No single topic addressed in this blog is more fundamental to being a successful server than budgeting. This is the cause of a majority of issues servers have and the primary reason so many servers leave the business. Nothing can make a shift harder than needing to make money. Anxiety, stress, frustration, and most other […]
Tag Archives | Waiter
The Rules: Rules 1-10
If I were not a server, I think I would make a good scientist. My approach to serving is very similar to scientists testing new theories. I form hypothesis and experiment to see if it can be proves true or false. Everything I write about here has been tested on thousands of guests and over […]
Five Simple Tricks
Sometimes you catch a coworker doing something so brilliant that it makes you wonder why you had not thought of it first. Even after 15 years, I still see things that would have saved me hours of time if I knew them sooner. Being willing to adopt better practices and form new habits is the […]
Foodie Friday: Beef Made Easy (Part One)
Even some great servers have trouble explaining steak cuts. There are so many terms used to describe beef that it almost becomes a case of contrived complexity. Some terms are legitimate government sponsored grades while cattle ranchers create others as a marketing tool. For a food that many of us eat for nearly every meal, […]
I Make A Mean Cherry Limeade
If my tombstone was written by coworkers, guests, or bartenders it would read, “Here lies Dave, he made a mean cherry limeade.â€Â I have declared this to every table I have served in the last three years. When you order a cherry limeade at my restaurant, the chit prints up at the bar with simply […]

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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.