ThadCloudDine

So this ritual isn't there to annoy you. Sorry that it does. Waiters do because it saves the restaurant money and because not doing so can cost them money.

Huh? How so?

Let me explain. My apologies in advance if you already know this. Checking on your table is called a food check and usually happens a few minutes after your food is delivered. It's to make sure you got everything your ordered, the meat is cooked to your liking, all you sides are there, the stuff you are allergic to isn't on there, etc...

Why?

Here's two example scenarios:

1. The wait staff does a food check and finds a problem which they can fix. If they did not fix it, odds are you won't come back. If you don't come back, the restaurant loses future revenue plus gets bad word of mouth that further reduces revenue. An unfixed problem meal means lower waiter tips too.

2. The waiter doesn't do a food check. Unscrupulous guests will eat almost all their meal and then complain to the manager. The manager often will give the meal away. Because the waiter didn't do a food check, some restaurants will take the cost of the meal out of the waiter's tips.

There's a even worst scenario with food allergies and lack of food checks where people can go the hospital. Hopefully it now makes sense why the ritual is there.

Here's a more concrete example of how efficient communication would improve your dining experience. (Disclaimer: The startup I founded, Cloud Dine Systems, does this, so take this with a bit of salt since I'm a bit biased.)

You want a refill of your coffee during the breakfast rush. You can either try to flag down one of the wait staff or send a text to the restaurant with "#Table12 can you refill my coffee?" The wait staff gets the text and delivers you a coffee refill. Notice, you sent off the asynchronous message and then continue talking with your friends instead of pausing the conversation to flag down staff. It translates to better service and a better dining experience because the timing matches your needs. Similar examples follow for anything you would flag a waiter down for.

IMHO, one of the more pressing problems is efficient communication within the restaurant. Here's where the gains from better communication are the greatest. But that's a whole different conversation.