The Table Drinks Standard

Set the drinks station: two trays with non-slip mats, a bottle opener per server, ice in a clean bucket with a scoop, lemon and lime cut today, and glasses checked against the light.

Read the fridge thermometer and write it on the log: soft drinks and water between 4 and 6 °C. Turn bottles label forward, oldest date at the front.

Prepare the coffee machine: purge each group head, pull one test espresso and taste it, and check the grind. Fill the tea boiler and set out the teas with the brewing time of each on the station card.

Fill the milk and sugar set: cold milk, cream, an oat or soy drink, and three kinds of sugar or sweetener (white, brown and one without sugar). Add lemon slices and honey for tea.

Learn today’s drinks list: every soft drink, juice and alcohol-free drink with its price, and where the coffee and the teas come from. A guest who asks gets an answer, not a guess.

Check yourself against The Presence Standard before your first table: uniform, name badge, hands, and the occasions and allergies on tonight’s list in mind.

Water is offered and poured as The First Two Minutes Standard sets out. Once it is on the table, offer the other drinks, naming two or three choices.

“While you look at the menu, may I bring you a fresh lemonade, a juice, or a soft drink?”

Write each drink against the guest’s seat number, as The Order Taking Standard sets out, so every glass can be set down without asking whose it is.

For every soft drink, ask about ice and lemon, and for fresh juice, say how long it takes. Note “no ice” beside the seat number, never at the bottom of the ticket.

“Would you like ice and lemon with your tonic, Ms Haddad?”

Ring every drink into the POS as soon as it is ordered, with the seat number. Drinks reach the table within 5 minutes of the order, fresh juices within 8.

Carry every drink on a dry tray with a mat, even one glass for a near table. Hold the tray in your left hand at waist height and serve with your right.

Hold glasses by the stem or low on the base, never near the rim. Set each one down from the guest’s right, to the right of the water glass, by seat number.

For a bottle or a can, put the glass down first, with ice if the guest asked for it. Open the bottle beside the guest and pour slowly down the side of the glass until it is two thirds full.

Leave the bottle or can on the table to the right of the glass, label facing the guest. Never open or pour it at the station, where the guest cannot see what they are getting.

Name each drink as you set it down, in a low voice, so the guest can stop you if it is wrong.

“Your sparkling water with lime, Mr Novak.”

Look at every glass on every pass. When a soft drink or juice is empty, offer the next one within one minute: the same again, or something else.

“May I bring you another orange juice, or would you like to try something different?”

If the guest’s own bottle still has some left, top up the glass from it first, and offer a new one only when the bottle is empty.

Wait for a pause in the conversation before you speak. If the guest is talking, catch their eye and lift the empty glass slightly, so a nod is enough.

When the bottle of water runs out, show the guest the empty bottle and ask before you open another. Top-ups of water follow The Table Maintenance Standard.

“Shall I open another bottle of still water for the table?”

Take the empty glass away on the tray when the new drink arrives, or as soon as the guest declines. Never stack glasses in your hand or carry them by the rim.

When the dessert plates are cleared, or the main course if there is no dessert, offer coffee or tea to every guest, naming the choices and asking how each one takes it.

“May I offer you a coffee or a tea? We have espresso, cappuccino, decaffeinated, and a green tea from Kyoto.”

Write each coffee and tea by seat, with the milk, the strength and decaffeinated or not. A guest who asks for a cappuccino at 22:00 gets one, without comment.

Make every coffee and tea to order. An espresso leaves the machine for the table within 30 seconds, in a warmed cup. Milk is steamed fresh for each cup and never reheated.

Brew tea in a pot with the leaves or the bag inside, and the water at the right heat for that tea. Tell the guest how many minutes it needs, and bring a second pot or hot water when it runs low.

“Your tea needs three more minutes, Mrs Tanaka. I’ve brought a little hot water to add if it gets strong.”

Serve from the right on a saucer, handle at four o’clock and the spoon beside it, within 5 minutes of the order. Set the milk and sugar in the centre of the table, named once.

“There’s cold milk, cream and oat milk, and white, brown and sugar-free sweetener.”

When a cup is empty, offer a second coffee or more hot water within one minute, as for any empty glass.

Clear glasses, cups and the milk set on the tray, from the guest’s right, only when every guest has finished. Never take a cup that still has coffee in it without asking.

Before the bill is printed, check that every drink on the table is on the POS, the second rounds included. The bill itself follows The Bill Standard.

Note each guest’s preference in the profile: “sparkling with lime, no ice”, “decaffeinated with oat milk”. On the next visit, offer it by name before the menu.

At the end of service, clean the coffee machine and steam wands, throw away opened milk and cut fruit, and write the closing fridge temperature on the log.