POSITION OVERVIEW: The Food Runner is responsible for overseeing table maintenance, maintaining the flow of service and assisting the servers in the dining room. Duties include: delivering food to tables, describing the dishes to guests, performing tableside service, monitoring guest satisfaction and assisting the kitchen in expediting the service process. Must be pleasant, conscientious and professional with excellent knowledge of food and alcoholic beverage selections. Must be able to operate effectively as part of a team, communicate clearly, ensure smooth service operations and quality service.

GENERAL EXPECTATIONS:

• Act with integrity, honesty and knowledge that promote the culture, values of RSG Group, Mina Group and Mother Tongue.
• Ensure that all guests feel welcome and are given responsive, professional, gracious service at all times
• Maintains clean and organized work stations that are cohesive with the restaurant's philosophy, culture and standards of excellence.
• Recognize or seek areas for staff and restaurant improvement and offer positive solutions for change.
• Operate within the restaurant on a daily basis with efficiency, respect, friendliness, professionalism, teamwork, knowledge, patience, awareness, compassion, courtesy and initiative.
• Understand completely all programs, procedures, standards, specifications, guidelines and training programs.
• Understand philosophy of management and owner. Displays consistent attention to detail and follow through of all restaurant policies.
• Represents the restaurant professionally through effective communication, cooperation and relationships with the all business partners.

ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS: (Includes but is not limited to the following duties. Other duties may be assigned):

• Understand and perform job duties to the expectations of RSG Group, Mina Group, Mother Tongue, and the restaurant Service, Food, Beverage and Wine manuals.
• Perform all side work applicable to assigned station.
• Participate in Pre-Shift meetings and learn new menu items.
• Welcome all guests and ensure guests receive responsive, professional, and gracious service at all times.
• Describes dinner features as needed (including changes and additions).
• Answer any questions about the menu, specific food items, the wine list or any other inquiries the guest may have.
• Liaise with server to ensure communication at all times about wants and needs of guests.
• Understand the order taken by the server and any changes in the menu, dietary restrictions, food allergies, etc.
• Assists the Chef in expediting the food to the dining room.
• Aware of all upcoming orders and status of tables expecting food.
• Always uses position numbers and proper spiels.
• Keeps expediter station and kitchen stocked with plates, plate wipes, doilies, etc. throughout service.
• Ensure that all food and products are consistently prepared and served according to the restaurant's standards.
• Maintain a clean, safe environment all times in the Dining Room and all service stations.
• Fully understand and comply with all federal, state, county and municipal regulations that pertain to health, safety, and labor requirements of the restaurant employees and guests.

SUPPORTIVE FUNCTIONS: In addition to performance of the essential functions, this position may be required to perform a combination of additional duties as necessary and assigned, with the percentage of time performing each function to be solely determined by the manager based upon the particular requirements of the restaurant.

SPECIFIC JOB KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES: The individual must possess the following knowledge, skills and abilities and be able to explain and demonstrate that he or she can perform the essential functions of the job, with or without reasonable accommodation, using some other combination of knowledge, skills and abilities:

• Must be able to speak, read, write and understand the primary language(s) used in the workplace.
• Must be able to read and write to facilitate the communication process.
• Requires good communication skills, both verbal and written.
• Must possess basic computational ability.
• Must possess basic computer skills. Must have complete knowledge of POS system.
• Knowledge of the appropriate table settings and service ware.
• Ability to describe all menu items, prices and methods of preparation. And to use suggestive selling techniques to encourage the guests to choose items that are house specialties.
• Must have complete knowledge of and use the service guidelines outlined in the Food Runner/Back Server Manual.
• Must have complete knowledge of products and specifications that is outlined in the dinner menu matrix, cuisine manual.
• Further duties not currently listed in this outline may be added at the manager's discretion.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS: To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• 2-3 years of fine dining experience. Knowledge of service, food and beverage, generally involving at least 3 years of dining room experience and thorough knowledge of fine dining, service procedures and functions.
• Cleanliness, organization and the ability to work well in a team situation are crucial to this position.
• Food and wine knowledge a plus.
• Must be minimum age to serve alcohol.
• High school or equivalent education required.
• Applicants must possess a strong dedication toward learning, and motivation to progress in a fine dining environment.
• Possess excellent basic math skills and have the ability to operate a cash register POS system and Microsoft based computer systems.
• Must be impeccably groomed, maintain good hygiene, good posture and have required uniform and tools.
• Responsive to constructive feedback from Chef, Managers or Supervisors.

GROOMING:

All employees must maintain a neat, clean and well-groomed appearance per Company standards outlined in the Food Runner/Back Server manual.

LANGUAGE SKILLS:

Ability to communicate effectively with management, guests and staff.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS:

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by a Food Runner to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• Most work tasks are performed indoors. Temperature is moderate and controlled by the building environmental systems; however, must be able to work in extreme temperatures like freezers (-10°F) and kitchens (+110°F), possibly for one hour or more.
• Must be able to stand and exert well-paced mobility for up to 7 hours in length.
• Must be able to exert well-paced ability to maneuver between functions occurring simultaneously.
• Must be able to exert well-paced ability to reach other areas of the building in a timely basis.
• Must be able to lift trays of food or food items weighing up to 30 lbs. on a regular and continuing basis.
• Must be able to push and pull carts and equipment weighing up to 250 lbs. frequently.
• Must be able to exert well-paced ability in limited space.
• Must be able to bend, stoop, squat and stretch to fulfill cleaning tasks.
• Requires grasping, writing, standing, sitting, walking, repetitive motions, bending, climbing, listening & hearing abilities and visual acuity.
• Talking and hearing occur continuously in the process of communicating with guests, supervisors and subordinates.
• Vision occurs continuously with the most common visual functions being those of near vision and depth perception.
• Requires manual dexterity to use and operate all necessary equipment.

While performing the duties of this job, the Food Runner is regularly required to stand, walk, sit, talk or hear. Frequently it is required to use arms & hands to finger, handle, reach or feel objects, tools or controls. Food Runner is occasionally required to stoop, kneel, crouch or crawl.

The Food Runner must be able to lift and/or move up to 30 pounds, be able to work in a standing position for long periods of time and able to safely lift and easily maneuver plates, cases of water, chairs and dining room tables.

COMMENTS:

This job description is not an exclusive or exhaustive list of all the job functions that a Food Runner in this position may be asked to perform from time to time.

Regular attendance in conformance with the standards, which may be established from time to time, is essential to the successful performance of this position. Employees with irregular attendance will be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including termination of employment.

Due to the cyclical nature of the hospitality industry, employees may be required to work varying schedules to reflect the business needs of the restaurant. In addition, attendance at all scheduled training sessions and meetings is required.