The Upsell SOP

Learn tonight’s specials with their prices, and for every main the one or two sides the kitchen recommends with it. A side suggested at random sounds like selling; the right one sounds like advice.

For each dish and drink on the menu, know the adjacent option one step up: the larger cut, the supplement (truffle, extra langoustine), the house juice instead of the bottled one, the next bottle up.

Read tonight’s bookings for occasions, returning guests and their past orders, and mark them on the table plan before the line-up.

At the line-up, the head waiter names one moment from the card for this shift, such as the starter or the closing offer. Every server makes that offer at every table, and the head waiter counts it.

Check yourself against The Presence SOP before the first table: uniform, name badge, hands, and tonight’s occasions in mind.

Before the first order, decide what this meal is for: an anniversary, a business lunch, a family who have travelled since six. If the booking does not say, ask once, in an open question.

“Is this evening a special occasion for you?”

Find out the time the table has. A guest with a meeting at 14:00 hears one offer per course; a slow anniversary dinner hears every one. Write the pace on the ticket, as The Pacing SOP sets out.

Note who is hosting and who is likely to pay. Address offers to each guest in turn, and the larger ones (a bottle, a dish for the table) to the host.

Make the first question a choice between two named options, never a question that invites a no. Ask still or sparkling water, then name the house water, then offer a drink while they read the menu.

“Still or sparkling water? And something to drink while you look at the menu?”

Name two drinks that suit the occasion, one of them alcohol-free, with a detail for each. Where the hotel serves no alcohol, both are alcohol-free, for example the peach and basil juice or a sparkling date and cardamom cooler. Serve them as The Table Drinks SOP sets out.

“We have fresh peach and basil juice, or a glass of our local sparkling wine to celebrate.”

If the table looks at the wine list, offer the sommelier, or recommend as The Wine Recommendation SOP sets out. Say a price aloud only for what is not printed on the menu: specials, supplements and anything made to order. Never recite a printed price unless the guest asks for it.

Offer something small for the table while the menus are read (olives, a sharing plate, the bread of the day with its price) when the table has time and the kitchen can send it within 5 minutes.

“Shall I bring the burrata for the table while you decide? It arrives in a few minutes.”

When a guest orders a main only, offer a starter to that guest, by name, with one suggestion that suits the main. Ask each guest, not the table as a whole.

“Before the sea bass, Mr Okafor, the tomato salad is very light, if you’d like a starter.”

For each main, suggest the side that goes with it, guest by guest: greens with the fish, potatoes with the lamb. Say what it is and that it is ordered separately.

“The lamb comes on its own. Most guests have it with the rosemary potatoes. Shall I add them?”

Offer one step up from the guest’s choice: the adjacent option, never the most expensive on the page. Say what changes and the difference in price, once.

“The same steak comes as a 400-gram cut for two, at €24 more. Would that suit you both?”

Describe every recommendation with one real detail: where it comes from, how it is made, what it tastes of. If your sentence could be read off the menu, find a better one.

“The burrata comes up from Andria twice a week. It’s still soft and warm when it arrives.”

If a guest says no, write the order as given and move to the next guest without comment. Do not repeat that offer later in the meal.

If a table orders less than you expected, say nothing about it. A guest who feels judged at the order spends the rest of the meal ordering defensively.

From a bottle on the table, top up unasked, as The Bottle Service SOP sets out, and offer the next bottle when it is empty. By the glass, when a glass is almost empty, offer another of the same or the next one, as a choice, as The By-the-Glass SOP sets out.

“Another of the same, or shall we try the next one?”

Once the mains are cleared, offer the cheese course before dessert, as a choice, when the menu has one.

“Cheese before dessert, or straight to the sweet menu?”

Watch for a relaxed table that is lingering. Offer one more drink as a choice, and tell them there is no hurry from the kitchen.

“Another coffee, or a fresh mint tea? Take all the time you like.”

Present the dessert menu to every guest once the mains are cleared, open, with one dessert you recommend in one sentence. Never ask whether they want to see it.

“Here are tonight’s desserts. The lemon tart is made this afternoon, with Amalfi lemons.”

If dessert is declined, offer coffee or tea at once, with two named options. A no on dessert is not a no on everything.

“Then an espresso, or one of our teas? The jasmine is lovely after fish.”

In formal restaurants, offer a drink to close the meal: a dessert wine, a digestif or the house amaro, and an alcohol-free choice such as a herbal infusion, named on the same line. Where the hotel serves no alcohol, offer Arabic coffee with cardamom, a fresh mint tea or the camomile and honey infusion.

“To finish, a glass of Passito, our own amaro, or a camomile and honey infusion?”

Offer petits fours or the house chocolates with the coffee, if they are on the menu, and say whether they are included or charged.

“The coffee comes with two of our almond biscuits, made this morning.”

Never bring the bill before the closing offer has been made and answered. Bring it when the guest asks, as The Bill SOP sets out.

Note on the guest profile what each returning guest ordered and liked: the dish, the drink, the dessert or digestif they chose, and anything they declined twice.

Give the head waiter the count for the moment of the shift: tables where it was offered, and tables where it was taken.

At the next line-up, the head waiter reads the count and one line that worked, without names, and names the next moment to practise.