How To Be a Food Waitress in a Pub and Make Big Tips. Master Simple Strategies to Become a Highly Profitable Food Server in a Liquor Serving Establishment

By Romana Van Lissum

“How To Be a Food Server in a Pub and Make Big Tips” focuses on showing you the food serving side of working in a pub, bar, show lounge and any other liquor serving establishment.
There are many important aspects to this job and Romana breaks them all down for you in detail. Food service in a pub is different than serving in a family restaurant and after reading this book, you’ll understand the high level of responsibility. No need to worry! With all the advice and more, right here at your fingertips, you’ll end up with happy, repeat customers and a pocket-full of tips!

Discover:

How to Make Yourself the TOP Earner
Sales Strategies and Up-Selling
Important Tips for Running Tabs
Securing a Tip
- Tips to Help Put Extra Cash in Your Pocket
- How to Spot Fake Identification
- 23 Ways You Can Protect Yourself From Losing Money
- How to Gain and Keep a “Regular” Customer
- Asking Customers for Identification
- Important Safety Tips at Your Job
And much, much more...

• Language: English
• Publisher: Romana Van Lissum
• Release date: Jun 28, 2015
• ISBN: 9781310989803

Romana Van Lissum

Romana Van Lissum has been a cocktail waitress in a popular Canadian strip club for over 20 years. In her spare time, she loves to train her horse on the trails near her home and competes in 25 and 50 mile endurance rides. She loves to read, travel with her husband, spend time with her wonderful friends, family and many pets. She enjoys hot yoga and meditation.

Book preview

cover.jpg

How to Be a

Food Waitress in a Pub

and Make Big Tips

Master Simple Strategies to Become a Highly Profitable Food Server in a Liquor Serving Establishment

Romana Van Lissum

Copyright © 2015 by Romana Van Lissum

Published by: Anamor Publishing

Canadian Address

Box 19, Station Whonnock

Maple Ridge, BC, Canada

V2W 1V9

Romana can be contacted at [e-mail]

All Rights Reserved, including the right to reproduce this book in any form whatsoever, including digital, without permission in writing from the publisher, except for brief passages in connection with a review.

Unauthorized duplication or distribution is strictly prohibited.

Notice of Liability: The information in this book is distributed on an as is basis, without warranty. While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, neither the author or the publisher shall have any liability to any person or entity with respect to any liability, loss, or damage caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by the instructions contained in this book.

Dedication

This book is dedicated to all the

hard-working and energetic food servers.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 – THE JOB

Food Servers Working in a Liquor Serving Establishment

Important Pub Waitress Qualities

The Downside to Food Service in a Liquor Serving Establishment

A Typical Shift

Chapter 2 – THE FOOD SERVER

How to Make Yourself the TOP Earner

Care of the Food Waitress on the Inside and Out

Tips to Become a Well-Rounded Server

Chapter 3 – SAFETY AT WORK

Important Safety Tips at Your Job

What to Do In Case of an Attack

Some Self Defence Moves

Chapter 4 – SERVING TIPS

Food Server Sign Language Signals

Sales Strategies and Up-Selling

Greet Your Customers and Always Ask If They Want a Menu

Other Little Important Food Service and Kitchen Tips

Chapter 5 – RUNNING TABS

Important Tips for Running Tabs

Romana’s Judgement Calls on Running Tabs

Other Important Rules to Running Tabs

Organizing and Reading Tabs

Chapter 6 – WORKING FOR TIPS

Securing a Tip

The Art of Handing Back Change

Give Away the Extras & Emphasize the Freebies

Tips to Help Put Extra Cash in Your Pocket

Chapter 7 – PERSONAL PREPARATION

The Waitress Tool Kit

Clothing and Footwear

THE BAG and its Essentials

Chapter 8 – PROTECTING YOUR MONEY

23 Ways You Can Protect Yourself From Losing Money

Chapter 9 – COUNTING AND MEMORIZING ORDERS

The Fundamentals of Counting Money

The Memorizing Secret

Chapter 10 – TIME MANAGEMENT

Manage Your Time Efficiently

Saving Time

Preparation for the Busy Shifts

Chapter 11 – TIPPING OUT COWORKERS

Tipping out Fellow Servers

How to Split-up a Tip

Share the Wealth

Chapter 12–CLEANLINESS

Look at It as Your Business Too

Why You Should Keep Your Section Spotless at all Times

Chapter 13 – THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF CUSTOMERS

How to Gain and Keep a Regular Customer

Women

Young Customers

The Bad Boys

The High Maintenance/Complainer Customer

The Drunk

Chapter 14 – THE WAITRESS TRAY AND MONEY

The Cash Caddy

How to Correctly Hold Your Paper Money in Your Fingers

Inspecting Bills for Fakes

Chapter 15 – THE BAR RULES AND LEGALITIES

The Bar Rules

The Carelessness of Drinking on Shift

The Stupidity of Stealing

The Dreaded Price Increase

Serving It Right and Other Mandatory Self-study Courses

Asking Customers for Identification

How to Spot Fake Identification

Chapter 16 – DEALING WITH PROBLEMS

Dealing With Problem Customers

Cutting Patrons Off

Problems with Coworkers

Other Problems with Customers

Action Steps to a Dine-and-Dash

Other Books by Romana

About the Author

Author’s note…

Please keep in mind that the information in this book will concentrate on the food serving aspect for the food server who serves food in a bar, pub, club, social house, show lounge (strip bar) and any other establishment which serves alcohol. There will be a bit of information in relation to serving alcoholic beverages but if you want to educate yourself on serving cocktails and beer in depth, please read, How To Be a Cocktail Waitress and Make Big Tips or How To Be a Waitress and Make Big Tips. Either one will give you enormous amounts of information in relation to mastering that job.

Always remember to use your best judgment and ask a senior server or manager about house policies on running tabs and other important aspects of the job since every establishment has its own policies and rules.

Chapter 1 – THE JOB

Food Servers Working in a Liquor Serving Establishment

Working as a food waitress in any establishment, whether it’s a bar or pub (or even a family restaurant) is a tough job. The shifts can be long and busy, you work weekends and holidays, you’re on your feet at all times, you deal with the high-maintenance public and you’re usually dealing with a high-paced job.

Waitressing is a hard job, but it’s very rewarding as well. You meet some great people, the hours can fit into almost any person’s schedule and the money can be pretty damn good! It’s great to go home at the end of a shift with instant cash in your pocket, so there’s always money for gas or a loaf of bread. Plus, you still get a pay cheque every couple of weeks.

When the economy is down and people are losing their jobs, you’ll find bars and pubs are still busy as ever because when times get tough, people will always drink and eat. The hospitality industry rarely will get affected since people will drink when they are happy and when they are sad.

Professional men and women work office jobs by day and turn to serving at night for extra cash. Single mothers raise their families on the money they make waitressing and then have the day to spend with their children. Students go to school during the day and waitress at night to help pay their way through school.

Many people turn to serving because of the hours. If you look around, you will be able to find a pub, nightclub, strip bar or anywhere else serving food and alcohol during the hours you need to make some extra money.

You don’t need to take a course or get a degree to learn how to be a waitress. If you enjoy people, are organized, enjoy a fast-paced work environment and love cash, this is the industry to get involved in.

Some girls think they’ll do this job for a few years and then move on to something else, while other girls end up enjoying the hours, the people and the money. They never leave the industry, like me, and turn into a career waitress. For most of my serving years, I’ve enjoyed working the nightshift so my daughter didn’t have to be raised by a babysitter and I was able to train my horses during the day. It was a bit of a crazy schedule for my husband and me, as our only day off together was Sunday for many years. Eventually, we both ended up with Sundays and Mondays as our days off together. Many of our friends and family were amazed our marriage was strong enough to withstand the crazy bar hours I worked.

Looking at our vast industry, you will see that servers are needed for many businesses. You’ll find servers in nightclubs, pubs, gentlemen’s clubs, beer gardens, piano bars, cruise ships, golf courses and casinos. Not only do waitresses serve alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, many serve pub food.

Important Pub Waitress Qualities

The amount of money a server makes depends on a few things. You have to have a talent for this type of work and it helps to be outgoing, quick thinking and have a lot of stamina.

You can’t be intimidated to go up to a table of people who make you uncomfortable. You may have a loudmouth in the group with his stuck-up girlfriend darting dirty looks at you. You have to stay on top of your game, take their orders and keep a smile on your face while you feel like kicking the loudmouth in the leg and dumping a plate of nachos in the lap of the stuck-up girlfriend.

Quick-thinking girls know how to handle vulgar comments while memorizing a table of food and drink orders while keeping a tidy and orderly room all at the same time.

The stamina comes in handy when the bar is full of people and you must keep running out with trays of drinks and plate after plate of food while returning back to the kitchen with a stack of empty dishes and not skipping a beat. You may be weaving and fighting your way through a crowd of people, while avoiding the drunks and keeping them from crashing into you. Sometimes there’s no stopping for a breather. You barely have a moment to sip some water and sometimes you have to wait a while before you have a minute to slip into the restroom.

Unorganized, shy people who get flustered easily don’t last long in this job.

Another advantage to serving is that since you deal with cash most of your shift, you will end up with collector’s coins and money from around the world. I have one hell of a big coin collection.

The Downside to Food Service in a Liquor Serving Establishment

As with everything, there are some disadvantages to this line of work. When you’re the new person, you will usually get the hours which are the shortest and during the slower times. When you come in for a shift and it’s not busy, you may have to wait until the room picks up. Sometimes it never does and during the dead nights you may not end up working at all. When you’re new, you will usually be given the section of the room that is perhaps smaller than and not as busy as the other servers’.

In this line of work, you will also encounter the unruly customer and the person who commands attention by either starting a fight or yelling. They may have been cut off in another bar and unfortunately ended up at yours. You’ll have to cut-off people if they’ve had too much to drink and babysit them until their safe ride shows up.

Non-tippers who expect you to wait on them all night long without compensating you with a tip are a few of the people who will make you cringe.

You’ll be looked upon as eye candy, especially if you’re very attractive or working in a strip bar. Believe me, there are days you won’t be in the mood for it but it comes with the job.

There is a reason why I like working in a room full of men as some women are difficult to deal with. The insecure jealous female is the worst. I’m there to work and make money, not pick up her man and take him home. I have my own at home that I am very happy with… thank you very much!

You have to be safe and aware of your surroundings as you leave the bar late at night while going out to your car. You don’t know who you will meet while serving during your shift. I’ve met my share of weirdos and the last thing I want is for some unstable nut following me home.

Another disadvantage is that you can get caught up in the drinking and socializing aspect of this job because it’s entertaining and fun. It’s very tempting and in the beginning, I got roped into it like many do.

There is no shame in being a career waitress. I can definitely say it has been a fun job I find very fulfilling and I wouldn’t trade it for another. I would suggest going to school and getting some sort of a degree while making money in this field because one day you’ll feel the pressure of not being the hot, young girl anymore. You really can’t be doing this job when you’re an old timer because it’s very demanding on your body. A big dilemma to being a career waitress is you may have trouble with banks since they only look at your wage and not include the tips you’ve earned to get a loan.

A Typical Shift

I suggest you arrive at work at least fifteen minutes early for your shift since this will give you enough time to change into your work clothes and proper footwear. This is the time to use the toilet if you need to and re-apply your lipstick. (If you think you may be a few minutes late, always call the bar and let them know but don’t get into the habit of running late very often).

I like to have my own float but most girls borrow theirs from the bartender. A float is money in bills and coin lent to a server to use as change and it’s paid back to the bar before the end of the shift. Every server seems to like a different float. Find out from your senior server or manager what your standard float is and start from there.

The standard float at our bar is a roll of nickels (two dollars), a roll of quarters (ten dollars), a roll of loonies (twenty five dollars), three loonies (three dollars) and four fives (twenty dollars). This equals sixty dollars. We don’t bother with dimes as they’re a waste of space on our tray and dealing with nickels is a lot easier anyways. You also don’t have to waste your time by counting and rolling up dimes at the end of your shift. If you borrow your float from the bar, write a note to yourself that you owe the bartender $60.00 (or whatever amount you borrow) for your float and slip it into your waitress box or apron. This way, if he forgets to collect from you, you would know beforehand and not go home at the end of your shift thinking you were $60.00 richer than you actually were. You would be expected to pay your float back next time you come in for a shift.

If you’ll be working in a pub, your customers will be sitting at a table drinking and usually eating as well. Not only will you be serving alcoholic