I have worked for a number of companies and managers over the years who repeated a similar mantra: ‘Running hot food from the window is the top priority.’ This is often echoed by managers, kitchen staff, and expediters. It has been emphasized so frequently that it’s generally accepted as fact. While this is an important […]
About David Hayden
Author Archive | David Hayden
Avoiding The Write-Up
 Today, I want to share a feat that I quite frankly feel is remarkable. I don’t want to sound as if I am bragging, but this is something that might be worth it. I work for a corporately owned restaurant and have for nearly four years. This means that I have an employee file […]
Reasons to be Optimistic
Last night I had a long conversation with my girlfriend after work. It had been a pretty disappointing shift to wrap up a pretty disappointing double to finish off a pretty disappointing weekend. I had a call party not show up. A 17 top I was supposed to split became a 6 top. The 6 […]
Another Five Simple Tricks- Sidework
Five tricks to make your sidework easier. I haven’t written one of these posts in a while. The first and second versions of this recurring feature were very popular. In defeating the case of writer’s block I seem to have shaken today, I decided to write another set of these tricks to make your jobs as […]
Bringing It All Together
In the time that I have been writing this blog, I have provided a large number of tips on sales and describing food. Each of the individual posts provides tools and guidelines to help you sell the food most likely to create happy and returning guests. Used individually these techniques can help you increase the […]
About The Author
David Hayden was born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri. He took his first serving job in 1996. Since that time, he has worked for over a dozen different restaurant companies. He has held both hourly and salaried positions at independent and corporate restaurants. He has waited on over 100,000 guests and trained hundreds of servers. He has been named "Best Server in Kansas City" the last three years by the local weekly paper.