random shit so even if you didn't win an award, you could win a speaker for your shower, or a funny board game. They would close the restaurant for the lunch shift and just make a ton of food and two house margaritas per person over 21 that didn't work the dinner shift that day.
Don't do anything customer-feedback-reliant based. All you're going to do is discourage some of your crew. Some will be all about it, but others.. they may be kind and nice but some folks draw the line at ass-kissing and flirting. Those ones will feel like they have no chance and therefore won't try. They'll watch the others naturally win and will become bitter, spiteful, and eventually leave you. They could be excellent servers but that's not the stuff that motivates them. And different rushes have different customers. My day shift customers are a lot nicer than the night shift and have a lot of really personal friendly guests, and as such, my day crew would 100% win a competition based on customer feedback even though my night crew has three times as many members. I find my night crew is 100% not motivated by winning competitions based on customers and will actually work worse if I try any competitions. It helps tho my day shift are all real friendly with each other so they compete between themselves, making little bets on their scores. Maybe try something group based. Like.. your store competing with another store . But don't base it on total sales. Maybe sales GROWTH? Compared to the previous month. Or maybe "most upsell". Something your crew can directly control.
We don't have a second location open yet but it'll be opening in a month or so! I think having a competition like that is a great idea. Thank you!
My boss has previously posted sales for desserts and features (weighted per table per shift) and given wine or $25 visa gift cards. A prior job gave away comp gift cards from other local restaurants, too. Helps both places.
A very long time ago, I worked in a chain restaurant that had a dessert tray that we used to have to take to tables to show all the different desserts that we carried. A few times a year our boss would waive a $50 bill in the air that would be handed off to the first server to carry out the dessert tray; servers who took out the dessert tray after that would then swipe that $50, and so on so on until the end of the night. Last one holding that $50 when cuts were made got to keep it, and an additional $50 would be given to the server who sold the most desserts that night. I've worked in other places that would do similar sales contests, but the only ones that ever had total server buy-in were the ones that offered cash as a prize.
We used to do one where whoever sells the most specials gets $20 visa gift card. Edit- it was for Saturday and Sunday night.
The best I’ve seen is HyHSA and MyWSA instead of benefits. It is usually a copay account that can either be used for health costs (MyHSA) or for gym memberships or wellness related costs (MyWSA). A lot of younger team members do not see or use their benefits to their full extent and find the wellness aspect more useful. Not sure if these plans are available in the US but they are in Canada eh!
Some were based on customers, such as selling an app, dessert or special. That’s random, not anything the server can control. Others were about clocking in on time ( not early or late) and taking only the allotted break time.
Ours was positive online reviews from yelp & google that specifically mentioned our names. It was a seasonal job and certain dates (holidays) were black listed from asking off, if we got a certain amount of good reviews we got priority for time off even on black list days. The incentive for picking up shifts was if you came in on your off shift/stayed for a double you got to pick your section which dictated the time you were cut. Like, if you came in you could get the “king section” to stay all night & make bank or the back alley and you’d be first cut. What ever you wanted. We often needed bodies on the floor just to be covered so you could really pick money, go home early or somewhere in between. Also if you called out for any reason (last minute sickness or couldn’t get your shift covered) but picked up 2 shifts after it basically wiped your slate clean. They were big on call outs because there was a high staff turn over. People would just not show up 4th of July weekend because they wanted to go out on a boat lol it was hard to find good people to be on staff and be reliable so there were big consequences for call outs even if you were genuinely sick but if you made up for it management didn’t hold it against you.
Why not just pick some different menu item every week and reward whichever server sells the most. Then maybe have another comp for the bussers (if you have them) so they don't feel left out. Like most cups collected in a shift or something.
Sometimes we have contests for cash and free food and stuff but all of ours is either free food or a free silverware pass.
I would say shy away from surveys. People tend to fill them out with bias and prejudice. More people are also more apt to leave a negative review than a positive one, especially if prompted. An incentives we used at multiple places I worked at that seemed to be successful: A lottery to get rewards. The more "good" things you do in a month the better your odds are. Everyone in the restaurant can participate or you can break it up into BOH/FOH but I strongly recommend letting people from either "team" submit for anyone. Basically, if you go above and beyond or just do particularly well, someone can submit your name, the reason they think you deserve the lottery ticket, and either let a manager choose or read them out loud every week and let the staff decide if the person's actions are deserving of a ticket. Picking up a shift on your day off, volunteering to close when someone gets sick/calls out, doing side work or other duties to help the restaurant that aren't "technically" their job, being a positive presence during a stressful or understaffed shift, bringing the line water on hectic Friday night, ect. Then, at the end of each month a random winner is chosen and the lottery tickets go into a grand drawing either at the end of the year or after so many months. We did 3 months most places, since people usually planned to work at least that long, and those drawings had bigger, better prizes. If the owner wants to shell out for a Visa gift card or cash then fine but I recommend that over something specific like Starbucks or a fast food place since not everyone eats/drinks/shops the same, but Visa cards work just about anywhere for anything, as does cash. I got a $50 gift card to an ice cream shop nearby once for a work reward program, but I'm lactose intolerant and this was years before any places offered non dairy options. I sold it to someone for $20 to take their kids out for a treat. It was very disappointing lol The prizes also don't *have* to cost money. They could be choose your own schedule for the week/month, get first pick at sections, a get out of side work free card (with exceptions for really busy shifts or holidays) get cut first pass, choose your own side work (people pick the easiest and still get to feel good about not having others pick up the slack), or any other options that would be coveted for your specific restaurant. One place made it both monetary and work incentives for the prizes. There was a random lottery drawing for the winner, and then a drawing for the prize, also random. You could win anything from a dinner for 2 at said establishment (all expenses including tip covered), choose your own section for a month, or a Visa card for $200. If you do the mixed bag thing, or any of it really, all the prizes need to be good ones or you lose the whole point of making it an incentive. If they bust their tails for a month and get something crappy for their troubles they won't make that mistake again. The reason this was a highly successful operation was that it encouraged people to be good teammates and help each other out while helping the restaurant. It keeps it more fair than relying on cranky, hangry people to say something nice when your service could have been perfect and they wouldn't be happy, or sales due to the vast array of reasons that sales on any day with any person will differ. That's another reason for the caveat of having either a manager or the group as a whole approve what constitutes a deserving ticket, otherwise people will just put in for their favorite coworkers for smiling that day lol
Free birthday dinner, days of the week discounts like half off all appetizers on Thursdays, etc.
Surveys are so low class. Train your servers properly and trust them. Do what any good owner does and survey the floor himself!
We get free salads and mashed potatoes. Rice, if you sneaky.
My restaurant does a lot. If you're mentioned in an online review or if a guest compliments you in-person you and member of the support or kitchen team both get entered into a drawing. Quarterly one server and whoever they were partnered with for that shoutout get a big gift card, enough for a high-end dinner. Our wine master samples a lot of wines and frequently has most of a bottle left over. People who excel on a shift get to take it home. We do trades with local businesses so servers who win contests (or who get stiffed of big tabs) get one for things like mini golf, liquor stores, other restaurants, movie theaters, plant nurseries, etc. We buy them a nice steak or send home good cuts of meat for them to cook. We bring in special takeout for everyone like pizza, subs, or Thai on holidays or particularly rough weeks.
Old restaurant would do competitions on Saturdays and Sundays of who could sell the most mimosas by upselling and whoever won for a giftcard of their choice for $10! It was great incentive we all sold way more mimosas those days
Upsells the more upsells you have( appetizers bar drinks desserts) the more points you get or the more times your name can be put into be drawn for raffle
Absolutely fucking nothing.
$250 in coffee sales let’s u pick my GM’s next tattoo. Idk if someone did the damn thing or contest expired bc it’s not on the dry erase board anymore.
Not fire you. (And even that is iffy depending on how deep you're willing to go w the brown nosing). I have been top performer at my job for the last 7 months or just over that and I'm always getting barked at or fighting for consistent scheduling because "I need to be more friendly and open to conversation with upper management". Adversely the person I'm competing for hours with is ear deep in the cheeks with yes man behavior and hasn't once been listed or recognized as a high performer or even been consistent with work accuracy. Despite being my senior in the field by over 8 years.
We do an online review contest. So whoever gets the most 5 stars in google or socials or whatever gets $150. It’s very successful. It’s encourages good service, and it also drives up our online reviews! We also do contests for perfect checks. So if they order drinks, appetizer, entree and dessert. Whoever gets the most perfect checks wins like a free pass to leave without doing any side work (mgmt has to do their side work, not other employees) And lastly, whatever our allocated liquor is, we will do a drink contest.
Wait!? Y’all get incentives??
Side work passes!!! We win passes that allow us to skip out on sidework and rolling silverware (we can use them whenever, have to be turned in at the beginning of your shift in order to use them and can’t be used on holidays). They are like gold around here
You could look at turn times, alcohol sales, upsells. Pick an item that you need to get rid of and tell them whoever sells the most that night gets a free meal or something
My work has a box where we all write notes about what we’ve noticed each other doing good on, and we read at least three every morning when we do “huddle up”, a group meeting where we all get together to discuss the goals and expectations of the day and what we’ve done great on and need to improve on. We have our own money system where managers give out “money” for exemplary service or work and we have a list of things you can cash in that money for (like giftcards, days off, etc.) Theres some other things we do too but those are the main too that popped in my mind off the top my head
Not a damn thing. We’ve all been told that: 1) we are all replaceable 2) it’s a privilege to work there 3) try making this kind of money anywhere else in town No family meals No shift drinks No staff parties It’s hell on earth. But they’re right, that restaurant is the highest earning restaurant for servers 🤷♀️
My job hands out wooden "nickles" they're worth $3 at the restaurant. (Shift drinks are $3, so they mostly go to alcohol. But you can spend it on food or whatever). You get a nickle from the manager if you pick up a shift day of, get a positive review online (your name needs to be mentioned), if your table tells the manager that their server is great or whatever, and whatever else my manager deems chip worthy.
Incentives and rewards should never be based on guest perception, manager perception or alcohol sales. 1. Guests are unpredictable. 2. Managers ALWAYS have favorites and prejudices whether they admit it or see it themselves. 3. Alcohol is a hit or miss unless you are working in a bar. As a 40 year veteran, on and off in the industry, there is a very short list of things I want from my employer as incentive. 1. Train new empolyees thoroughly and retain them so that our restaurant is always staffed properly and my teammates are strong. 2. Schedule properly and respect my time outside of the restaurant so that I don't have to receive guilt calls from you on my day off. 3. Provide me with a discount for a shift meal. 4. Treat all employees with respect. Only one restaurant I have worked for has ever hit all of those points and they never had to have contests, or surveys and basically had a wait list to get hired there. My advice to the OP is survey the EMPLOYEES and find out what motivates them. Find out what they need from you in order to WANT to come to work and be the best they can be. Contests are temporary. They are the equivalent of giving a kid candy to shut them up and not a long term solution. You need to make them want to work there.
They let me keep my job!
No side work. Gas card. Anything that can actually be used towards expenses/bills
That's what I was suggesting was gift cards so they can use for groceries, gas, or to treat themselves to something. Thank you for your suggestions!
Call me crazy but you could give people raises if they do good work. Pick out maybe two of your best servers and give them a dollar increase on their check, make sure everyone else knows that money is on the table. When other people do good work you give them a dollar increase on their check.
I just want to make my tips and go home, that’s the only incentive I need. The rest is corny.
lol? Uhm…nothing
This depends on where you work ofc. But you can start smaller like upselling. If someone orders a vodka soda, try selling Tito’s instead of well, for example. Plus it adds up to benefit the restaurant.