Jeremy White
Editor-in-Chief
Pizza Today

If you offer dine-in, you already know that the servers you employ are brand ambassadors that completely make or break the experience your customers have within your four walls. No matter how great the food and ambiance happen to be, a bad experience with an employee who serves up a side of attitude with the pizza will keep customers from coming back.

But most servers realize being rude to guests won’t get them very far. Considering the way the inner machinations of the service industry work, it’s clearly in the best financial interest of servers everywhere to smile and be both polite and accommodating. Still, even those who do that may pick up some annoying habits and get under the collective skin of customers.

For example, one thing I personally don’t like is when a server delivers the check along with my entrée. For starters, I have a sweet tooth and will probably want dessert. Secondly, that makes me feel rushed. Customers don’t want to feel rushed.

Then there’s the other side of the coin: Sometimes my family is finished with its meal and spends what seems like an eternity waiting on the tab so that we can settle up and get on about our business.

We take a look at some annoying server habits that just might make your guests wish they’d dined elsewhere. Hopefully these issues don’t exist in your pizzeria. But if they do, get on fixing them now.

In this issue we also explore pasta and a classic New Jersey staple (tomato pies). With Spring’s arrival, it’s time to freshen up the menu a bit.

As I write this column, we’re just a little over a week away from heading to Las Vegas for the complete madness that is International Pizza Expo. Look for a full recap of the show in next month’s edition!

Best,

Jeremy White, Editor-in-chief
[email protected]