🍸 TRL Weekly: Service > Hospitality

Your weekly lesson and tactical reminders inside.

February 09, 2025

Happy Sunday, future server/bartender millionaire.

In today’s lesson Brandon is teaching us why service is far more important than hospitality.

Our Last Three Lessons:

You can read the rest of the past weekly lessons here.

Today at a Glance:

  • Weekly Lesson: Service > Hospitality

  • Tactical Reminders: Your Video Lessons + Announcement

🍸 Weekly Lesson:
Service > Hospitality

Most service gurus will actually tell you that hospitality is so important.

They aren’t wrong, but what they fail to say is that service is actually far more important.

I will, of course, explain.

You have probably heard it before….

  • Service = The Things We Do

  • Hospitality = How We Make The Guest Feel

Making the guest feel good DOES not mean you can forget a diet coke, leave them waiting 5 minutes for their check and still expect them to come back.

You may, however, still get a good tip from being hospitable.

Ultimately, you need both!

But the way you deliver great service makes people feel warm more than your compliments and your funny jokes.

Anticipating their needs, keeping their table spotless, helping guide them through the menu, etc. These are all things that are SERVICE, but still make them feel great when you do it at a high level.

I’ll put it to you this way….. 

If I could only improve on one of the two things, it would be SERVICE.

The combination of both is a match made in heaven.

But… your jokes and your personality should never be at the forefront. It should be the ‘Cherry on TOP’.

You do all things service related PERFECTLY… and you make some jokes and compliments on top of that.

So what should you focus on?

Focus on keeping your tables SPOTLESS.

Focus on memorizing the menu so you could answer every single question with a 8-12 word concise response that actually helps the guest.

Focus on anticipating the guest’s needs—bring napkins right before they run out, bring more water when they are ⅓ of the way full, etc.

Focus on being in your section every 90 seconds and making brief eye contact with your tables so they feel comfortable asking for something WITHOUT feeling annoyed that you are hovering or annoyingly checking in too much.

Focus on greeting the table as soon as they sit.

Focus on closing out tabs within 2 minutes because the guest might have places to be!

Focus on SERVICE!

🚀 Tactical Reminders:

  1. Brandon - Stop Rushing! -

    Video Lesson: Click here.

  2. Amanda - Stop saying this! -

    Video Lesson: Click here.

  3. Jess Best Video EVER - Service > Hospitality -

    Video Lesson: Click here.

That’s all for week forty two.

See you next week,

The Restaurant Launch Team