Regular guests: how to recognise and remember them

You recognise a regular guest not by the number of visits but by the fact that the whole team knows the same things about them. To get there you need three things: a clear rule about whom you consider a regular, short notes about habits, and a shared place where the whole shift sees them. Below we look at how to organise this without ten-column spreadsheets.

Who counts as a regular

There's no single definition, and that's fine. Agree on one within the venue. Here are a few working options:

• By frequency. They come regularly, and you notice it without counting.
• By the team's feeling. Any member of staff who recognises the guest by face and by name can suggest marking them as a regular.
• By a special relationship. People the venue has long-standing ties with: neighbours, partners, friends of the house.

There's no need to squeeze the definition into a complex formula. If the threshold is too strict, the mark will never appear. If it's too loose, it means nothing, and the staff will stop looking at it. It's better to start simple, “we know them, and it's not their first time back”, and refine the rule as you go.

What being a regular doesn't mean matters too. It's not a promise of a discount or a privilege. It's a signal to the staff: give this guest a more attentive welcome.

What to record

The memory of guests is valuable when it turns into action. Ask yourself: “What will the next member of staff do after reading this?”

Record:

• the favourite table or zone;
• whom they usually come with and in what company;
• what they ask for almost every time: water without ice, a child's chair, a quiet corner;
• what they don't like: loud music, sitting next to the bar;
• what to pay attention to: an allergy the guest mentioned themselves;
• how to address them and how the guest prefers to communicate.

Don't record:

• opinions about the person (“difficult”, “stingy”);
• guesses about their income or job;
• anything you wouldn't show the guest themselves.

An example. On a Friday evening the host sees on the card: “comes on Thursdays with colleagues, sits with their back to the wall, likes starters for the whole table”. On Thursday the host holds the table for six o'clock in advance, and the waiter brings the starters without asking. The guest didn't ask for anything but feels expected.

Which fields a card needs and which data is better not collected is covered in more detail in the article about a restaurant's guest database.

A template for a short note

To keep notes from different members of staff looking the same and readable in seconds, stick to a simple three-part scheme:

1. Where and with whom. “Window table, usually as a couple.”
2. What they ask for. “Water without ice, the menu in two languages straight away.”
3. What to keep in mind. “Doesn't like being rushed with the main course.”

Three short lines can be read in ten seconds; a page of small print never gets read at all. If a note doesn't fit into three lines, it mixes the important with the incidental. Keep the important.

One more rule: notes age. The guest may have changed tastes, moved or started coming with a different crowd. If you update the note with every noticeable change, it can be trusted. If not, it turns into an outdated label, and the waiter will start bringing water without ice to someone who now likes their drinks with ice.

Attention without intrusion

Knowing a guest and showing that you “know everything” about them are different things. A guest is pleased to be greeted by name and seated at their favourite table. They're not pleased if you quote their last order or mention that they've been here six times.

A simple rule for the team: use what you know to remove questions, not to add comments. Not “I see you like the sofa”, but simply lead them to the sofa. Not “last time you ordered…”, but put the right menu on the table. The guest will notice the care but won't feel watched.

The mark in the dashboard

A paper “regular” mark gets lost, or more often stays only in one staff member's head. An electronic one works if everyone puts it and sees it.

Practical rules:

1. One person marks, everyone sees. The mark lives on the guest card, not in a personal notebook.
2. Mark while the guest is still fresh in memory. Not in the evening “from memory”, but right after the visit or during the shift.
3. Agree who can put the mark. For example, the manager and the host. Then the mark stays meaningful.
4. Review it. Once every month or two, look through the list: who hasn't come for a long time, and whom it's worth keeping.

Think separately about one-off guests who came with a group. If someone came once to a corporate party, there's no need to mark them as a regular.

Visits by day of the week

Many regular guests have their own rhythm: Thursday after work, Sunday with the family, late on Fridays. This rhythm is doubly useful.

• Planning tables. If you know the guest comes on Thursdays, you'll keep a suitable table for them in advance. Don't promise them this until you're sure you can keep the promise.
• Preparing the shift. At the start of the shift the manager looks at which familiar faces are expected and warns the team.
• Understanding occupancy. You can see which days the regulars' favourite evenings fall on, and this helps with staffing the shifts.

There's no need to count visits by hand. It's enough to see on which days of the week the guest usually comes. The days add up to an understanding of what to expect.

If a regular guest starts not turning up for bookings, that's a separate conversation. It's covered in the article about restaurant no-shows: booking rules apply to regulars too, the conversation with them is just gentler.

The team's shared memory

The main value of tracking is that knowledge stops being personal. When the manager goes on holiday or is replaced, a regular guest shouldn't have to “start from scratch”.

What it takes:

• A single place. Not a chat, not a notebook and not notes on a phone, but a card that anyone on the shift can open.
• Short, fresh notes. Two lines are better than a page no one will finish.
• The habit of looking before guests arrive. Make it part of preparing for the shift: five minutes to look through the upcoming bookings and guest cards.
• Access rights. Not every member of staff has to see everything. Set out who can change what.

When a guest arrives, the information about them should be next to the information about their table. What such a screen looks like on the floor is described in the piece about seating guests and the live floor.

How it's done in GuestKeepr

In the dashboard of the GuestKeepr virtual front desk, each guest has a card: name, phone number, the “regular” mark, favourite table, preferences and staff notes. Visits by day of the week are visible there too. The guest's wishes also appear on their booking card, so the manager sees them right on the day of the visit.

The bot in the messenger finds the guest's bookings by phone number and works only with their own bookings. Everything the guest wrote to the bot stays in the Conversations section, and a member of staff can open the dialogue if they need context.

The limits are honest: GuestKeepr doesn't run a loyalty programme, doesn't accumulate points and doesn't send mass mailings to the guest base. It solves a more modest task: making sure the team remembers guests in the same way. What to record, how to mark and whom to consider a regular is up to the venue.

Frequently asked questions