There is a lot of power within words. As a magician, I don’t use ordinary words in my act because they’re boring. I want to grab people’s attention and make them look at the next effect I am about to show them. Therefore I use a lot of descriptive words that help to make things more intriguing.
In a restaurant, words have a lot of power, too. If your hosts and servers aren’t using the right words, it’s not going to have the same impact as if they use really powerful words. Consider the following scenario…
Guests are seated at a table. Your server approaches them and asks if they have any questions. One guest asks how the special of the day is. Your server responds with “fine” or “okay.” These words are not acceptable. Now imagine if your server were to respond with words like “phenomenal” or “mouthwatering.” These are words that are going to get your servers excited.
When you go over the specials of the day or certain items you want servers to focus on for the evening, jot down some words they should be using to describe the menu items. Even if you have to go through the thesaurus, go for some really exciting words that will have your guests excited about trying the foods. Write a few words down for each menu item.
If your servers get excited about something, your guests will follow suit. It may be you have the wrong servers on your staff. If they are incapable of getting emotionally involved, your guests are not going to get enthusiastic about eating at your restaurant. When you have a server who is excited about the food, guests will be more likely to order the suggested items, spend more money and talk about the experience with others.
Your servers don’t need to get crazy but they do have to think about the word choices when they approach each and every table. As the manager or owner, your job is to remind them of this on a weekly or daily basis.
One of the biggest secrets of magic is that the magic doesn’t happen in the magician’s hands – it happens in the audience’s minds. Magicians, writers and many other professionals already understand the power of words. If you think words don’t matter inside your restaurant, you’re wrong. Listen to the way your servers describe menu items and see if you get excited about trying the food or not.
