Five Service Tips from Hospitality Pros

These days, finding long-term success is all about getting back to great hospitality and service, especially if you want to attract and retain younger diners. After all, a recent report from research firm Technomic found that Gen Z'ers dine out often, with 74% visiting restaurants at least once per week. They’re even surpassing millennials – 73% of whom dine out once a week – as the most frequent restaurant-goers.

We caught up with Kevin Boehm, co-founder, Boka Restaurant Group, Chicago, the 2019 James Beard Foundation Outstanding Restaurateur; and Jeanie Janas Ritter, co-owner and hospitality director, Bûcheron, Minneapolis (the 2025 James Beard Best New Restaurant), for their top tips to improve your service.

Top 5 Hospitality Tips

1. Pump up your service team with a great pre-shift.

KB: People underestimate the power of a good pre-shift. The idea of a pre-shift is to get everyone energized and inspired, so they have all the tools they need to give great service. If you have a monotone delivery and just rattle off the number of covers for the night, that’s boring. I like to change things up – hold it in different places like outside or at the bar, sometimes standing, sometimes sitting – and take the opportunity to tell stories. Sometimes I’ll use the Socratic method and quiz people about the menu randomly. It’s good to keep everyone guessing, so we all stay on our toes.

2. Keep good notes on your customers.

JJR: We use our reservation system to add notes about our customers to their profile. Guest profiles are super important to us, because we talk about them during pre-shift every day – who’s coming in, are there any allergies, accessibility needs, celebrations – and that helps the team start to recognize names and bring stories, and it becomes a game. We had a couple who comes every month. They were celebrating their anniversary and I knew they were going to Ireland, so I added to the notes: ‘Ask them about Ireland.’ So when they came back, it was, ‘Hey, welcome back! How was Ireland?’

3. Coach genuine connections (and read the room).
JJR: We train servers on simple conversation starters – “Are you celebrating tonight? Are you local or visiting?” – because the goal is to make a real connection, not just transact. At the same time, we coach them to read the guest: if a table isn’t into chatting, pull back and focus on crisp service. And if it’s not clicking, we encourage them to ask for backup by sending out a GM to feel it out.

4. Protect service by preventing burnout. 
JJR: From management, transparency matters. If someone looks burned out, we address it – conversation first, support second. We encourage time off and run four 10-hour shifts instead of five days, so most of the team gets three days off. Some staff are artists or have other pursuits; flexible, unconventional schedules keep them balanced and at their best in service.

5. Lead from the top.

JJR: Great hospitality starts from the top. We’re on the floor every night – talking to guests, clearing tables, doing whatever needs to be done. You can’t preach hospitality from an office. Your team learns to care when they see that you care. It really just comes down to giving a sh%t.