Training your servers on what items upsell best at what times means that you are more likely to be able to capture the potential for extra profits that upselling presents. Suggesting dessert when a customer first sits down will not be effective because customers are not likely to want to eat dessert before their meal. When your servers are taking the customers’ orders, they need to be aware of the right items to suggest and the right times to do so. Impressing on customers that the servers have tried all of the food will make customers more readily trust the suggestions and be more likely to purchase them.ĥ. When your servers are suggesting items to the customers, have them describe how good the food is as if they ate it earlier in the day. Servers who love the food they are serving create customers who love to try their suggestions. Servers who are enthusiastic about the menu items, and seem genuinely happy and excited about how they taste, will be able to get the customer more excited to try the items they are suggesting. Having an enthusiastic waitstaff is an important component to effective upselling in your restaurant. In addition, it could leave a bad impression overall, with the customer feeling like the waiter does not really enjoy the food that they are serving or suggesting. If the server sounds bored or uninterested with the items they are suggesting, the customer will get a bad impression and will be less likely to order those items. Never underestimate the power of an enthusiastic server in upselling at your restaurant.
Be Enthusiastic About the Items You Are Suggesting By offering specific items, the customer does not have to think about what they want and will be more likely to order what has been suggested to them.Ĥ. With desserts, the server should suggest a dessert on the menu and, if possible, show the customer a picture of the item in the menu.īy suggesting a specific item and showing the customer a picture of it, you are enticing the customer more into purchasing it. When the customer has a specific option recommended to them, they are more likely to accept it. For example, when asking if the customer would like a drink order, the server should suggest a specific drink that they think the customer would like. It is more effective if the server suggests specific items when recommends courses that the customer has not already ordered. When the server uses generalities, like simply asking if the customer wants drinks or dessert, it is easier for the customer to refuse, therefore losing the restaurant the increased profits that come from upselling. This is a simple way that servers can help to upsell without sounding too annoying to the customer. When extras are suggested, the customer is more likely to order them thereby increasing the amount that the customer is paying for their meal. Offering extras to customers is a good way to increase the cost of the meal that the customer wishes to purchase.įor example, with pasta dishes the server can suggest to addition of shrimp in the pasta or garlic bread on the side, with meals that come with fries the server can suggest adding gravy or making it into a poutine and with salad orders the server can suggest the addition of chicken to the salad. When a customer orders a specific menu item, the server can offer a variety of extras that could accompany the meal that the customer has asked for. Always have a good description of the flavour or enjoyment that the customer would get from purchasing your suggested menu item.
You would never say that you are suggesting this wine because of the profit margins, as this would be a turn-off for customers.
For example, if a customer is deciding on which wine to purchase, the server can suggest the wine with a high profit margin and give a short description of why it’s a good wine to purchase. When taking the customer’s order, servers can suggest items with the highest profit margins instead of items that make less of a profit. This means knowing which items you sell that have the best profit margins and training your waitstaff on this as well. When upselling, you want to suggest menu items that have the best profit margins so that you are increasing your profits to the maximum potential. Know Which Menu Items Have High Profit Margins Here are the 10 best upselling strategies used by successful restaurant managers to sell more in their restaurants.ġ. By learning effective upselling techniques for waiters in your restaurant, you can take advantage of the opportunity it offers to increase sales and profits for your business.
A key requirement for effective upselling is having a team of servers who are trained specifically on how to upsell without annoyance when they are waiting on customers.