Operations, marketing and menu consulting.

Most restaurateurs at some point have instructed servers and bartenders to take a more active role in the success of the restaurant and to up-sell guests. If not done carefully, diners can be turned off—yours truly included.

On a recent consulting trip to San Antonio Texas, an associate and I set out to visit local restaurants, looking for good servers to staff a new restaurant. We stopped in a busy Mexican restaurant on the River Walk. Our young, sharply dressed server promptly introduced himself as Javier. We took note of our young server’s professionalism.

Soon after ordering a combination of starters and entrées from the menu, we observed a cart getting wheeled into the dining room. Javier came back to explain this tableside guacamole service. We asked him to cancel our salads and replace them with two tableside orders of guacamole at $8 per person.

Javier rolled the cart over and personally made two servings of guacamole. We were quite impressed with the service and the very tasty guacamole. When our combination dinner arrived, there was a large portion of guacamole included. Were we victims of an exuberant server up-selling? My associate and I declared him guilty as charged and called him over for some grilling.

In response, our young server replied, “Sir, each morning two prep guys come in and peel two sacks of avocados. They throw them into a large pot, smash them and add a few spices. What you see here on your plate is the guacamole made to please the majority of diners we serve at our restaurant. The guacamole I made for you, however, was made from right here!” Pointing to his heart.

Just when we thought we had busted our server, he taught us a valuable lesson—up-selling is an art form. On our way out we ended up asking him if he would consider joining our team. We should all take a lesson from Javier!