Staff upselling training: one suggestion, in specific words

Aug 22
4 min read

Updated: 3 days ago

Introduction

Upselling has a bad name in hospitality, mostly because of how it is usually implemented: a target, a reminder in the pre-shift briefing, and staff asking "would you like anything else?" without conviction.

Done properly it is the difference between a satisfactory shift and a good one, and it is the cheapest increase in transaction value available to a restaurant.

1. Staff upselling training should supply words, not targets

The single most common failure. Staff are told to increase spend per head and left to work out how.

What actually changes behaviour is a specific sentence for a specific moment. "The bread with the olive oil is what most people have while they wait" is trainable. "Try to upsell starters" is not.

Write the words down. One sentence per opportunity, tested by whoever is best at it, then taught to everyone.

2. Suggest one thing, not a list

A single, confident recommendation converts. A list of options creates a decision, and a decision at the table usually resolves as no.

Pick one item per course or per moment: one starter to mention while people are settling, one side that suits the popular main, one dessert, one coffee.

Change them monthly so it does not become mechanical, but keep it to one at a time.

3. Recommend, do not ask

The grammatical difference matters more than it should.

"Would you like a starter?" invites a yes or no and mostly gets no. "The salt cod croquettes are the one I would order" is a recommendation, and it converts several times better.

The reason is that a recommendation offers help rather than requesting a purchase. It also requires the staff member to have tasted the item, which is why the tasting session matters.

4. Get the timing right for each opportunity

Each suggestion has a moment where it lands and moments where it irritates.

Drinks and bread work as people sit down and are deciding. Sides work when the main course is ordered. Desserts work as plates are cleared, not while people are still eating. Coffee works after dessert is declined, which is the most reliably missed opportunity in most restaurants.

Train the moment alongside the words. The same sentence at the wrong point in service reads as pressure.

5. Choose items by margin and by kitchen impact

The commercial selection matters as much as the technique.

Prefer items with strong margin, short preparation time, and no pressure on the busiest station. A suggestion that sells well and slows down service is a poor trade during a full shift.

Drinks, sides, bread and coffee usually score best on all three. Complex additional courses often do not, however good the margin looks on paper.

6. Practise it, briefly and out loud

Explaining the wording in a briefing produces limited change. Saying it aloud produces habit.

Two minutes at the start of a shift: each person says the sentence for today's suggestion. It feels slightly awkward and it works, because the barrier is almost never knowledge — it is the first time saying something unfamiliar to a real table.

New staff should practise with a colleague before their first service.

7. Do not attach it to individual targets

Individual targets in a restaurant produce pressure selling, and pressure selling costs more in reputation than it earns in transaction value.

Better to make it a team habit measured collectively, reviewed as a group. If you recognise performance, recognise consistency in offering rather than amounts sold — the offer is the part staff control.

Also give explicit permission not to suggest when it would be inappropriate: a table clearly in a hurry, a customer who has already declined, a family managing small children.

8. Measure attach rate, item by item

The metric is what proportion of tables took each specific suggestion, not overall spend per head.

Spend per head moves for many reasons — party size, day of week, menu mix — and cannot tell you whether the training worked. Attach rate on the item you trained can.

Pull it weekly from your point-of-sale, and look at it by shift. You will usually find the suggestion works on some shifts and not others, which is a training conversation with specific people rather than a general exhortation.

Conclusion

Supply exact wording for one item at one moment, framed as a recommendation rather than a question, and choose items with good margin and low kitchen impact.

Train the timing alongside the words, practise aloud before each shift, avoid individual sales targets in favour of a team habit with permission to skip inappropriate moments, and measure attach rate on the specific item by shift rather than spend per head.