Keeping guests entertained while dem wait: how fi do it inna yuh restaurant

Between taking di order and di moment di plate reach di table, most places tek between ten and twenty minutes. Pon a quiet Tuesday, nobody notice. Pon a full Saturday night, or wid a table of two impatient pickney, dat quarter-hour decide how di rest of di evening feel.

The annoying thing is that as a business owner, you can do little about it. The kitchen doesn't work faster just because it's busy. What you do have control over is what a guest has to do during that time. And in practice, that makes more difference than the waiting time itself.

Why waiting feel longer dan it is

Research pon queues consistently show di same ting: unoccupied time feel longer dan occupied time. Someone waiting ten minutes wid nutten fi do consistently overestimate dat time. Someone wid something fi do inna dem same ten minutes estimate it as shorter dan it actually was.

Fi a restaurant dat mean something practical. Yuh nuh haffi shorten di wait fi mek it feel shorter. Yuh just haffi fill it.

Deh one more ting inna play. Waiting at di start of a visit weigh heavier dan waiting inna di middle. Someone who just sit dung nuh have no reason yet fi think everything a-go work out fine; someone who already finish an appetizer wait wid confidence. Dat a exactly why an amuse-bouche or a piece a bread work so well: a nuh di food dat help, a di signal dat something a happen.

Di three moments weh it usually go wrong

Inna practice, almost every complaint about waiting come from one a dese three:

1. Between sitting dung and taking di order. Di shortest gap, but it weigh di heaviest, cah dis a weh di guest form dem first opinion.
2. Between ordering and di first course. Di longest gap and di only one weh di guest really have nutten fi do.
3. Between clearing di main course and di bill. Commercially di most valuable moment, and at di same time di quietest.

Dis article deal wid di second gap, but keep di third one inna mind: dat a weh money get made or nuh made. More pon dat inna di article about revenue per table.

Di first impression of a visit often sit more inna di first ten minutes dan inna di first plate.

Six ways weh work inna practice

1. Something pon di table dat do something right away

A little dish of olives, a piece a bread, an amuse-bouche from di house. Small, cheap, and it turn di waiting moment into di start of di meal. It work mostly because it a a signal: yuh nuh forget bout dem.

2. A colouring page or puzzle book fi pickney

Di classic, and fi good reason. Di downside everybody who do it know: crayons get lost, paper end up pon di floor, and yuh haffi keep restocking it. Reckon pon five to ten minutes attention per pickney.

3. Table games through a QR code

Di version wid no material lying around. Every table get dem own QR code; di guest scan wid dem own phone and play right inna di browser, no app needed. A game tek two to five minutes, exactly di length of di gap yuh waan fill. Wid TablePlay, guests can play alone, together pon one phone, or go up against another table inna di place. Check out all di games available.

4. Start a conversation instead of asking a question

"Everything alright?" always just get yuh "yeah, fine." "Yuh ever been here before?" or "is dis a special occasion?" get yuh a conversation, and a conversation mek di wait feel shorter widout costing anything.

5. Give dem something fi look at

An open kitchen, a wood-fired oven, a display case wid today's fish. Someone wid something fi watch nuh get bored. Dis a di most expensive solution outta di six, but also di only one dat work permanently.

6. Be honest bout di wait time

"It a tek bout twenty minutes today" do more dan yuh think. Uncertainty bout how long something a-go tek weigh heavier dan di actual duration. A guest who know wah fi expect wait more calmly.

It different fi every type a place

Restaurant wid a kitchen dat run pon time

Here, di wait time predictable: ten to twenty minutes, every evening again. Dis a di easiest situation fi fill, cah yuh know exactly how much time yuh need fi cover. Pick something dat can finish inna dat time, so it nuh get cut off halfway when di food come.

Café weh people stay long

At a café, it nuh bout a gap between two courses, it bout di whole evening. Here, something dat can repeat and have a bit a competition inna it work best. Table against table or a regular quiz night fit better dan a short puzzle.

Place wid lots a families

Di wait feel heaviest here, cah pickney have a shorter attention span dan di kitchen have speed. Wah matter here a variety: something dat still feel different after di third time. See also wah parents really look fah inna a restaurant.

Hotel or holiday park

Guests here often stay multiple nights inna row, and dat change di requirement: wah fun pon night one haffi still work pon night three. Repetition a di trap. See di page fi hotels.

Wah it bring

Filling di wait time nuh a goal pon itself. It bout wah happen after:

• Guests stay longer, and someone who stay longer more likely fi order something else.
• Di rating of di visit go up widout anything changing bout di food.
• Staff get breathing room: less impatience at di table mean fewer interruptions during di rush.
• Families more likely fi come back to a place weh di pickney did enjoy demself.

How yuh know if it a work

Di temptation strong fi judge dis by feel, and feel a unreliable here: a busy evening always feel good. Four numbers can tell yuh something, as long as yuh compare di same days a di week wid each other.

1. Di average spend per table, broken dung by day a di week.
2. Di share of tables dat order something else after di main course.
3. Di average time a table a occupied. Longer a good here, as long as yuh nuh have a queue at di door.
4. Di number a reviews per week and wah dem mention.

Two weeks a enough fi see something. If nutten move, den it nuh a yuh solution and it cost yuh nutten more fi stop.

Wah yuh better nuh do

Two things always come back fi places dat try it and then stop. Di first a material yuh haffi keep restocking yuhself: game boxes wid missing pieces, broken crayons, cards weh nuh complete no more. Di second a something dat tek too long. A forty-minute board game nuh fit inna a fifteen-minute gap.

Keep it under five minutes, and mek sure yuh nuh haffi set up nutten fi it yuhself.

Weh fi start

Pick one ting and do it consistently, instead a three things halfway. If it nuh work, yuh will know widin two weeks. If it work, yuh will notice it inna di orders after di main course and inna wah guests write inna dem reviews.

If yuh waan see wah table games cost fi a place yuh size, check out di prices. Fi restaurants specifically, deh a separate page pon how it work out fi a restaurant.