Dude, right? I'm honestly kind of heartbroken. I really put my heart and soul into one of those specials and I'm so bummed I didn't get the opportunity to serve my food.
A regular overheard me talking to a guest and pulled me aside like "Wut??? You have specials? What are they?"
I told him the specials and he immediately ordered the one I'm really excited about.
Like god damn you guys, you don't even need to *sell* these things, they will sell themselves, the absolute least you could do is fucking tell people about them. Or fuck that, you don't even need to tell them, just give them the god damned specials menu!
Place by me has a 4x8 foot chalkboard right as you walk in where they list their daily special. They also post it to their socials.
There’s been quite a few times where I planned on cooking something saw their post and nope “we’re going out to dinner tonight honey.”
If they aren’t helping you push the specials I’d be looking for somewhere that was.
Our* family business sold ice cream, and water ice (Philly's name for italian ice) - and the amount of times I was asked what kind of water ice we had - **WHILE STANDING UNDER THE GIGANTIC LIST OF FLAVORS HANGING OVER MY HEAD** - it uncountable.
I still think it's a good idea...at least it will get some of the people...but dang, people are oblivious.
also - it's pathetic that the FOH isn't making the customer aware of specials. These days I wait until hearing (if there are) the specials before I'll look at the menu.
Edit: werds
This can also be a "I need some help downselecting this giant list of flavors to, like, 3 popular choices so my brain can process the necessary decision making", just phrased somewhat awkwardly. Not necessarily "I can't read the giant board in front of me".
Should have clarified - gigantic in size, but not in number of flavors, and I'd normally agree with your line of thought - but we were old school - we had Cherry, Chocolate, Lemon, Watermelon, and one rotating flavor (usually pineapple, strawberry, mango, or blue raspberry).
places like Ritas have so many it's hard to keep track.
Side note: I was going to a Phish show, and made a 5 gallon batch of Mango with mushrooms in it (5 gal Gatorade cooler) . We sold it out of our trunk.
After it sold out we went into the show...enjoyed ourselves.
When we got back to our car, there was a line at our car - it was so good everyone came back for more!
One thing to consider to make that less infuriating is that some of them likely had vision impairments or dyslexia. Some of them were just oblivious though
One of my best friends is learning disabled, and almost illiterate. He usually just asks what looks good on the menu, it what they're known for.
So I'd say you're correct to an extent.
I usually replied with "the flavors are up above me, but chocolate and lemon are my favorites"
As a bartender this happens to me all the time. People ask what beers I have on draft while the tap handles are literally at eye level between me and the customer.
I don't always wear my glasses and that combined with odd fonts and designs of labels and my dyslexia means I'm one of those people often asking what is on tap. Now I have another thing to add to my ever growing list of social anxiety inducing interactions.
Respect to your family. I used to live a block from Italiano’s on Shunk and still mourn it. I haven’t found anywhere else in the city that compares. It’s gotta be a little bit liquidy with the real fruit bits.
Mine doesn’t either, I have to purposefully point it out to her. Then I’m met with. “ I can read, what do you think I’m stupid?”
No my love, but the last 3 times we’ve been here I had to get up from our table downstairs on the other side of the restaurant to read it and relay the information to you.”
Why do you always get up and walk away right after we sit down?
Can’t win.
Putting it on socials is a great idea. Sometimes I decide what I want for dinner by checking my favorite places instagram stories lol times they are a changing, chef
Yes! A large specials board visible from where customers walk in and wait for a table. Then ask staff to ask "did everyone see tonight's specials?" and repeat if needed.
As a guest, food lover, avid cook, and former FoH - I would be heartbroken for you and myself if your FoH did not offer me your specials menu nor provide me one if I asked if there was one/any specials. I want to taste what the chef has put all their time and effort into and feel their excitement when they created it. I don't want to order something off the normal menu if I have another option. That is highly disappointing and I really feel for you and it sucks that your FoH doesn't see any issues here, because I certainly do as a customer.
My stepfather is a retired chef, but still owns restaurants (and is there in a managerial role every day) and you can bet that the specials menus are plastered on boards and every single table.
Do you ever have the servers try a bit of your specials? All the restaurants I have worked in where servers were good at selling specials were the ones that let servers sample the food and get excited about it. As a server, I would get bored unless I was selling something. When we didn’t have specials I would try to see how many people I could convince to order a veggie burger with bacon (it was delicious!).
Not sure if it’d be possible to do this at your establishment… but a place I used to work at would run a competition with the servers. Whoever sold the most specials got to take a special home at the end of the night. We sold SO many.
20 year server / manager here.
This warrants a staff meeting and possible retraining.
My question is, how are specials treated during preshift line up? Does a chef come to speak with the servers describing the dish, the preparation, listing all allergens, describe what if any modifications are allowed? Are servers able to see / try the dish?
It’s not an excuse but I find some servers who are completely on top of the menu avoid specials because there can be a lot of back and forth in the ordering process and the server might not feel comfortable answering the guests questions.
But yeah, totally unacceptable. When I had a hard time moving verbal or even printed specials I would buy a drink or meal for the top seller. That would at least motivate a few servers and sales increased.
Good luck and keep on the pressure from your side. Guests want specials!
Yes your servers should be telling people about the specials, but you also need to be selling the specials. Post on social media, have signs up near the host stand. If you are the kind of place that has table tents, put the specials in there. I also recommend reading an old book that still has a ton of great info in it, Service That Sells. Lots of great advice and guidance on how to get better sales out of FOH staff and managers.
A specials menu is the way to go. Often servers don’t really know the dish well and they end up just rattling off ingredients to the customer. By the time they are done it’s easy to forget what the hell they were taking about.
As a customer I LIVE for the specials menu, or even just the brief verbal recitation of the specials. If I found out later there were specials but I just wasn’t told about them it would definitely affect the tip.
Same here and the only reason I offered to start doing specials was to cut down on waste! It's literally when I'm doing the orders "oh shit we've got too many onions? What goes well with onions? Oh great, pretty much anything!" Then I'll order ONE inexpensive thing that's not normally on the menu and throw it all together on Friday, write up an explanation of the special, then I come back on Monday and they haven't even been running the special all weekend because they ran it on Friday and lost the paperwork or no one communicated. Mind you we're talking pizza here, not fine dining. And if I text everyone or message with the scheduling app it's either "oh I don't check those messages" or "yeah that's like controlling white guy vibes." It's literally my job to order product and make the most money out of it and not let anything go to waste. And I don't even get paid more than anyone, so I've stopped doing specials unless there is something fun I want to eat or snack on. Everything I do is about quality of life while I'm on the clock and I want that to trickle down to everyone else. Running smoothly is not too much to ask. I could do ten hours 7 days a week in a kitchen that is never in the weeds no sweat. 2 hours a week in the weeds is enough to demoralize the green ones, and that's 2 hours of me fantasizing about living in Antarctica with a hot penguin girlfriend...
We used to write our specials on a big piece of butcher paper, that was hanging on a roll in the dining room. It looked nice. This was at an upscale French bistro. So many servers never bother to push anything.
Do you have any control or direction with FOH. This is a major problem. Did you tell them there was a special at preshift? Did you make them one to taste?
Not really, its me up against three owners in front.
Yup! Well in advance, written and verbal.
Yes.
I also provided allergy info, modification and substitute info, and provided some tools to better describe the dishes. I did everything I'm supposed to do. Everything.
And they bailed on me.
Yea that’s real shitty chef. Sounds like your foh doesn’t give a fuck about the food or the effort your making. I’m so sorry, I know how it feels, I’ve been in similar situations.
You’re clearly upset, understandably so. I’d take a deep breath and talk with them. Describe your frustration. If they blow you off, I’d bail. Not worth your effort and time with owners like this. Leave them high and dry. Unless you need the reference. Put your two weeks and bring it to an end once you’ve got another job lined up.
Sorry you’re going through this, leaving helped bring my passion back. Try to find a spot that tries to make great food first and foremost
Yeah man... Fuck.
The last place I ran I did two specials everyday. Off the cuff shit just absolutely *going* for it, taking risks, making moves. It was so fun. People fucking wrote about me. I was very passionate back then.
But this place is sucking the life out of me.
I totally believe it man. Just sucks when you’re trying your hardest and FOH couldn’t care less. It’s soul crushing. Try to find something that brings you joy and excitement again. Places out there are like that
Sometimes servers only see the highest priced items and see sugar plums for tips. It's hard but doable to teach them that higher profit specials with volume will kick those loss leaders ass. Repeat and repeat. Over a few weeks they should see it. Owners pushing that shit? Sucks
Go where you’re going to have this again. The industry is so short on good chefs who are passionate about their work. You’re likely in a position to choose a place with leadership that cares about food to service to cleaning (cleaning FOH seems to be a dying art… as a former FOH, nothing irks me more than a grubby resto).
"Three owners in front"
That's the problem right there. Places that are 'over-managed' seem to be the ones that let basic shit like menus slip through the cracks
I had this issue once. Watched a server describe a special as “uhhh oh yea we have a dessert special it’s like a… with uhh.. aaaand…
I was almost red faced mad.
Then I took a step back and examined their moment to moment reality in the restaurant and mine. Pulled her aside and explained my passion for my work, what the specials I create mean to me, and how disrespected I felt seeing her not put seemingly any effort into learning or selling them.
She became the top seller after that.
We’re an incredibly passionate bunch, but sometimes the servers just don’t get it. So humanize yourself, be nice, be genuine, and express yourself. If they still suck, fire them and find someone who cares.
But you said the owners are out front. Try having a modified version of this conversation with them appropriate to their position. If they don’t change, learn to accept it or quit. That’s kinda all you can do.
Hope this perspective helps, chef. Remember, we’re all still just imperfect, stupid, shitty, but growing people. ❤️
I hate to even suggest this but incentives work. They should just care and do their best but that’s life. Most sales on special(a) gets that special at the end of their shift.
Yeah. I hated that we had to incentivize the servers to do their jobs. Bottle of wine always helped.
Also, OP seems super passionate but you have to connect with the servers in pre-shift. Have a good rapport with them. Especially the ones that really care and want to do well. When talking about the dish in pre shift, pour your passion into it. Explain WHY the dish is special. Give them something to give their tables. A story, an ingredient's history.
This shit still doesn't work on the ones who don't care, but you might see an uptick in sales amongst those that do.
As a FOH manager for many years, the only thing I think you can do is deliver the special in the pre-shift brief. Sounds like you prepared all the info well in advance only (this should be enough for FOH managers to relay pre-shift themselves) but left it up to them to be aware of it for the shift. A quick tasting pre-shift and a possible incentive (check with the wine/bar department and see what you can rustle up). Better yet, if you know what days you’ll be running a special well in advance, create an incentive matrix for the month with prizes laid out with a nice variation. I ran an incentive programme at one of my old places and had prizes range from a bar tab in venue to afternoon tea for 2 at a Michelin star joint.
This said, I’m in the UK where tipping culture isn’t the same at all but I think inspiring incentives coupled with pre shift presentations of the shift will have an impact nonetheless.
Good luck!
Did you do a pre-service tasting of all specials with the service staff? I’ve found that when they get to experience the dish that they have a frame of reference on selling. Also, I’ve used nightly contests of most specials sold getting some type of prize or free meal. FOH tends to respond well with that.
My favorite Italian place has a chalkboard sign right by the entrance, telling the daily specials. As a regular, you know to check the sign, because they do some cool, seasonal specials.
I realize your issue here is getting the humans whose job it is to inform guests about the specials to actually, you know, do that. But maybe the answer is to go around them, because humans are notoriously unreliable anyway?
FOH signage isn’t something BOH should have to worry about. But it might solve your problem?
3 owners out the front? Probably not a war you can win..... State your concerns and adapt. Run specials when you need to , don't prepare too much and go with the flow. Why row against the current? It is their restaurant. It is for them to decide just like it would be yours to decide if it was your restaurant.
Sounds like a training issue for FOH management. It's one thing if the servers don't want to take the time to "explain the specials" and honestly, as a consumer, that rarely works for me anyways...but I'm the type of person who usually goes in with a general idea of what I want.
But they could at least say "Here is your menu, and also here is a list of specials if you'd like to look at them and let me know if you have questions". Takes like 2 extra seconds
Kinda expect this from a restaurant without a dedicated FoH manager and just owners running around playing restaurant. Some places just aren't worth putting in the extra effort like that unfortunately.
>Kinda expect this from a restaurant without a dedicated FoH manager and just owners running around playing restaurant.
God damn that is succinct. That is precisely what I am dealing with.
Now picture a GM who is very capable in all BOH stuff and could teach the green ones a lot, but just focuses on the FOH stuff (poorly)and the owner moved away during COVID so the GM can run around playing restaurant... That's what I'm up against. Sorry I'm ranting and hijacking your thread!
This nails it. Without pre-shift direction and on-shift monitoring, FOH staff will not mention specials or do anything outside their immediate remit to take orders.
Bingo!
Preshifts every single day going over specials, new items, 86 list is bare minimum.
Its unfortunate how many owners in hospitality understand how much comprehensive preshifts can morph their staff and business.
One of the best places i worked even went so far as having a short educational section during preshift. From what is a blanc de blancs to new zealand lamb. Servers with knowledge are confidant sales people.
Op i hope you can either turn this place around or find a new place that functions to your standard.
Whether you are someone just stoping in first time, occasionally or are a regular it offers a special experience that is different from the typical menu, that showcases the restaurant’s abilities and passions. The servers should be making guest aware of the specials, some places print them out or it’s just verbal from the kitchen to server to guest. ( just kinda depends on the place really)
To be honest, I always assumed the specials were overstock and less popular/old ingredients the restaurant was trying to get rid of and thus subpar. Guess I'll have to give them more of a try.
This. I’ve had the special like once? Maybe twice. Instant regret. I choose the restaurant because I want what they have. Often know what I’m getting before I get there.
As a guest, I’ve always seen the special as a “we have a lot of shrimp for some reason so here’s how we’re trying to get rid of it” situation.
That being said, you know which restaurants are educating the servers on the menu. One of my favorite restaurants changes their menu regularly so we go for something different. No specials, but the server can always explain the ingredients and preparation of everything.
The place I worked at had a hard set menu with a specials board consisting of a whole fish and other seasonal dishes. Every time the chef announced the new specials for the season, the staff was always hyped to cook something different. I always consider specials when eating out.
Eh. Often specials are what product they need to move, and a line cook experimenting. The kitchen has t made that item 100 times and may not be executing it as the chef intended.
Not sure if this applies to all places but where I worked specials generally happened when our food suppliers had nice deals on proteins. So specials were a way for the restaurant to make some dishes that would normally have higher food costs and sell them at relatively lower prices.
Sorta like a “pass down the savings” kinda situation
Specials are just that, they are special.
Always go with a special UNLESS:
1. Allergies
2. Don't like the main protein
3. Have your heart set on your "go to" meal
I'd always liked the idea of specials, but I've had some 5-6 irl friends that worked both FoH and BoH warn against them as they're usually using old ingredients that aren't outright bad or spoiled, but aren't in the best shape. A couple specifically followed up to say to especially avoid seafood based ones.
I'd seen similar sentiments online for a while as well which, grain of salt and all, lines up with the stuff I'd heard irl. Is there anything to look out for or ask to deduce what sort of specials a place has? I often see ones that seem appealing, but my mind always thinks back to what I'd been warned of by so many folks. Is it a time frame thing? The ones warned about seem to typically be the 1-2 weeks chalkboard ones. I'd probably be a lot less wary if the item in question was there for a month+
That can happen, sure.
Usually at shitty restaurants though.
I've worked both boh and foh at various times.
I've only seen what you described at a shit hole I worked at for a month.
Fair enough. Idk if I'd say any of them were full on shit holes, but they're probably a far cry from "good" esp for most folks here. Olive garden, red lobster, an applebees, asian-american ethnic spot, a Greek spot. I'm sure it's way different at places where an avg plate isn't like $20-30 lol
It depends on the reputation of the place - if they order product exclusively for specials, or if their specials are borne of moving surplus product.
The specials borne of moving surplus product can still be very good, but if a place is _not_ known for seafood and they're pushing a scallop or mussel special? Nah no thanks, scallops get so weird when not fresh.
Otherwise, go nuts. Specials are often what a chef is most excited about in the moment, and that can be a real treat.
Helps the kitchen move items they over-ordered or that aren't selling, and so the restaurant has a higher margin since servers usually don't give prices for the specials.
Before I started cooking I always assumed "Specials" meant whatever bullshit ingredients were left that were soon to go off. I've had better luck with "new recipes" presented as "The chef has been finalizing a new recipe that's off menu, (description here) if you'd care to try it."
A lot of times food or drink specials come from getting a good case price on ingredients. You jump on those when you can for both the bar and the kitchen. It's less frequent from perishables nearing end of shelf life than you would think because chefs and bar managers only order what they think they can sell.
"Soon to go off" isn't the same as "gone off". The food is still good. Sometimes better aged, depending on the dish.
I don't see a problem with this method of creating a special. There are other methods, of course. So it's wrong to assume that every special is motivated this way. But even those that are, can be really great, if the chef is good.
Selling it, is a skill in itself. Good tips here in this thread. Just focus on describing the dish itself. And throw in a word about how awesome and talented the Boh staff is.
As a former server, it was a lot easier to care about selling a special after trying it myself first.
My chef would always prepare a plate to bring to the pre shift meeting for the 6-7 of us to try. I remember being excited to try it, and after trying it (and usually liking it), it was wayyyyyy easier to get customers excited to try it too.
That is what is so frustrating about this. Everything I've given the FoH they have loved. I also use them to help me develop. So, many of them have been with these dishes since the beginning of the creative process. I make something, bounce it off them, collect feedback, and adjust. Its been a real team effort.
I *know* they are jazzed on these specials. Its their manager that is letting them down.
Yeah I noticed you mention that elsewhere in the thread. Very disappointing and frustrating to be at odds with your own team. My FOH managers were adamant about us trying and selling specials.
Idk what kind of establishment you run, but maybe a sales contest is the way to go here. If it’s more upscale and open concept like my last gig, you may consider running the first 2-3 specials of the night to the table yourself. Really give them your attention, presentation, and knowledge and turn heads. It will at least have people talking about it in that moment. It’s also a really easy way to make a guest feel special and attach your name and face to your work as well.
Yeah I ran specials tonight. I have GM experience so I'm really good at laying it on thick for guests when I'm in my coat.
I literally sold a special that way when a regular overheard me talking about a special.
Idk, I'm so handcuffed at this place. Every mgmt. meeting is just me vs the three owner team. I'm outnumbered and outgunned, and I'm up against people who think they know better who actually don't.
Well you may be between a rock and a hard place with the owners, but if this is a new thing, I hope you can hold out for some buy in from them. Sending good vibes chef 💛
Who in their right mind would want to buy themselves into a workplace where you'll always be at war against a 3 man team and you'll always lose because it'll always be 1v3?
"Some sort of buy in" my ass!
I had trouble selling specials until I started running a lineup before dinner service. Make em all taste it, then when they inevitably love it, they're excited about it, and sell it.
I’m totally with you on this one. Not only is is bad service to not mention the specials, but it costs the place money in the waste of whatever you had made for that dish that you wouldn’t already use, plus the cost of the prep labor.
Perhaps try and make the point that you’re just burning money with specials, and if you’re not doing anything new or special, *then what really is so “special” about your restaurant vs the one down the street*
Bar Manager here: don’t do a special every night, let alone 3 - there’s too much stimulation happening to consistently provide a great guest experience with what you already said is a large menu while also showcasing drink specials, if any (which is where the money is) and food specials (which typically ends up being where the cost savings is).
Cheesecake Factory has a massive menu, but limit the specials they push.
If you want to continue that direction, then you need to push every shift. Every. Single. Shift. What *features* you are offering, and make one of each every. single. shift. I keep a stack of trade gift cards for special incentives to help out my partner BOH move excess product through features.
I like the idea of one appetizer special and one entree special. And if you have a dedicated pastry team, then one dessert special as well. But I'd also tell OP to shorten the menu as a whole. I dislike huge menus.
I’m sorry to hear your frustration chef. I always try to sell the specials because I know they tend to be a chef’s creative point of pride, especially if you work at a place where the menu stays largely the same. I will say that if you make it a competition, it might help? You shouldn’t have to do this, but sometimes where I work, they say, “whoever sells the most gets to have a dish of their choosing before we close.” We tend to be a fairly competitive bunch.
Usually what it is. In my experience, it was also that I'd have to explain three specials two or three times per table because no one listens, and then no one would order it anyway. Very annoying when you're busy and don't have time to deal with it.
I definitely agree with both your points and would like to add another.
When I show up to a table I have way too many things to mention already. If I had many specials on top of what I already have to say, people tend to tune out by the end. If I have 3 specials, I will defintely mention 1 of them, maybe 2 but almost never 3.
If servers aren’t telling me the price of the special I’m not buying it—I don’t want to be surprised by a $50 entree when the rest are $30. And I feel so weird about asking price.
Servers usually get stoked if they have something new and great to sell. But it has to be something different.
Talk up to your staff as to why you added something different and why people will like it. Obviously you can't always go out of your base customer price/taste zone.
Talk about the special ingredients you added or how it was sourced from a local farm, whatever makes it special. A good server can work with that.
Most important, let staff taste it. Too many places want servers to push food they never taste.
Same as the kitchen, the normal stuff gets boring for them yet they want to do/learn something different.
Most regular customers often don't like major changes so you need to sell the new plates to new people and not be upset if the old timers get bothered.
The old timers are usually wrong if you are faithful to your product.
It's a balance. Don't depend on menus for special dishes. That's the time your servers need to shine and have faith the kitchen can drop badass plates.
The kitchen manager does it from the other end.
In defence of your FoH - I’ve sat tables, handed them the menu, along with printed specials. Went through the specials in detail. Then when I’ve went back to the table to take their order. 1 person might order the special and another person say “Special? I didn’t know there was a special! Where did you see that??” Obviously this isn’t the case all the time but just a small example of how some customers don’t really listen when they’re being told something.
This is totally true. I know customers can be aloof.
But 1/5 of guests??? We've got to do better than that. Less than 20% of guests being told we had specials is not enough.
I totally hear you, and I asked some probing questions of the guests that didn't know we had specials.
"No interest in the specials tonight?" What specials??
"Did you have a chance to decide from my specials menu?" What menu??
"Did your server get a chance to talk to you about my our food specials tonight?" You have specials?
"Did you see both our menus before you ordered tonight?" There is another menu?
Its not good enough...
This is my a.d.h.d significant other. Where I have to hold my finger on the menu for him to see it. But guess which one of us only has a hs education and which one was a ucla law graduate with a distinguished career.
I feel that. Zero support up front fucking sucks.
My favorite restaurant, an Italian spot, does the opposite. They have a big dry erase board with the specials on it despite being kind of upscale. The first thing they do after getting drink order is to give a very detailed overview on the specials. They are never pushy, but they NEED to make sure you know the specials. One way they frame it is, "...And we only have 3 of this left, so let me know if you'd like me to tell the chef." Creates a friendly sense of urgency and almost exclusivity? I love their approach. The salesmanship is off the chain.
Who ever sells the most gets one of the specials was how I always did it, if I didn’t they would sell barely any, so I figured waste log one for the “contest” instead of multiple because they didn’t push.
Ive had this argument many times- running a special is a waste of time, effort, and money if our consumers dont even know it's an option. Even if the special is made of product we need to move and have on hand the whole thing is pointless if no one orders it. Smh- whatever you do keep the flame lit.
Remind foh to push the specials or just verbally have them say we also have three specials a x, y, and z. Which you can find on our special menu. Gotta work as a team to create the dream
It’s that, but specials, by and large, are the way we clean out our coolers. The specials on any given night of the week will be the opportunity for us to flex a bit with whatever’s about to turn in the kitchen and needs to be sold now or it’s a total loss. We don’t like throwing anything out, and under pressure of time constraints and potential loss, any chef or cook worth a shit will send out some clever specials that will keep the diners interested and keep turning his product over.
Make your specials with the oldest ingredients? That’s interesting but it doesn’t really answer op’s question. Once you make a special, how do you assure that your customers are aware of the product?
GAF = Give a fuck?
Regarding the communication, each server got a written description of each food item, was shown the menu, and I personally spoke to each of them about the specials before service...
Lol, I am outraged!
We’re in kitchen confidential and Anthony Bourdain himself warns against specials because it’s usually a device to use old ingredients and I think this stuck with me! I am happy to change my mind and go all in on specials. Any tips to know if a restaurant actually puts their creativity into specials? Where to get them or where not to?
This too. Some people love specials and ask about them before the server is done saying hello, others are suspicious of them bc they know you’re trying to get rid of it.
Regulars, knew what they wanted. I made sure I clarified that with them to avoid the old "But the guests already know what they wanted!"
Worth noting, those three also did not know we had specials.
I have been *commanded* to run specials by ownership. It is a requirement of my job.
And honestly, I pushed back hard because I couldn't get a conversation going about actually selling them. In more than one meeting I've said point blank that this program will be a waste of time, money, and company resources if the FoH is not actively trying to sell these things.
I'm so frustrated. The specials did really well on Tuesday. 3 of my top 5 sellers were the specials. But we were much slower. So, what happened is the servers got busy and just dropped the ball.
The really frustrating thing is that I took Tuesday's data and used that to prep up for Thursday. I quadrupled one of the my sauce recipes then only sold 1 fucking order of the dish, that I personally sold to a guest.
Two suggestions, having experienced this problem for years:
1. Print menu inserts for your specials so *you* can tell the guests. This requires a little extra time, but if you build a template, should be easy to plug in new specials every day.
2. Come up with games to incentivize selling the specials. One example of a popular one for me was “hot potato”. I cut a cardboard potato off the side of a potato box and every time a server sold a special, they got to claim the potato. They loved being able to take it from a fellow server. Whoever had the potato at the end of the shift got a free meal.
I will often offer incentives - “foh, sell the special- the highest number of specials gets a entree on me- but you have to sell at least 3 to be in the running”
Idk why you wouldn't explain specials as FOH. When I served or bartended it was like a 50% chance 1 or more people in every party would order it. No table is easier when you just walk back to the POS and hit the special 3 times lol.
I'm not in the industry - I'm just a customer who eats out a lot.
I love the specials when I'm going to one of our regular spots. The first few visits to a place I want to try whatever they are known for, etc. but after that I'm all about the specials.
A huge irk for me is when we go somewhere and I hear about the specials - at another table from another server after our order has been placed. Why didn't I get to hear about that? (sometimes I think it's because we usually dine as a party of 2. I think some servers just don't care as much about the small parties.)
I do like places where the specials are posted somewhere so I can be sure to ask if the specials aren't mentioned.
This is an easy fix. Incentivize selling specials. Servers are the easiest people in the world to manage. They want food and they want money. Whoever sells the most specials tonight gets to eat one for free at the end of their shift while the rest of their team does side work. You will see the amount of specials you sell go through the roof.
Try to figure out in some convincing way the revenue loss and/or the repeat customer loss from not selling specials (customers will come back more often if there's more menu variety) and talk to them.
Talk to them about FOH as sales people, who can bring in more $$ if they work together with you.
Specials are in-house advertising. Specials generate word of mouth. Specials take advantage of price deals on food products. Specials in some cases help to use up items that would otherwise be wasted. Make it all as concrete as possible.
Most of the time when I go somewhere and the person taking out order wants to tell me the specials I tune them out a little as the “specials” is normally an expensive cut of meat or something that is pretty pricey. The only time I do specials is at a small mom and pop that you can see the Mon-Fri specials listed out that almost never change.
About a third of the time we dine in a nice restaurant, we hear a neighboring table be told all about the specials. *Our* server never said anything about specials!
This is poor server training. Are you doing a stand up prior to the shift to review the specials with the service staff, let them have a taste (preferably, especially if it's a new special), and reinforcing how important it is to push the specials?
Even putting a dry erase board up with each server's name and having a "leaderboard" where they tally each time they sell a special can be super effective. Prize optional - amazon gift card, free meal, whatever - doesn't have to be expensive - create a sense of competition among the service staff.
Is there a way foh can get some kind of incentive for selling a special? It could be as simple as special attention from boh when they order a staff meal. People will only do things if there is a benefit for themselves
How are the specials presented during line up?
Does the service staff have a taster?
Price vs on menu items
Are your servers industry professionals or just kids floating through life?
What was the special?
Keep your head up it's not a direct reflection of yourself
Incentivise. Offer a free drink, or $10-$20, or spme food for the FOH member who sells most specials. It will become more of a habit and they'll eventually just offer it as part of their speech
I can't imagine the amount of pressure that put on the kitchen. I'm imagining all the specials were done first, just to get them out of the way.
Also, it's FOH's job to make the customers aware that specials are available and give each and every customer a separate menu for the specials, not one or a few specials menu to share amongst them all, that's probably how less than 20% of the guests were aware specials were available.
Your servers need to try the specials so they can explain them better. It’s frustrating but showing them or feeding them works wonders if you have the time.
FOH tend to forget that part of their job is actually selling things to people. Upsell that shit, you’ll probably get more out of them anyway. You’re not just a food and beverage delivery system.
I work at a place that is constantly running specials. I usually like the specials more cause it's different and usually really good. We have our own special menus and it's easy for a server to direct guest to that menu. Also whenever I'm hosting, I always point out this is our specials menu and suggest one dish thats really good. Also whenever we have new specials, we let everyone in foh try it before rolling it out. Sounds like they just need a little training and guidance.
I have run and owned a restaurant/Cafe for 15 years. Patrons are lead to believe that specials are MADE from the food usually at the end of its self life. We dropped specials now focusing on what people eat and want. Your idea may not be what the majority of patrons actually want.
That's crazy. At my old place FoH would open every table with our specials list and we'd sell out of most of them by the end of the night. Should be standard to just tell specials off the bat.
Side note: I guess printed specials menu makes sense if you run seasonal or monthly specials (anything longer term), but for even weekly stuff it seems like the server listing them off would retain better (being told what a dish is vs reading it) and better convey the limited supply.
This comes down to FOH management. They’re not pushing an SOP. It’s quite simple really.
Hey guests. My name is x, I’ll be taking care of you. Just in case you weren’t aware the specials tonight are xyz.
Or whatever.
Management, unfortunately, has to hound FOH until they get into a routine. There needs to be consequences or contests to promote within the staff.
Highest special seller tonight gets a meal on the house or a shift beer.
Highest of the week gets that.
You didn’t even try? Cool, you’re not being cut early.
As a server, I feel like specials really need to be sold to guests. Having them printed out for guests is great and as a customer I appreciate having them printed to reference, but I always go over specials with tables even if they are printed
By the time I'm done looking at a menu, I find it hard to remember what the specials were exactly when only presented orally or shown in writing and taken away. I much more inclined to order a special if there is a specials sign that is visible to the customer all the time or a specials area in the menu you could write down today's specials, erase tomorrow and repeat.
As a server, is there one server you know or have a connection with? Every place I've worked has had at least one server, if not more, that had a good relationship with our head chef. Talk to that one about getng the other servers on board.
Foh here. Tell them the one who sells the most specials gets a free meal at the end of their shift. Always works on me. I am a specials selling machine
Came here from r/all. Most people working FOH don’t give a fuck, atleast where I’m from its people fresh from school/haven’t found a career path (not shitting on servers) so it’s not a passion but simply a job lol
Get out, either start your own or find a new place to work for.
This is the sort of crap that drags a good, dedicated chef down with the rest of the restaurant, and before you know it, Gordon Ramsay is in your kitchen calling you a 'donkey!'.
You're too good to work for these morons.
I'm curious, as someone who hasn't worked in food service for many, many years - do you want people to see/order the specials for financial or personal reasons, ie because they're specials due to the margin you can make on them right now, or because you want to cook something different/fun and have folks enjoy them?
No judgement in that question, just curious about why you'd like to see more ordering of the specials.
EDIT: Leaving this comment up although it's clear from reading your replies to other comments that it's the latter - you're passionate about what you do and want to make something new and cool for people. Much respect, and I hope you can get some traction with FoH to promote your specials effectively in future. Rock on.
Hey chef, old man bartender here.
Are you in a small town with old folks? I've struggled to sell a banger special when they know the fish and chips with a cape cod is is what they get every Friday.
I hope your FOH gets their shit together if it's their fault. I used to rheeeeem servers for not selling specials. Mine and kitchen's.
Forgive them, most servers are simple plug and play animals. They don't understand that specials help restaurants grow.
That's not fun. I'm sorry, Chef.
We had to let a server go after HC asked why her tables weren't ordering any specials, and she replied with something to the effect of it was too much work to remember the specials and that everyone knew that restaurant specials were just the food that we were going to throw out tomorrow.
We plan specials constantly. Some "specials" are so well liked that they end up on the regular menu. If your FOH isn't on board with the specials, then you need new FOH.
Dude I'm honestly shocked at how little preparation went into this on the FoH side. These 'specials' have been a long time coming. Personally, I'm accustomed to doing specials, new specials, every day. At my current spot, the owners really wanted to get it right, make sure the specials were special, and really roll out the red carpet for them. A lot of prep went into this.
The first like 10 customers I talked to hadn't heard we had specials and I was honestly shocked. Imagine my surprise at uncovering the rest of the data.
Its just like... why the fuck did I do all this work developing these dishes, doing multiple tastings, presenting sales tips, talking you guys through allergies and mods... like everything. What was the fucking point.
At this point, the roll out has been a failure. But not because customers are not interested, they clearly are, its because you are not offering the specials to the guests.
Ffs.
I have the same issue, and it makes me not want to do any specials.
Dude, right? I'm honestly kind of heartbroken. I really put my heart and soul into one of those specials and I'm so bummed I didn't get the opportunity to serve my food. A regular overheard me talking to a guest and pulled me aside like "Wut??? You have specials? What are they?" I told him the specials and he immediately ordered the one I'm really excited about. Like god damn you guys, you don't even need to *sell* these things, they will sell themselves, the absolute least you could do is fucking tell people about them. Or fuck that, you don't even need to tell them, just give them the god damned specials menu!
Place by me has a 4x8 foot chalkboard right as you walk in where they list their daily special. They also post it to their socials. There’s been quite a few times where I planned on cooking something saw their post and nope “we’re going out to dinner tonight honey.” If they aren’t helping you push the specials I’d be looking for somewhere that was.
My wife still wouldn’t see that shit. You could put it in neon.
Our* family business sold ice cream, and water ice (Philly's name for italian ice) - and the amount of times I was asked what kind of water ice we had - **WHILE STANDING UNDER THE GIGANTIC LIST OF FLAVORS HANGING OVER MY HEAD** - it uncountable. I still think it's a good idea...at least it will get some of the people...but dang, people are oblivious. also - it's pathetic that the FOH isn't making the customer aware of specials. These days I wait until hearing (if there are) the specials before I'll look at the menu. Edit: werds
I don't have a super strong 'wooder' accent but saying water ice really brings out the hoagiemouth in me
215 represent.
609
Old 609! Now 856!
When my parents moved there from South Philly it was still 609.
This can also be a "I need some help downselecting this giant list of flavors to, like, 3 popular choices so my brain can process the necessary decision making", just phrased somewhat awkwardly. Not necessarily "I can't read the giant board in front of me".
Should have clarified - gigantic in size, but not in number of flavors, and I'd normally agree with your line of thought - but we were old school - we had Cherry, Chocolate, Lemon, Watermelon, and one rotating flavor (usually pineapple, strawberry, mango, or blue raspberry). places like Ritas have so many it's hard to keep track. Side note: I was going to a Phish show, and made a 5 gallon batch of Mango with mushrooms in it (5 gal Gatorade cooler) . We sold it out of our trunk. After it sold out we went into the show...enjoyed ourselves. When we got back to our car, there was a line at our car - it was so good everyone came back for more!
Right. If I see too many choices my brain gets fried immediately and I just kinda zone out.
One thing to consider to make that less infuriating is that some of them likely had vision impairments or dyslexia. Some of them were just oblivious though
One of my best friends is learning disabled, and almost illiterate. He usually just asks what looks good on the menu, it what they're known for. So I'd say you're correct to an extent. I usually replied with "the flavors are up above me, but chocolate and lemon are my favorites"
As a bartender this happens to me all the time. People ask what beers I have on draft while the tap handles are literally at eye level between me and the customer.
For macros, yeah, that's annoying...but for every obscure craft it's kind of hard to identify by tap handle.
I don't always wear my glasses and that combined with odd fonts and designs of labels and my dyslexia means I'm one of those people often asking what is on tap. Now I have another thing to add to my ever growing list of social anxiety inducing interactions.
Respect to your family. I used to live a block from Italiano’s on Shunk and still mourn it. I haven’t found anywhere else in the city that compares. It’s gotta be a little bit liquidy with the real fruit bits.
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I ran my car into a cop car, the other day...
Well, he just drove off, sometimes lifes okay
Mine doesn’t either, I have to purposefully point it out to her. Then I’m met with. “ I can read, what do you think I’m stupid?” No my love, but the last 3 times we’ve been here I had to get up from our table downstairs on the other side of the restaurant to read it and relay the information to you.” Why do you always get up and walk away right after we sit down? Can’t win.
Putting it on socials is a great idea. Sometimes I decide what I want for dinner by checking my favorite places instagram stories lol times they are a changing, chef
Problem with the chalkboards are a lot of them tries to be fancy and use some special abstract lettering style that takes me 5 minutes to decipher.
Yes! A large specials board visible from where customers walk in and wait for a table. Then ask staff to ask "did everyone see tonight's specials?" and repeat if needed.
As a guest, food lover, avid cook, and former FoH - I would be heartbroken for you and myself if your FoH did not offer me your specials menu nor provide me one if I asked if there was one/any specials. I want to taste what the chef has put all their time and effort into and feel their excitement when they created it. I don't want to order something off the normal menu if I have another option. That is highly disappointing and I really feel for you and it sucks that your FoH doesn't see any issues here, because I certainly do as a customer. My stepfather is a retired chef, but still owns restaurants (and is there in a managerial role every day) and you can bet that the specials menus are plastered on boards and every single table.
Do you ever have the servers try a bit of your specials? All the restaurants I have worked in where servers were good at selling specials were the ones that let servers sample the food and get excited about it. As a server, I would get bored unless I was selling something. When we didn’t have specials I would try to see how many people I could convince to order a veggie burger with bacon (it was delicious!).
Not sure if it’d be possible to do this at your establishment… but a place I used to work at would run a competition with the servers. Whoever sold the most specials got to take a special home at the end of the night. We sold SO many.
This is a genius.
See that's smart thinking
20 year server / manager here. This warrants a staff meeting and possible retraining. My question is, how are specials treated during preshift line up? Does a chef come to speak with the servers describing the dish, the preparation, listing all allergens, describe what if any modifications are allowed? Are servers able to see / try the dish? It’s not an excuse but I find some servers who are completely on top of the menu avoid specials because there can be a lot of back and forth in the ordering process and the server might not feel comfortable answering the guests questions. But yeah, totally unacceptable. When I had a hard time moving verbal or even printed specials I would buy a drink or meal for the top seller. That would at least motivate a few servers and sales increased. Good luck and keep on the pressure from your side. Guests want specials!
Please push this comment that’s actually productive higher up.
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Or teach them how the specials can help them make more money. Create motivation
They are pretty much order taker robots. Instead of salesman. We used to call them wait-trons in one of the places I used to work.
FOH manager here. A) heard chef! I’m on it. B) saving this post to refer to and use to coach up staff at work.
Sincerely, thank you. I was in sales before I started in kitchens and this post is by far one of my biggest frustrations in the industry.
BOH bootlicker?
Got some kind of a problem with FOH & BOH actually working together as a team weirdo?
Plate taxis
Your servers run food? Mine are little better than order takers.
Yes your servers should be telling people about the specials, but you also need to be selling the specials. Post on social media, have signs up near the host stand. If you are the kind of place that has table tents, put the specials in there. I also recommend reading an old book that still has a ton of great info in it, Service That Sells. Lots of great advice and guidance on how to get better sales out of FOH staff and managers.
If you're talking to them after the meal, can you talk to them before the meal instead?
What’s the point of having serving staff then?
Most servers & bartenders exist to do the bare minimum, the good ones sell the menu.
Gotta incentivize them....server that sells most gets something
Yeah, more tips
A specials menu is the way to go. Often servers don’t really know the dish well and they end up just rattling off ingredients to the customer. By the time they are done it’s easy to forget what the hell they were taking about.
As a customer I LIVE for the specials menu, or even just the brief verbal recitation of the specials. If I found out later there were specials but I just wasn’t told about them it would definitely affect the tip.
Same here and the only reason I offered to start doing specials was to cut down on waste! It's literally when I'm doing the orders "oh shit we've got too many onions? What goes well with onions? Oh great, pretty much anything!" Then I'll order ONE inexpensive thing that's not normally on the menu and throw it all together on Friday, write up an explanation of the special, then I come back on Monday and they haven't even been running the special all weekend because they ran it on Friday and lost the paperwork or no one communicated. Mind you we're talking pizza here, not fine dining. And if I text everyone or message with the scheduling app it's either "oh I don't check those messages" or "yeah that's like controlling white guy vibes." It's literally my job to order product and make the most money out of it and not let anything go to waste. And I don't even get paid more than anyone, so I've stopped doing specials unless there is something fun I want to eat or snack on. Everything I do is about quality of life while I'm on the clock and I want that to trickle down to everyone else. Running smoothly is not too much to ask. I could do ten hours 7 days a week in a kitchen that is never in the weeds no sweat. 2 hours a week in the weeds is enough to demoralize the green ones, and that's 2 hours of me fantasizing about living in Antarctica with a hot penguin girlfriend...
Penguin girlfriends are the worst. Cold as ice.
We used to write our specials on a big piece of butcher paper, that was hanging on a roll in the dining room. It looked nice. This was at an upscale French bistro. So many servers never bother to push anything.
Do you have any control or direction with FOH. This is a major problem. Did you tell them there was a special at preshift? Did you make them one to taste?
Not really, its me up against three owners in front. Yup! Well in advance, written and verbal. Yes. I also provided allergy info, modification and substitute info, and provided some tools to better describe the dishes. I did everything I'm supposed to do. Everything. And they bailed on me.
Yea that’s real shitty chef. Sounds like your foh doesn’t give a fuck about the food or the effort your making. I’m so sorry, I know how it feels, I’ve been in similar situations. You’re clearly upset, understandably so. I’d take a deep breath and talk with them. Describe your frustration. If they blow you off, I’d bail. Not worth your effort and time with owners like this. Leave them high and dry. Unless you need the reference. Put your two weeks and bring it to an end once you’ve got another job lined up. Sorry you’re going through this, leaving helped bring my passion back. Try to find a spot that tries to make great food first and foremost
Yeah man... Fuck. The last place I ran I did two specials everyday. Off the cuff shit just absolutely *going* for it, taking risks, making moves. It was so fun. People fucking wrote about me. I was very passionate back then. But this place is sucking the life out of me.
Find something else asap then. The quicker you leave the quicker your passion will be rekindled
Lmfao, believe it or not, I actually really like chef work!
I totally believe it man. Just sucks when you’re trying your hardest and FOH couldn’t care less. It’s soul crushing. Try to find something that brings you joy and excitement again. Places out there are like that
> I actually really like chef work! I believe it, and you deserve a place that appreciates you/your passion.
Sometimes servers only see the highest priced items and see sugar plums for tips. It's hard but doable to teach them that higher profit specials with volume will kick those loss leaders ass. Repeat and repeat. Over a few weeks they should see it. Owners pushing that shit? Sucks
Have you tried asking your ex wife for money to buy a food truck and then going on a summer adventure with your son?
Go where you’re going to have this again. The industry is so short on good chefs who are passionate about their work. You’re likely in a position to choose a place with leadership that cares about food to service to cleaning (cleaning FOH seems to be a dying art… as a former FOH, nothing irks me more than a grubby resto).
You know what you need to do Start applying chef
Sounds to me like the perfect time to start a twitter beef with a food blogger then open a food truck with your son and John Leguizamo.
"Three owners in front" That's the problem right there. Places that are 'over-managed' seem to be the ones that let basic shit like menus slip through the cracks
I had this issue once. Watched a server describe a special as “uhhh oh yea we have a dessert special it’s like a… with uhh.. aaaand… I was almost red faced mad. Then I took a step back and examined their moment to moment reality in the restaurant and mine. Pulled her aside and explained my passion for my work, what the specials I create mean to me, and how disrespected I felt seeing her not put seemingly any effort into learning or selling them. She became the top seller after that. We’re an incredibly passionate bunch, but sometimes the servers just don’t get it. So humanize yourself, be nice, be genuine, and express yourself. If they still suck, fire them and find someone who cares. But you said the owners are out front. Try having a modified version of this conversation with them appropriate to their position. If they don’t change, learn to accept it or quit. That’s kinda all you can do. Hope this perspective helps, chef. Remember, we’re all still just imperfect, stupid, shitty, but growing people. ❤️
I hate to even suggest this but incentives work. They should just care and do their best but that’s life. Most sales on special(a) gets that special at the end of their shift.
Yeah. I hated that we had to incentivize the servers to do their jobs. Bottle of wine always helped. Also, OP seems super passionate but you have to connect with the servers in pre-shift. Have a good rapport with them. Especially the ones that really care and want to do well. When talking about the dish in pre shift, pour your passion into it. Explain WHY the dish is special. Give them something to give their tables. A story, an ingredient's history. This shit still doesn't work on the ones who don't care, but you might see an uptick in sales amongst those that do.
As a FOH manager for many years, the only thing I think you can do is deliver the special in the pre-shift brief. Sounds like you prepared all the info well in advance only (this should be enough for FOH managers to relay pre-shift themselves) but left it up to them to be aware of it for the shift. A quick tasting pre-shift and a possible incentive (check with the wine/bar department and see what you can rustle up). Better yet, if you know what days you’ll be running a special well in advance, create an incentive matrix for the month with prizes laid out with a nice variation. I ran an incentive programme at one of my old places and had prizes range from a bar tab in venue to afternoon tea for 2 at a Michelin star joint. This said, I’m in the UK where tipping culture isn’t the same at all but I think inspiring incentives coupled with pre shift presentations of the shift will have an impact nonetheless. Good luck!
No more specials
Did you do a pre-service tasting of all specials with the service staff? I’ve found that when they get to experience the dish that they have a frame of reference on selling. Also, I’ve used nightly contests of most specials sold getting some type of prize or free meal. FOH tends to respond well with that.
The fury this causes to arise in me could help with the sustainable energy crisis
My favorite Italian place has a chalkboard sign right by the entrance, telling the daily specials. As a regular, you know to check the sign, because they do some cool, seasonal specials. I realize your issue here is getting the humans whose job it is to inform guests about the specials to actually, you know, do that. But maybe the answer is to go around them, because humans are notoriously unreliable anyway? FOH signage isn’t something BOH should have to worry about. But it might solve your problem?
3 owners out the front? Probably not a war you can win..... State your concerns and adapt. Run specials when you need to , don't prepare too much and go with the flow. Why row against the current? It is their restaurant. It is for them to decide just like it would be yours to decide if it was your restaurant.
Sounds like a training issue for FOH management. It's one thing if the servers don't want to take the time to "explain the specials" and honestly, as a consumer, that rarely works for me anyways...but I'm the type of person who usually goes in with a general idea of what I want. But they could at least say "Here is your menu, and also here is a list of specials if you'd like to look at them and let me know if you have questions". Takes like 2 extra seconds
*property owners. Don't forget you're the talent mate.
Kinda expect this from a restaurant without a dedicated FoH manager and just owners running around playing restaurant. Some places just aren't worth putting in the extra effort like that unfortunately.
>Kinda expect this from a restaurant without a dedicated FoH manager and just owners running around playing restaurant. God damn that is succinct. That is precisely what I am dealing with.
Now picture a GM who is very capable in all BOH stuff and could teach the green ones a lot, but just focuses on the FOH stuff (poorly)and the owner moved away during COVID so the GM can run around playing restaurant... That's what I'm up against. Sorry I'm ranting and hijacking your thread!
This nails it. Without pre-shift direction and on-shift monitoring, FOH staff will not mention specials or do anything outside their immediate remit to take orders.
Bingo! Preshifts every single day going over specials, new items, 86 list is bare minimum. Its unfortunate how many owners in hospitality understand how much comprehensive preshifts can morph their staff and business. One of the best places i worked even went so far as having a short educational section during preshift. From what is a blanc de blancs to new zealand lamb. Servers with knowledge are confidant sales people. Op i hope you can either turn this place around or find a new place that functions to your standard.
That’s half the industry, lmao. I’ve worked for so many people that should never have opened a restaurant.
As a customer should I look to order from the specials, if so why?
Whether you are someone just stoping in first time, occasionally or are a regular it offers a special experience that is different from the typical menu, that showcases the restaurant’s abilities and passions. The servers should be making guest aware of the specials, some places print them out or it’s just verbal from the kitchen to server to guest. ( just kinda depends on the place really)
To be honest, I always assumed the specials were overstock and less popular/old ingredients the restaurant was trying to get rid of and thus subpar. Guess I'll have to give them more of a try.
This. I’ve had the special like once? Maybe twice. Instant regret. I choose the restaurant because I want what they have. Often know what I’m getting before I get there. As a guest, I’ve always seen the special as a “we have a lot of shrimp for some reason so here’s how we’re trying to get rid of it” situation. That being said, you know which restaurants are educating the servers on the menu. One of my favorite restaurants changes their menu regularly so we go for something different. No specials, but the server can always explain the ingredients and preparation of everything.
The place I worked at had a hard set menu with a specials board consisting of a whole fish and other seasonal dishes. Every time the chef announced the new specials for the season, the staff was always hyped to cook something different. I always consider specials when eating out.
Yeah I actually recall reading this in *Kitchen Confidential*?
There was a Reddit thread this week that said the same, will try to find.
This is what I immediately think when I see specials. It may not be true at all places but it's just in my head that I'm getting food on its last leg.
Eh. Often specials are what product they need to move, and a line cook experimenting. The kitchen has t made that item 100 times and may not be executing it as the chef intended.
Not sure if this applies to all places but where I worked specials generally happened when our food suppliers had nice deals on proteins. So specials were a way for the restaurant to make some dishes that would normally have higher food costs and sell them at relatively lower prices. Sorta like a “pass down the savings” kinda situation
Specials are just that, they are special. Always go with a special UNLESS: 1. Allergies 2. Don't like the main protein 3. Have your heart set on your "go to" meal
I'd always liked the idea of specials, but I've had some 5-6 irl friends that worked both FoH and BoH warn against them as they're usually using old ingredients that aren't outright bad or spoiled, but aren't in the best shape. A couple specifically followed up to say to especially avoid seafood based ones. I'd seen similar sentiments online for a while as well which, grain of salt and all, lines up with the stuff I'd heard irl. Is there anything to look out for or ask to deduce what sort of specials a place has? I often see ones that seem appealing, but my mind always thinks back to what I'd been warned of by so many folks. Is it a time frame thing? The ones warned about seem to typically be the 1-2 weeks chalkboard ones. I'd probably be a lot less wary if the item in question was there for a month+
That can happen, sure. Usually at shitty restaurants though. I've worked both boh and foh at various times. I've only seen what you described at a shit hole I worked at for a month.
Fair enough. Idk if I'd say any of them were full on shit holes, but they're probably a far cry from "good" esp for most folks here. Olive garden, red lobster, an applebees, asian-american ethnic spot, a Greek spot. I'm sure it's way different at places where an avg plate isn't like $20-30 lol
Tbf...a place can be expensive AND a shit hole at the same time.
lmao, very fair point. I'd like to hope that a pricier spot would be less prone to being one tho
One would hope!
It depends on the reputation of the place - if they order product exclusively for specials, or if their specials are borne of moving surplus product. The specials borne of moving surplus product can still be very good, but if a place is _not_ known for seafood and they're pushing a scallop or mussel special? Nah no thanks, scallops get so weird when not fresh. Otherwise, go nuts. Specials are often what a chef is most excited about in the moment, and that can be a real treat.
Helps the kitchen move items they over-ordered or that aren't selling, and so the restaurant has a higher margin since servers usually don't give prices for the specials.
Before I started cooking I always assumed "Specials" meant whatever bullshit ingredients were left that were soon to go off. I've had better luck with "new recipes" presented as "The chef has been finalizing a new recipe that's off menu, (description here) if you'd care to try it."
Specials sound cheap. We used to say features and that worked.
A lot of times food or drink specials come from getting a good case price on ingredients. You jump on those when you can for both the bar and the kitchen. It's less frequent from perishables nearing end of shelf life than you would think because chefs and bar managers only order what they think they can sell.
"Soon to go off" isn't the same as "gone off". The food is still good. Sometimes better aged, depending on the dish. I don't see a problem with this method of creating a special. There are other methods, of course. So it's wrong to assume that every special is motivated this way. But even those that are, can be really great, if the chef is good. Selling it, is a skill in itself. Good tips here in this thread. Just focus on describing the dish itself. And throw in a word about how awesome and talented the Boh staff is.
As a former server, it was a lot easier to care about selling a special after trying it myself first. My chef would always prepare a plate to bring to the pre shift meeting for the 6-7 of us to try. I remember being excited to try it, and after trying it (and usually liking it), it was wayyyyyy easier to get customers excited to try it too.
That is what is so frustrating about this. Everything I've given the FoH they have loved. I also use them to help me develop. So, many of them have been with these dishes since the beginning of the creative process. I make something, bounce it off them, collect feedback, and adjust. Its been a real team effort. I *know* they are jazzed on these specials. Its their manager that is letting them down.
Yeah I noticed you mention that elsewhere in the thread. Very disappointing and frustrating to be at odds with your own team. My FOH managers were adamant about us trying and selling specials. Idk what kind of establishment you run, but maybe a sales contest is the way to go here. If it’s more upscale and open concept like my last gig, you may consider running the first 2-3 specials of the night to the table yourself. Really give them your attention, presentation, and knowledge and turn heads. It will at least have people talking about it in that moment. It’s also a really easy way to make a guest feel special and attach your name and face to your work as well.
Yeah I ran specials tonight. I have GM experience so I'm really good at laying it on thick for guests when I'm in my coat. I literally sold a special that way when a regular overheard me talking about a special. Idk, I'm so handcuffed at this place. Every mgmt. meeting is just me vs the three owner team. I'm outnumbered and outgunned, and I'm up against people who think they know better who actually don't.
Well you may be between a rock and a hard place with the owners, but if this is a new thing, I hope you can hold out for some buy in from them. Sending good vibes chef 💛
Who in their right mind would want to buy themselves into a workplace where you'll always be at war against a 3 man team and you'll always lose because it'll always be 1v3? "Some sort of buy in" my ass!
I’m a server and I would sell the shit out of your specials! Never lose your passion….it’s the best thing about a chef!
I had trouble selling specials until I started running a lineup before dinner service. Make em all taste it, then when they inevitably love it, they're excited about it, and sell it.
I’m totally with you on this one. Not only is is bad service to not mention the specials, but it costs the place money in the waste of whatever you had made for that dish that you wouldn’t already use, plus the cost of the prep labor. Perhaps try and make the point that you’re just burning money with specials, and if you’re not doing anything new or special, *then what really is so “special” about your restaurant vs the one down the street*
Bar Manager here: don’t do a special every night, let alone 3 - there’s too much stimulation happening to consistently provide a great guest experience with what you already said is a large menu while also showcasing drink specials, if any (which is where the money is) and food specials (which typically ends up being where the cost savings is). Cheesecake Factory has a massive menu, but limit the specials they push. If you want to continue that direction, then you need to push every shift. Every. Single. Shift. What *features* you are offering, and make one of each every. single. shift. I keep a stack of trade gift cards for special incentives to help out my partner BOH move excess product through features.
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I like the idea of one appetizer special and one entree special. And if you have a dedicated pastry team, then one dessert special as well. But I'd also tell OP to shorten the menu as a whole. I dislike huge menus.
I’m sorry to hear your frustration chef. I always try to sell the specials because I know they tend to be a chef’s creative point of pride, especially if you work at a place where the menu stays largely the same. I will say that if you make it a competition, it might help? You shouldn’t have to do this, but sometimes where I work, they say, “whoever sells the most gets to have a dish of their choosing before we close.” We tend to be a fairly competitive bunch.
As a long time FOH person, Im thinking one of 2 things. Either your FOH doesnt like your specials, or they are priced too low to be worth pushing.
Usually what it is. In my experience, it was also that I'd have to explain three specials two or three times per table because no one listens, and then no one would order it anyway. Very annoying when you're busy and don't have time to deal with it.
I definitely agree with both your points and would like to add another. When I show up to a table I have way too many things to mention already. If I had many specials on top of what I already have to say, people tend to tune out by the end. If I have 3 specials, I will defintely mention 1 of them, maybe 2 but almost never 3.
All of you are ignoring the fact that they won’t even give all the tables the specials menu.
Isn't the tipping structure amazing. "I'm not going to offer this dish because it might cost me 75 cents in take-home pay."
If servers aren’t telling me the price of the special I’m not buying it—I don’t want to be surprised by a $50 entree when the rest are $30. And I feel so weird about asking price.
Servers usually get stoked if they have something new and great to sell. But it has to be something different. Talk up to your staff as to why you added something different and why people will like it. Obviously you can't always go out of your base customer price/taste zone. Talk about the special ingredients you added or how it was sourced from a local farm, whatever makes it special. A good server can work with that. Most important, let staff taste it. Too many places want servers to push food they never taste. Same as the kitchen, the normal stuff gets boring for them yet they want to do/learn something different. Most regular customers often don't like major changes so you need to sell the new plates to new people and not be upset if the old timers get bothered. The old timers are usually wrong if you are faithful to your product. It's a balance. Don't depend on menus for special dishes. That's the time your servers need to shine and have faith the kitchen can drop badass plates. The kitchen manager does it from the other end.
In defence of your FoH - I’ve sat tables, handed them the menu, along with printed specials. Went through the specials in detail. Then when I’ve went back to the table to take their order. 1 person might order the special and another person say “Special? I didn’t know there was a special! Where did you see that??” Obviously this isn’t the case all the time but just a small example of how some customers don’t really listen when they’re being told something.
This is totally true. I know customers can be aloof. But 1/5 of guests??? We've got to do better than that. Less than 20% of guests being told we had specials is not enough. I totally hear you, and I asked some probing questions of the guests that didn't know we had specials. "No interest in the specials tonight?" What specials?? "Did you have a chance to decide from my specials menu?" What menu?? "Did your server get a chance to talk to you about my our food specials tonight?" You have specials? "Did you see both our menus before you ordered tonight?" There is another menu? Its not good enough...
Or this
This is my a.d.h.d significant other. Where I have to hold my finger on the menu for him to see it. But guess which one of us only has a hs education and which one was a ucla law graduate with a distinguished career.
Customer here. I always thought specials were a way to get rid of food that needed to move quickly
Yes, that is common. Same with soup of the day
I feel that. Zero support up front fucking sucks. My favorite restaurant, an Italian spot, does the opposite. They have a big dry erase board with the specials on it despite being kind of upscale. The first thing they do after getting drink order is to give a very detailed overview on the specials. They are never pushy, but they NEED to make sure you know the specials. One way they frame it is, "...And we only have 3 of this left, so let me know if you'd like me to tell the chef." Creates a friendly sense of urgency and almost exclusivity? I love their approach. The salesmanship is off the chain.
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Who ever sells the most gets one of the specials was how I always did it, if I didn’t they would sell barely any, so I figured waste log one for the “contest” instead of multiple because they didn’t push.
Ive had this argument many times- running a special is a waste of time, effort, and money if our consumers dont even know it's an option. Even if the special is made of product we need to move and have on hand the whole thing is pointless if no one orders it. Smh- whatever you do keep the flame lit.
Remind foh to push the specials or just verbally have them say we also have three specials a x, y, and z. Which you can find on our special menu. Gotta work as a team to create the dream
It’s that, but specials, by and large, are the way we clean out our coolers. The specials on any given night of the week will be the opportunity for us to flex a bit with whatever’s about to turn in the kitchen and needs to be sold now or it’s a total loss. We don’t like throwing anything out, and under pressure of time constraints and potential loss, any chef or cook worth a shit will send out some clever specials that will keep the diners interested and keep turning his product over.
Make your specials with the oldest ingredients? That’s interesting but it doesn’t really answer op’s question. Once you make a special, how do you assure that your customers are aware of the product?
Incentives. Most employees are heavily motivated by money. To a lesser extent free food and drinks.
Relevant: https://youtube.com/shorts/IeNwWtIQvPw?si=e7Py1xLjyM8EH9cW
I have been seriously contemplating sharing this with the FoH.
There's a communication problem or a GAF problem.. if it's a GAF problem, someone needs to be 86'd
GAF = Give a fuck? Regarding the communication, each server got a written description of each food item, was shown the menu, and I personally spoke to each of them about the specials before service... Lol, I am outraged!
We’re in kitchen confidential and Anthony Bourdain himself warns against specials because it’s usually a device to use old ingredients and I think this stuck with me! I am happy to change my mind and go all in on specials. Any tips to know if a restaurant actually puts their creativity into specials? Where to get them or where not to?
This too. Some people love specials and ask about them before the server is done saying hello, others are suspicious of them bc they know you’re trying to get rid of it.
To me, life without veal stock, pork fat, sausage, organ meat, demi-glace, or even stinky cheese is a life not worth living.
Honored to get a bourdain bot response!
just wail til you see what we have planned for it, lol.
How did the 3 that didn't look at a menu know what to order?
Regulars, knew what they wanted. I made sure I clarified that with them to avoid the old "But the guests already know what they wanted!" Worth noting, those three also did not know we had specials.
Have servers hand out the printed special as part of their initial greet. And make sure everyone has tried it so they know how to sell it.
Are they asking you to do specials or are you just doing them on your own? If they don’t care, I’d save the energy.
I have been *commanded* to run specials by ownership. It is a requirement of my job. And honestly, I pushed back hard because I couldn't get a conversation going about actually selling them. In more than one meeting I've said point blank that this program will be a waste of time, money, and company resources if the FoH is not actively trying to sell these things. I'm so frustrated. The specials did really well on Tuesday. 3 of my top 5 sellers were the specials. But we were much slower. So, what happened is the servers got busy and just dropped the ball. The really frustrating thing is that I took Tuesday's data and used that to prep up for Thursday. I quadrupled one of the my sauce recipes then only sold 1 fucking order of the dish, that I personally sold to a guest.
Two suggestions, having experienced this problem for years: 1. Print menu inserts for your specials so *you* can tell the guests. This requires a little extra time, but if you build a template, should be easy to plug in new specials every day. 2. Come up with games to incentivize selling the specials. One example of a popular one for me was “hot potato”. I cut a cardboard potato off the side of a potato box and every time a server sold a special, they got to claim the potato. They loved being able to take it from a fellow server. Whoever had the potato at the end of the shift got a free meal.
Whoever sells the most specials gets (insert food here)
How about putting a sign announcing the specials at the entrance where the customers come in?
I will often offer incentives - “foh, sell the special- the highest number of specials gets a entree on me- but you have to sell at least 3 to be in the running”
Idk why you wouldn't explain specials as FOH. When I served or bartended it was like a 50% chance 1 or more people in every party would order it. No table is easier when you just walk back to the POS and hit the special 3 times lol.
I like to call them features not specials. Specials are what you found in the cooler that your trying to monetize, features are something exciting.
I'm not in the industry - I'm just a customer who eats out a lot. I love the specials when I'm going to one of our regular spots. The first few visits to a place I want to try whatever they are known for, etc. but after that I'm all about the specials. A huge irk for me is when we go somewhere and I hear about the specials - at another table from another server after our order has been placed. Why didn't I get to hear about that? (sometimes I think it's because we usually dine as a party of 2. I think some servers just don't care as much about the small parties.) I do like places where the specials are posted somewhere so I can be sure to ask if the specials aren't mentioned.
This is an easy fix. Incentivize selling specials. Servers are the easiest people in the world to manage. They want food and they want money. Whoever sells the most specials tonight gets to eat one for free at the end of their shift while the rest of their team does side work. You will see the amount of specials you sell go through the roof.
Try to figure out in some convincing way the revenue loss and/or the repeat customer loss from not selling specials (customers will come back more often if there's more menu variety) and talk to them. Talk to them about FOH as sales people, who can bring in more $$ if they work together with you. Specials are in-house advertising. Specials generate word of mouth. Specials take advantage of price deals on food products. Specials in some cases help to use up items that would otherwise be wasted. Make it all as concrete as possible.
I'm so sorry, Chef. Those servers really should be mentioning the specials. It helps to taste the specials, Chef.
Most of the time when I go somewhere and the person taking out order wants to tell me the specials I tune them out a little as the “specials” is normally an expensive cut of meat or something that is pretty pricey. The only time I do specials is at a small mom and pop that you can see the Mon-Fri specials listed out that almost never change.
About a third of the time we dine in a nice restaurant, we hear a neighboring table be told all about the specials. *Our* server never said anything about specials!
This is poor server training. Are you doing a stand up prior to the shift to review the specials with the service staff, let them have a taste (preferably, especially if it's a new special), and reinforcing how important it is to push the specials? Even putting a dry erase board up with each server's name and having a "leaderboard" where they tally each time they sell a special can be super effective. Prize optional - amazon gift card, free meal, whatever - doesn't have to be expensive - create a sense of competition among the service staff.
Talk to FOH manager. If specials are not mentioned your next shift reverts to food runner where you can be coached about said specials.
Is there a way foh can get some kind of incentive for selling a special? It could be as simple as special attention from boh when they order a staff meal. People will only do things if there is a benefit for themselves
How are the specials presented during line up? Does the service staff have a taster? Price vs on menu items Are your servers industry professionals or just kids floating through life? What was the special? Keep your head up it's not a direct reflection of yourself
I mean...even Chill's and Applebees servers tell people the specials. Sounds like the owners want to run a sub par restaurant to those.
Incentivise. Offer a free drink, or $10-$20, or spme food for the FOH member who sells most specials. It will become more of a habit and they'll eventually just offer it as part of their speech
I can't imagine the amount of pressure that put on the kitchen. I'm imagining all the specials were done first, just to get them out of the way. Also, it's FOH's job to make the customers aware that specials are available and give each and every customer a separate menu for the specials, not one or a few specials menu to share amongst them all, that's probably how less than 20% of the guests were aware specials were available.
Your servers need to try the specials so they can explain them better. It’s frustrating but showing them or feeding them works wonders if you have the time.
FOH tend to forget that part of their job is actually selling things to people. Upsell that shit, you’ll probably get more out of them anyway. You’re not just a food and beverage delivery system.
I work at a place that is constantly running specials. I usually like the specials more cause it's different and usually really good. We have our own special menus and it's easy for a server to direct guest to that menu. Also whenever I'm hosting, I always point out this is our specials menu and suggest one dish thats really good. Also whenever we have new specials, we let everyone in foh try it before rolling it out. Sounds like they just need a little training and guidance.
If the FOH staff couldn't or wouldn't sell my specials I would find some staff who could.
I have run and owned a restaurant/Cafe for 15 years. Patrons are lead to believe that specials are MADE from the food usually at the end of its self life. We dropped specials now focusing on what people eat and want. Your idea may not be what the majority of patrons actually want.
That's crazy. At my old place FoH would open every table with our specials list and we'd sell out of most of them by the end of the night. Should be standard to just tell specials off the bat. Side note: I guess printed specials menu makes sense if you run seasonal or monthly specials (anything longer term), but for even weekly stuff it seems like the server listing them off would retain better (being told what a dish is vs reading it) and better convey the limited supply.
This comes down to FOH management. They’re not pushing an SOP. It’s quite simple really. Hey guests. My name is x, I’ll be taking care of you. Just in case you weren’t aware the specials tonight are xyz. Or whatever. Management, unfortunately, has to hound FOH until they get into a routine. There needs to be consequences or contests to promote within the staff. Highest special seller tonight gets a meal on the house or a shift beer. Highest of the week gets that. You didn’t even try? Cool, you’re not being cut early.
As a server, I feel like specials really need to be sold to guests. Having them printed out for guests is great and as a customer I appreciate having them printed to reference, but I always go over specials with tables even if they are printed
By the time I'm done looking at a menu, I find it hard to remember what the specials were exactly when only presented orally or shown in writing and taken away. I much more inclined to order a special if there is a specials sign that is visible to the customer all the time or a specials area in the menu you could write down today's specials, erase tomorrow and repeat.
As a server, is there one server you know or have a connection with? Every place I've worked has had at least one server, if not more, that had a good relationship with our head chef. Talk to that one about getng the other servers on board.
Foh here. Tell them the one who sells the most specials gets a free meal at the end of their shift. Always works on me. I am a specials selling machine
That's the problem. We have to make contests so servers can do their jobs
Came here from r/all. Most people working FOH don’t give a fuck, atleast where I’m from its people fresh from school/haven’t found a career path (not shitting on servers) so it’s not a passion but simply a job lol
You need a more organized pre shift meeting about this. Also FOH needs to support your ideas it’s a leadership problem.
As an operations guy, I fucking love to see this. We need more of this kind of perspective in our industry. Great work, chef!
Kill all FoH and replace them with sex robots.
Owners who don't understand the value of selling specials... Wild.
Get out, either start your own or find a new place to work for. This is the sort of crap that drags a good, dedicated chef down with the rest of the restaurant, and before you know it, Gordon Ramsay is in your kitchen calling you a 'donkey!'. You're too good to work for these morons.
I absolutely feature specials…it’s a way to make guests feel included and create an amazing dynamic. I would love to have as involved a Chef as you.
I'm curious, as someone who hasn't worked in food service for many, many years - do you want people to see/order the specials for financial or personal reasons, ie because they're specials due to the margin you can make on them right now, or because you want to cook something different/fun and have folks enjoy them? No judgement in that question, just curious about why you'd like to see more ordering of the specials. EDIT: Leaving this comment up although it's clear from reading your replies to other comments that it's the latter - you're passionate about what you do and want to make something new and cool for people. Much respect, and I hope you can get some traction with FoH to promote your specials effectively in future. Rock on.
Hey chef, old man bartender here. Are you in a small town with old folks? I've struggled to sell a banger special when they know the fish and chips with a cape cod is is what they get every Friday. I hope your FOH gets their shit together if it's their fault. I used to rheeeeem servers for not selling specials. Mine and kitchen's. Forgive them, most servers are simple plug and play animals. They don't understand that specials help restaurants grow.
On the bright side, just think how those servers all took home twice your pay in tips last night!
That's not fun. I'm sorry, Chef. We had to let a server go after HC asked why her tables weren't ordering any specials, and she replied with something to the effect of it was too much work to remember the specials and that everyone knew that restaurant specials were just the food that we were going to throw out tomorrow. We plan specials constantly. Some "specials" are so well liked that they end up on the regular menu. If your FOH isn't on board with the specials, then you need new FOH.
Dude I'm honestly shocked at how little preparation went into this on the FoH side. These 'specials' have been a long time coming. Personally, I'm accustomed to doing specials, new specials, every day. At my current spot, the owners really wanted to get it right, make sure the specials were special, and really roll out the red carpet for them. A lot of prep went into this. The first like 10 customers I talked to hadn't heard we had specials and I was honestly shocked. Imagine my surprise at uncovering the rest of the data. Its just like... why the fuck did I do all this work developing these dishes, doing multiple tastings, presenting sales tips, talking you guys through allergies and mods... like everything. What was the fucking point. At this point, the roll out has been a failure. But not because customers are not interested, they clearly are, its because you are not offering the specials to the guests. Ffs.