Sample Module
Service standards, written to be enforced.
This is the structure I build for a property, before it is made specific to your concept, your menu, and your room. Every line below is something a manager can walk the floor and verify.
01
Position Standards
- Host: greets within ten seconds of the door; knows the book, the walk-in count, and which tables are turning.
- Server: opens the table within ninety seconds; carries a lighter, a crumber, a wine key, and two pens.
- Server assistant: no hand leaves the floor empty; water at or above two-thirds at all times.
- Manager: walks the room every twelve minutes and touches three tables per walk.
02
The Cover, Specified
- Show plate centered on the seat, one inch from the table edge.
- Fork to the left, knife to the right, blade turned in, bases aligned to the plate.
- Water glass at the tip of the knife; wine glass a thumb-width to its right.
- Napkin folded to a single crease, seam facing away from the guest.
- Candle, salt, and flowers on the centerline — never in the sightline between two guests.
03
Sequence of Service
- Greeting and water inside ninety seconds.
- Cocktail or aperitif order inside three minutes; delivered inside six.
- Menu narrative: two sentences, one recommendation, no recital.
- First course inside twelve minutes of the order being placed.
- Two-minute check-back after every course is set.
- Table cleared and crumbed before dessert menus are presented.
04
Wine Service
- Present the label to the host before the foil is cut.
- Cut below the second lip; wipe the neck before and after extraction.
- Cork placed to the host's right; a taste of roughly one ounce poured.
- Pour clockwise from the host, ladies first where the room's convention calls for it.
- Bottle placed label-out, within the host's reach, never behind a guest.
05
The Reset
- Ninety seconds from the last guest standing to a table ready to sell.
- Linen changed, not brushed; chairs squared to the table's edge.
- Full cover rebuilt to Section 02 before the table is marked open.
- Manager verifies one reset in every four during service.
06
Guest Recovery
- Acknowledge inside thirty seconds; never explain before you apologize.
- Any server may remove one item from the check without a manager.
- The manager visits the table before the check is dropped, not after.
- Every recovery is logged the same night, with the cause, not the symptom.
07
Fourteen-Day Certification
- Days 1–3: menu and cover. Written test on the cover, passed at 100 percent.
- Days 4–7: shadowing a certified server; three tables run under observation.
- Days 8–11: full section at reduced covers; sequence timed and recorded.
- Days 12–14: certification service with a manager present, followed by a written sign-off.
- Re-certification every six months, and after any change to the menu or the cover.