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The art of upselling in restaurants is a delicate balancing act. You must know how to sell but you can’t be pushy or aggressive about it. If you take the wrong approach, you can lose out on the extra sale and your tip.
You might also alienate the customer, preventing them from coming back. That’s especially hurtful if they’re regulars!
If your upselling game could use some work, you can’t miss my guidance about How to Upsell as a Server. I’ll share some great restaurant upselling examples, server upselling techniques, and benefits. Get ready to impress your boss with your skills!
Quick Recap: What Is Upselling in a Restaurant?
Upselling is a sales technique where you motivate the customer to increase their original order, either by volume or by adding extra items.
I’ll share more restaurant examples later, but I can’t resist this classic. If a customer at a fast-food burger joint upgrades the size of their meal, going from a medium fries and drink to an XL fries and drink with their burger, that’s upselling.
Here’s another classic example. If a customer buys a camera, but you convince them to purchase camera accessories, like a carrying case or ND filters, congrats, you’re upselling.
How to Upsell as a Server: Here’s How It’s Done
Suggest a Supersize
The first technique for upselling is excellent for servers in the restaurant biz, as you have so many opportunities to use it. It’s supersizing.
This is the medium-to-XL fries and drink example from before. By selling a customer on a larger volume of food, your restaurant brings in more money. You could also collect a more substantial tip.
Push Dessert
According to Statista data, most restaurant diners “rarely” order dessert in the United States. Although the data is old (it’s from 2016), this isn’t a trend that has changed much over the years.
While desserts aren’t the most expensive menu items, they can add an additional $5 to $20 to the order per person depending on the extent of your dessert menu and how upscale the establishment is.
Upselling dessert is a great way to pad each restaurant order. You might offer dessert and coffee or tea, this way everyone can have what they want whether they have a sweet tooth or not.
Encourage Extra Sides
What is a meal without sides? When customers place their order with you, talk up the sides on the menu, explaining each one and what dish it goes well with. Your restaurant can consider offering a discount on additional sides or even a free side with the purchase of one.
Upsell Drinks
This upsell can gain a lot of mileage if you can convince customers to purchase alcohol.
So, how to upsell wine in a restaurant? You have several strategies at your disposal, such as:
- Prioritize building a collection of rare wines. This will motivate customers who might usually decline to try the wine because they know they won’t be able to find it elsewhere.
- Provide a variety of wines, like reds, whites, roses, and dessert wines that pair with appetizers, main courses, and treats on your menu.
- Rather than upsell a whole bottle, try selling a customer half a glass, then upsell that to a full glass.
- Ensure the wine is available at differing price points. Customers will feel more comfortable buying wine if they can afford it with the rest of their meal.
Examples of Upselling in Restaurants
You’ve got some great techniques under your belt, now it’s time to put them to work! Here are some upselling examples with a restaurant upselling script you can use.
The Special
Get your audience excited about your daily specials early on after you seat them. After handing out menus and allowing them several minutes to peruse them, you might come back to take drink orders and say, “can I tell you about our specials today?”
If the customers are interested, you can go into detail about the day’s specials, whether fresh-caught salmon, creamy risotto, or juicy filet mignon. As you explain, use evocative language, especially since specials have no photos on the menu.
Your description could be enough to sell a customer or several.
The Side Dish
After delivering drinks and appetizers (if your customers ordered them) and before taking orders, you might ask, “did you take a look at our sides on the menu?”
Explain the benefits of ordering sides with a main course. You can say something to the extent of, “We’re currently running a promotion where you can supersize your side” or “Our current deal lets you get a second side free after ordering one. Let me know if there’s something you’d like.”
The Fancy Drink
How do you convince someone sipping on water to order pricier drinks? It goes back to having a varied menu, but you also need upskilling chops.
Here is a restaurant upselling script to use as you hand out the menu (consider a separate drink menu if your beverages list is that extensive). “Please take a look at our selection of beverages and let me know if you have any questions. We have a large assortment of fine wines, including some rare varieties.”
Let the words hang in the air, as hearing “rare” should make some customers jump.
The Dessert
As the meal draws to a close, you’re not finished upselling yet. You have one more opportunity to sell to a customer, and it’s during dessert. Hand out the dessert menus, then say something like this.
“I’ve tried all our desserts and they are so delicious. My favorite is the [name], but I also really like the [name] and [name]. Can I interest you in anything? Maybe coffee or tea? I’m happy to pack that dessert to go.”
Importance of Upselling in Restaurants
While you might not upsell every table you wait, you should prioritize upselling at least a few customers daily (with a goal to steadily increase the amount), to reap the most benefits for the restaurant.
Increases Revenue
Let’s get the obvious one out of the way first. Upselling allows the restaurant to charge even more for a dish, increasing profit. If even 25 percent of customers agree to an upselling proposition, that’s a good deal more revenue, even after you take out costs for taxes, payroll, and other fees.
Helps Customers Explore More Menu Items
Upselling isn’t all about money, money, money. It’s also about helping customers find the ideal dishes for them. There’s an element of personalization based on what you know about the customer, whether this is the first time you’re seeing them or they’re regulars.
You listen to their preferences and tastes, then recommend them menu items and drink pairings you know should satisfy their taste buds.
When customers have an excellent experience, they’re more likely to come back. They might even ask for you specifically to serve them if they like your suggestions that much.
Makes You More Persuasive
Persuasiveness is one of the greatest skills you can have. Someone who’s adept at sales knows how to be subtle about it. They have an influence over others that naturally guides the person toward making the decision the salesperson wanted.
It takes time to learn persuasion, but once you do, you can use its power all the time. It won’t only be useful at work but in your personal life.
Tips for Restaurant Upselling
Check out this collection of restaurant upselling tips before your next shift. They’ll help you confidently move forward with a deal.
Don’t Go in for a Cold Sales Pitch
The first words out of your mouth can’t be related to selling. Introduce yourself, get to know your customers, and have a bit of back and forth. You don’t need to sell them right away anyway, as you should give them time to look over the menu first.
Know When to Leave Well Enough Alone
If you offer an upsell and the customer turns it down, you might ask them one more time if they’re interested, but that’s all you get. Respect their wishes if they’re disinterested, and don’t keep pushing the matter.
No sale is worth losing a customer over. The amount you can earn on the upsell can’t make up for the customer’s lifetime value.
Be Passionate
Although I shared restaurant upselling scripts, you shouldn’t read them word for word. That can come across as robotic and rehearsed. Instead, use the scripts to figure out the gist of what you want to say, then proceed from there.
Get excited about your suggestions as you share them. They’re coming from you, after all, so why shouldn’t you be jazzed? That enthusiasm is contagious and will rub off on your customers.
Use Your Personal Recommendations
If you haven’t yet sat down and tried everything on the restaurant’s menu, change that before you begin upselling customers. The recommendations you make will be more authentic if you’ve tried the dishes.
You can explain what you like about the food specifically and answer questions customers have, like how spicy is spicy, for example.
Provide Samples
Do you ever visit a grocery store that offers free samples? Those areas are usually mobbed, and it’s not only because people want free food.
Trying food samples is an excellent way for a customer to decide right then and there whether they like the item or if they want to sample something else. You might allow one free sample of four or five menu items for each person, as well as a small drink flight per customer.
Offer To-Go Boxes
Sometimes, it’s not that a customer doesn’t want to add a side or dessert. They simply don’t have room in their stomach. Offering to send the order out in a box is a genius upselling strategy. This way, your customers can quite literally have their cake and eat it too.
Receive Training
Your boss should teach you the art of upselling along with your fellow waiters, waitresses, dishwashers, and bar staff, complete with examples, scripts, and even videos of scenarios you might encounter on the job.
Without the right training, the level of success you and your staff will have with upselling will vary, and by no fault of your own.
Make It a Game
You’re going to feel amazing the first time you upsell a customer. That endorphin rush will be with you all day. However, the novelty wears off eventually, and selling successfully might not mean that much to you with time.
Gamifying upselling is a great way to reinvigorate and freshen up the experience. Compete with your fellow wait staff to determine who can sell the most. Perhaps the biggest seller wins a prize at the end of the month.
Wrapping Up about How to Upsell as a Server
Upselling in restaurants is an art, and a fine art at that. You must be subtle yet effective, persuasive yet not forceful, and convincing but not fake. Knowing the menu like the back of your hand after trying all the items will help you make more enthusiastic recommendations.
Your customers will recognize your authenticity, and once they try the five-star suggestions you make, they should keep coming back for more.
