Cleverly Master Your Memory – The Proven Six Step Method to Memorizing Orders

Waiters and waitresses do have the luxury of not really having to participate it too much manual physical labor. Now that doesn’t mean it’s any easy job, oh it’s far from it my friends. For the little that is required in physical work we compensate by using our mental functionality to strive in our occupation. If you were to ask most of my acquaintances, they will gladly tell you how forgetful I am.  Now if you ask my guests, they will tell you I am some sort of memorization freak of nature.  Memorizing orders comes down to it being a skill rather than a talent.  Broken down to a fundamental level, a talent is something you are born with.  A skill is something you get better at through technique and practice.  I am an absent minded person who has trained himself to be highly proficient at memorizing orders.

When I begin my journey as a server and memorizing orders I was not taught a specific method.  No one has written a book on it and no technique is generally passed down and taught through training.  Even the waiters from all the different restaurants I’ve worked at that I have asked could not explain how they do it. They would use vague descriptions, crediting it to intuition. I wasn’t quite sold on this idea. My curiosity led me to wonder how I did it myself. Over the past few months I have been working on defining and breaking down my technique to a science.  Becoming fully conscious and aware while paying very close attention to what is happening in my head as I receive this information has allowed me to understand how I am able to achieve it.  Through this understanding, I think I have developed a method that can be duplicated by others with enough practice.

Without further ado: I present to you the trusted proven method

My Six Steps to Effectively Memorizing Orders:

Tension Prevention – Answer Questions:

In order to adequately memorize orders you must first place yourself in a mental state of mind where you are receptive to receive information.  If you are asked a question, you brain must shift back to providing information.  This transition can scramble everything you are putting in your brain and cause you to lose crucial essential details.  For this very reason, I personally make a trip to the table while they’re deciding what to choose to answer questions.  Approaching the table by saying, “Are there any questions over the menu I can go over for you?” allows for the customers to ask their questions in advance.  If they do have questions, you can answer them and then let them decide if they are all ready to order afterwards.  This technique alone will alleviate 90% of the questions they will normally ask during the time of them officially ordering.

Mentally Project and Envision the Plate:

When a customer orders something off the menu, I want you to picture the plate in your head with very immense detail.  As they modify the side items or the entrée, visualize that as well. Visualize the plate, the portion, the smell, as much senses you can incorporate as possible. The more senses involved with this visualization to more your brain will consciously remember the plate. This is incredibly effective if you are a visual learner.  It comes in very handy to experience seeing the entrees at your restaurant through a taste testing or just heading to the back to watch the expeditors’ ship out the plates of food to their tables. This is my primary method of memorization with the other steps serving as repetition.

Visualize the Menu:

For this one I will request for you to mark the spot on the menu from where your customers are ordering from in your head.  This is safeguard prevention against any distractions that may occur before completing the other steps.  If for any reason whatsoever you lose an order in your head, this will provide you with the ability to retrieve the mental picture.  This also allows you to keep straight any often confused items that can be found on separate places throughout  the menu.

Make Repetition a Tradition:

Now here is a strategy that will be greatly beneficial for the non-visual learners. This quite possibly can quickly become your primary method of action.  After the guest tells you their order, repeat it in your head multiple times. Now you have the order in their voice and in your mental voice. Make sure when you do use this technique that you use a clear mental voice to state it in the proper order for the computer and with the name you are familiar with.  If you’ve correctly have been using the steps that I’m showing you here then by this step you should have a mental picture of the plate and how you will order it on the computer, POS system, etc.  Don’t rush this process, if it makes you feel more comfortable, take a brief second before looking to the next guest to “lockdown” this information.

Repeat to Bring the Proper Treat:

This will be the step that will grant you the most positive feedback and has been proven to affect your tip percentage by a large amount. Make sure you no matter what, to repeat the order back to the guests.  This step serves three key purposes.  Firstly, it confirms their order in front of the entire table to prevent future problems from transpiring.  Secondly, it allows you to clarify in what order you will be delivering courses to provide a roadmap of the meal.  Thirdly, and personally the most amusing is that some guests seem to think it is the coolest trick on earth!  For tables that state it aloud or between one another while whispering that I have not been writing down the order, I will often skip the person who pointed it out.  This allows them the excitement of thinking they have me stumped, before I come back to them.  Showmanship will always be a plus to receiving more tips.  If the table is large and confirming would be time consuming and annoying, step back and mentally confirm to yourself from a distance.

Write it Down:

Now yes the tricks I’m showing you will have you looking like some type of memorization superman, but it’s not totally necessary. This following step may be the real secret to memorization.  These tricks that I’m sharing with you all have a limited lifespan in your brain.  Inevitably you will walk by a cook, or bartender shouting out orders and confusion will set in within your mind.  If for any reason you cannot ring your order right away, WRITE IT DOWN.  This is especially important if you work in a restaurant where you are responsible for properly pacing your own courses.  When you write it down, make sure to take the time to note all modifiers within the meal.  Failing to do so is the most common source of mistakes.

Your Take Action! 

Over the years I have used some of these methods independently. They have been shown to be trusted and true. The key is redundancy.  The more methods you use simultaneously, the more likely it is that one of them will make your new found habit stick.  Even if you have your own style, try blending in a couple of these steps to improve your outcomes.  Don’t be afraid to experiment, and see what works personally for you. While you are at it, why not share your any techniques for the other fellow servers in the comment section.  Did you give this method a try and want to talk about your results? Any questions that you didn’t quite understand?  The comment section is wide open for feedback, and we are more than happy to hear from you.

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