Clear Finished Plates At The Proper Time

Recently, a chef called me on the telephone and posed a question: "When is the correct time to remove a plate after a customer is finished eating?"

The chef who asked me this question had been sitting at the bar observing the restaurant dining room service on his off hours. There were three people at the table; one customer had completely finished a plate of food while the other two customers were still eating their plates of food.

The chef felt that the "one finished plate" should have been cleared immediately by one of the bussers or waitstaff.

His inquiry was another simple restaurant dining room
service question (quite legitimate) that may actually have more
than one answer. It all depends on the restaurant's "level of service",
the "situation at the hand," and/or what the customer desires "at the moment."

Certainly in any restaurant service situation, before clearing a
plate, the staffer obviously must wait until the customer is completely finished
eating from his/her plate. Whether it is an empty plate in front of the customer, or
if the customer has placed the knife and fork side by side in the middle of the plate,
or if the customer hasn't touched any food in 20 minutes, the staffer must make the
proper decision to clear the plate or not.

But to really answer this question in full detail, I had to ask some
preliminary questions of my own, as consultants often do, especially about
the desired level of service in the restaurant such as:

Were there tablecloths covering the tables?
Was the floor completely rugged?
What are some of the expensive items on the menu?
Was the table crumbed after each course or at least after the entrée course?

After receiving some answers, I concluded that, yes, it was a
fine dining restaurant. Therefore, my immediate answer to the chef's
question was for the staff to wait until all of the customers at the
table were completely finished eating; then start the process of clearing.
This is the "book" rule.

In most cases for a fine dining restaurant, if the one plate only
was cleared while the other two customers were still eating, all three
customers probably would have been offended thinking they are being rushed out.

Though, a few more points must be added to this answer.

What about the "situation at hand?"
What about the customer needs "at the moment?"

What if the customer had a train to catch and wanted to leave the
restaurant quickly before the other two parties?
What if the customer asked to have that plate cleared?
What if the customer, who had finished eating first, placed a credit card
on the table requesting to pay and leave the restaurant quickly?

The answers to these questions may actually warrant the
act of clearing that "one finished plate" immediately.

A big empty plate may get in the way of the customer signing the
credit card receipt or counting out the correct amount of cash to pay the check.
Even worse, the customer's sleeve may get stained with an accidental sideswipe of a soiled plate.

In these unexpected type of situations, "by using dining room common sense,"
the staffer can politely ask the customer: "May I remove your plate?"

Then, there is the casual dining restaurant service situation,
where the plates are enormous and sometimes way too big for the tables.
The process of removing the plates ahead of time may be the norm with no
other way to get the clearing job done before these big entrée courses arrive.

My main point is that there are always "standard rules of restaurant
dining room service." But always, the servers and bussers must use
"common sense at the moment" to get the job done safely, cleanly and efficiently.

Again, one must always politely ask before removing a plate as
nothing could be ruder than trying to clear a plate while the
customer is still enjoying their meal.

The above situation is the "gray area" of customer service which should
be taken very seriously and discussed in every restaurant staff training class.

Since restaurants are essentially a people business, there are truly
an infinite number of situations that can occur. The trick is to
anticipate the customer's needs and then pro-act in the hope that the end
result will be a pleased and satisfied customer.


Richard Saporito is the founder of Topserve Restaurant Consulting.
He has over 30 years of restaurant service experience in many profitable
New York City establishments. Discover how to improve dining room service
and increase your restaurant's business by visiting Improve Dining Room Service.
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