For restaurant owners · The owner's desk
Plan a new server's first week
A day-by-day first week for a new server, built from how your floor runs, with a trainer on every shift and a checklist before they take tables alone.
The prompt
Paste it into ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini and fill in each part in [BRACKETS]. Restaurant owners, general managers and whoever trains the floor.
I run a restaurant. I just hired a server, and most new hires here learn by following whoever is on that night. I want a real first week written down so every new server learns the same things in the same order. What I have: - How our floor runs: sections, the steps of service, how we use the point of sale, side work and closing duties: [HOW OUR FLOOR RUNS] - The new server's shifts for their first week: [FIRST WEEK SHIFTS] - Who can train, and on which shifts: [TRAINERS] - What a server must show me before they take tables alone: [READY CHECK] What I want: 1. Lay out the week shift by shift: what they shadow, what they do with a trainer watching, and what they do on their own. 2. Pair each shift with a trainer who is on that shift. 3. Put the menu and the point of sale early, and the busiest shift late in the week. 4. Turn my ready check into a short checklist the trainer and I sign off on. 5. List the questions new servers always ask, with answers from my notes, and leave a blank wherever my notes do not cover it. Rules: - Write a draft for me to read. Do not send anything to the new hire or the team. - Use only what I gave you. If something is missing, ask me instead of guessing. - Leave food safety, alcohol service and allergy training to the training that applies to us. Show where each fits in the week, but do not write the content. - Do not promise pay, hours or a section. That is my call. - Leave out guests' card details and anything about their health, and the new hire's personal details. Give me back: - The first week, shift by shift - The ready checklist - The new server's questions, with answers from my notes
When to use it
You just hired a server, and the first week is usually whoever is on that night showing them around between tables.
When not to
Do not use it to write food safety, alcohol service or allergy training. Those follow the training that applies where you operate, and a person signs off on them.
What to paste in
- [HOW OUR FLOOR RUNS]: The way service works at your place, in your words, from greeting the table to counting out.
- [FIRST WEEK SHIFTS]: The days and shifts the new server is on for their first week.
- [TRAINERS]: First names of who can train, and which of those shifts they work.
- [READY CHECK]: What a server must be able to do before you let them run a section alone.
Never paste
- The new hire's last name, address, pay rate or tax forms
- Anything about anyone's health
A filled-in example
Sample. Fictional business, fictional client.
HOW OUR FLOOR RUNS: Four sections plus the bar; greet within two minutes, drinks, specials, order into the point of sale, check back after two bites; servers run their own food on slow nights; side work is rolling silverware and stocking the station; closers wipe menus and count out with the manager. FIRST WEEK SHIFTS: Tue dinner, Wed dinner, Thu dinner, Fri dinner, Sat brunch. TRAINERS: Jess (Tue, Wed and Fri dinner), Marco (Thu dinner and Sat brunch), me (Sat dinner). READY CHECK: Knows the menu and the specials cold, rings in a full table without help, runs a four-top section on a Friday with a trainer watching, knows to get a manager for any allergy question.
What you should get back
- A shift-by-shift first week with a trainer on every shift
- The menu and the point of sale early, the busiest shift late
- A ready checklist you and the trainer sign off on
- Food safety, alcohol and allergy training placed in the week, not written for you
What stays with you
The prompt writes a draft. You decide what happens to it, and nothing should reach a guest until you have read it. Decisions about money stay with a person every time, and so do health questions and complaints. When KeenHand builds a routine like this, every message carries the same four decisions: Automate, Approve, Revise, Reject.
Related
- Find cover for a shift someone just dropped. A message to your team asking who can pick up a dropped shift, a direct ask for the right person and a short reply to whoever called off.
- Write a no-show policy for large tables. Plain wording for your large-table no-show and cancellation terms, plus confirmation lines and phone words, built only on the terms you already set.
- Answer hours, parking and menu questions. Replies to the everyday guest questions about hours, parking, walk-ins and tonight's menu, written only from the answers you paste in.
More: every prompt for restaurants, the owner's desk, and AI for restaurants.
Which three fit your restaurant?
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