Learning the Menu
Learning your menu in detail will save you from having to run back to the kitchen every time your table has a special request. Also, it will help you to suggest and recommend things that you think your tables will like. I usually have it half memorized by the time I go in for my interview, but that's just me. Over time, I have trained a lot of people and I have had to memorize a lot of menus. Believe me, I know studying every detail of a food menu isn't exactly exciting, so here are some suggestions to help you learn it faster.
The trick to learning a food menu is to look at it as a whole. Break everything down into categories and see how everything fits together. Almost every full service, casual restaurant in America has the same categories of food. 99.9% of these restaurants will have their food menu listed roughly into the following categories: soups, salads, appetizers, sandwiches, entrees, deserts, and a kids menu.
Restaurants keep their food costs down by using the same ingredients throughout their menu. If you look for the similar dishes throughout the menu, it won't seem as big. Also try to separate everything into categories like vegetarian, seafood, chicken, beef, spicy, healthy and/or light, heavy and/or filling, and high carb/low carb. This will help you instantly cater towards any guest's needs.
Soup has its own crowd, so you probably won't really be pushing it, all you really need to know is which ones are vegetarian. Most places have a chili, a french onion, a seafood gumbo, or a vegetable stew, and then a soup of the day. The good ol' soup du jour is usually more like the soup of the week and is made up of the stuff the kitchen is trying to get rid of.
Most restaurants have a couple of side salads, usually a caesar and a house salad with a vinaigrette or dressing choice. Other than that you will probably have an assortment of "entree salads". The caesar is always the most popular salad. Find out how they make this dressing and whether or not it has anchovies in it. Find out if dressing comes on the side or already mixed in.
Appetizers are the most important category to learn well. You will greatly increase your earnings if you learn to make your appetizers sound good. Most people walk into a restaurant with a general idea of what they are going to eat, but very few really think about whether or not they are going to get appetizers for the table. Make sure you have a good one to pitch for each of the "categories". Most restaurants have a specific appetizer that they are trying to promote. Learn this one in detail and sell the hell out of it, even if you think something else is better. Your restaurant will like it if you sell what they're pushing.
Sandwiches and Entrees vary quite a bit from restaurant to restaurant, so I won't get into details, but here are a few things you'll want to make sure you know. Find out what is spicy, what is popular, what is vegetarian, where your meat and seafood comes from, and how you can accommodate the growing number of people with a gluten allergy. Learn how long everything takes to make, what's the most filling, and what sort of side substitutions are possible. Look for dishes that are filling, high-cost, and come out quickly, then tell everyone those are your favorites and/or the most popular.
Find out which items get sent back the most, so you can steer your tables away from them until the restaurant can get the problems resolved. Ask the other servers or your trainer a lot of questions about what you're allowed to substitute for what. I don't recommend asking the kitchen, as they'll probably think this means you're going to bury them with food modifications.
One last thing, food is a sensuous product, you can't really "know" it until you look at it, touch it, and taste it. Ask the guys in the kitchen if they'd mind making you some little samples of the main sauces. You might be surprised to find something was spicier or tastier than you had expected. Learning a food menu is different than learning something in school, so don't stay up all night flipping through flash cards, get in the kitchen, look around, and taste everything.
The trick to learning a food menu is to look at it as a whole. Break everything down into categories and see how everything fits together. Almost every full service, casual restaurant in America has the same categories of food. 99.9% of these restaurants will have their food menu listed roughly into the following categories: soups, salads, appetizers, sandwiches, entrees, deserts, and a kids menu.
Restaurants keep their food costs down by using the same ingredients throughout their menu. If you look for the similar dishes throughout the menu, it won't seem as big. Also try to separate everything into categories like vegetarian, seafood, chicken, beef, spicy, healthy and/or light, heavy and/or filling, and high carb/low carb. This will help you instantly cater towards any guest's needs.
Soup has its own crowd, so you probably won't really be pushing it, all you really need to know is which ones are vegetarian. Most places have a chili, a french onion, a seafood gumbo, or a vegetable stew, and then a soup of the day. The good ol' soup du jour is usually more like the soup of the week and is made up of the stuff the kitchen is trying to get rid of.
Most restaurants have a couple of side salads, usually a caesar and a house salad with a vinaigrette or dressing choice. Other than that you will probably have an assortment of "entree salads". The caesar is always the most popular salad. Find out how they make this dressing and whether or not it has anchovies in it. Find out if dressing comes on the side or already mixed in.
Appetizers are the most important category to learn well. You will greatly increase your earnings if you learn to make your appetizers sound good. Most people walk into a restaurant with a general idea of what they are going to eat, but very few really think about whether or not they are going to get appetizers for the table. Make sure you have a good one to pitch for each of the "categories". Most restaurants have a specific appetizer that they are trying to promote. Learn this one in detail and sell the hell out of it, even if you think something else is better. Your restaurant will like it if you sell what they're pushing.
Sandwiches and Entrees vary quite a bit from restaurant to restaurant, so I won't get into details, but here are a few things you'll want to make sure you know. Find out what is spicy, what is popular, what is vegetarian, where your meat and seafood comes from, and how you can accommodate the growing number of people with a gluten allergy. Learn how long everything takes to make, what's the most filling, and what sort of side substitutions are possible. Look for dishes that are filling, high-cost, and come out quickly, then tell everyone those are your favorites and/or the most popular.
Find out which items get sent back the most, so you can steer your tables away from them until the restaurant can get the problems resolved. Ask the other servers or your trainer a lot of questions about what you're allowed to substitute for what. I don't recommend asking the kitchen, as they'll probably think this means you're going to bury them with food modifications.
One last thing, food is a sensuous product, you can't really "know" it until you look at it, touch it, and taste it. Ask the guys in the kitchen if they'd mind making you some little samples of the main sauces. You might be surprised to find something was spicier or tastier than you had expected. Learning a food menu is different than learning something in school, so don't stay up all night flipping through flash cards, get in the kitchen, look around, and taste everything.