“They left me 15% and I didn’t even charge them for their drinks” –Rookie Server One of the fundamental truths you learn as a server is that hooking someone up with free drinks, food, etc. does not increase your tip. No matter how fundamental of a truth this is, it seems that every server has […]
Welcome To Tips Squared
Tips Squared was created to teach professional restaurant servers tips, tricks, and techniques that will help them improve the service they provide and increase the tips they receive. This is not the same tired advice you find in corporate restaurant training manuals. Instead, this is a site for servers written by a server. The skills discussed on this site are tested in the front of the house and represent the lessons learned over nearly two decades as a restaurant server.
Tips Squared also discusses life as a server. There are unique challenges that accompany working in the restaurant industry. Those challenges are addressed on this site as well as information to help you protect your physical health, personal safety, and legal rights. This is the knowledge you need to begin to make the most of every shift.
Tips Squared is one part of a larger network of websites known as The Hospitality Formula Network. Other sites in the network include The Manager’s Office, Foodie Knowledge, Restaurant Marketing Plan, and Restaurant Laughs. All of these sites are written by David Hayden. Mr. Hayden is a professional restaurant server, consultant, and author. In 2011, he released his first book, Tips2: Tips For Improving Your Tips, as a comprehensive training manual for restaurant servers. He received the awards for “Best Server in Kansas City” in 2010, 2011, and 2012. His goal is to help servers of all experience levels improve their tips, income, and quality of life.
Most Recent Post From Tips Squared
Serving The Conventioneer
All of these people are really thinking about where to eat dinner. After all the years I have spent in this business, I thought I had encountered most every type of guest. Working for over 13 companies in restaurants around the country had left me confident of this. My current job proved me wrong. My […]
Even More Simple Tricks For Server
After returning from a brief vacation to visit the best Columbia, MO dentist I know and documenting the Jardines mess, it is time to get things back to normal. This is the fourth installment of the “simple tricks for servers” series. If you missed the others, check out parts one, two, and three. These […]
Ten Bad Server Habits To Break
I spend a fair amount of time on the sister site of this blog discussing guest behaviors that annoy servers. I am sometimes a guest as well. On the occasions when I take my tips and spend them at a restaurant, I expect quality service. While I tend to not critique servers, there are definitely […]
Is A Service Charge A Gratuity?
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Why Your Non-Slip Shoes Matter
I had a conversation last night with some former servers about the “serving lifestyle.” They fondly recalled sleeping until noon and closing down the late night bars. Those are some of the more glamorous parts of being a server. The part people don’t often fondly recall is being uninsured and any injury being catastrophic. If you cannot work, you […]
How To Fold A Napkin
The “how to” series continues this week with a lesson on how to fold a napkin. I will start with the standard triangle “stand up” fold and then the more interesting “pouch” fold. This may be very remedial to some, but most restaurants in America still use the standard “roll up.” For the benefit of […]
It Is Time To Act
Yesterday, I took a moment to give thanks to a number of people in the Kansas City restaurant community I am incredibly grateful for. Today, I feel there is an issue in this community that I can no longer ignore. Last week we suffered a tremendous loss as a community when one of our brightest […]
How to Carry Three Plates
In continuing the “how to” series on this blog, we are turning from glasses to how to carry three plates. Carrying three plates in one hand is one of the first tricks many servers are required to learn. You can always spot a new server as they carefully walk through the dining room with two […]
My New Slip-Resistant Shoes
I make no secret of the fact that I will endorse fully products that I feel help me be more effective as a server. In the past I have written about my favorite wine key, money clip, and slip-resistant shoes. So when a fellow server on Twitter was asking for a recommendation on some […]
How To Carry Three Glasses In One Hand
One of the first serving tricks that most servers learn is how to carry two glasses in one hand. This is a basic skill of serving and will save many unnecessary trips if you work in a restaurant that discourages trays. The shortcoming is that you are still limited to carrying three glasses at once. […]
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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.