The primary purpose of a restaurant docket is to facilitate the accurate recording & communication of meal orders to the chef. Docket books possess numerous other functions that have scope to maximise the value orders, improve operational efficiencies & enhance the customers’ experience. Restaurant owners can unlock this value by providing some very basic training to staff. Listed below are some key features of our restaurant dockets & suggestions about how they can add value to businesses.
Up-selling: all of our restaurant dockets have a separate section for beverages. The word “Drinks” appears two-thirds the way down the page & can be used as a prompt for the server to request drink orders throughout the meal. The mark-up on beverages is high, so their repeated inclusion onto the bill can be very profitable for business owners.
Separate sections: as alluded to above, there are distinct sections for meal & beverage orders in our restaurant dockets. This makes it easier to navigate, & reduces the likelihood that bar staff will overlook a beverage order that is interspersed with meal items. The result: more efficient processing of orders.
Large numbers: there are large red numbers printed on the tear-off slip of our 006 takeaway docket books, which allows for fast & accurate order redemption. The numbers are printed upright to avoid confusion between numbers that look alike. Takeaway docket books are available in black print (on request) to enable servers to use multiple books simultaneously without the risk of duplicating numbers.
Prevention of pilferage: managers use restaurant dockets as a sales log or physical trail to reconcile the till balance at the end of each day. Our restaurant dockets are sequentially numbered so it’s easy to detect instances of employee impropriety. A restaurant docket can also be used as a tool to identify trends or possible areas of improvement e.g. it may be apparent that numerous orders for hot chips are being despatched without any saleable condiments – this might be an area to target for up-sells.
Correct meal service: it’s not uncommon to take a bite out of a meal, only to discover that you’ve received the wrong one. This is frustrating for patrons & demonstrates laziness, indifference or even incompetence on the part of wait staff & the restaurant. The proper use of a restaurant docket can avoid this situation. Meal orders should be recorded in clockwise order starting with the patron standing to the left of the server. If the server stands in same starting position each time, the restaurant docket becomes an infallible tool for the correct service of meals & beverages.
