CARMEN RUETZ

Top Italian Restaurant of Vancouver for over 40 years!

• Learned and utilized extensive bar and wine knowledge to sell and create house cocktails to enhance guest dining experiences.
• Suggested wine pairings to go with specific menu items.
• Ran food from chefs to guest tables with dishes that required special serving techniques.
• Shared knowledge of menu items and flavors, enabling customers to make personal decisions based on taste and interest.
• Increased sales significantly by upselling higher-end products to customers.
• Rolled silverware, set up tables and polished glassware and silverware.

Busy neighborhood Italian pizzeria

• Maintain organized section, anticipating and assisting guests at any given moment.
• Help run food and beverages throughout shift.
• Help guide guests in experiencing a tailored experience.
• Fulfilling guests needs and desires with suggesting alternative items from our menu as well as support decisions on bottles of wine and cocktails.
• Assist in clearing tables, seating guests and taking orders outside of section when necessary.

High volume neighborhood pub

• UFC and sport event evenings, large sections, high-turn-over.
• Cultivated warm relationships with regular customers.
• Worked with POS system to place orders, manage bills and handle complimentary items.
• Explained menu items and suggested appropriate options for food allergy concerns.
• Bussed and reset tables to keep dining room and work areas clean.
• Increased sales significantly by upselling higher-end products to customers.

Busy neighborhood Oyster Bar

• Cultivated warm relationships with regular customers.
• Explained menu items and suggested appropriate options for food allergy concerns.
• Bussed and reset tables to keep dining room and work areas clean.
• Used slow periods to restock supplies, ice, trays and delivery bags.
• Answered customers' questions, recommended items and recorded order information.
• Shared knowledge of menu items and flavors, enabling customers to make personal decisions based on taste and interest.
• Explained selection of daily oysters, pushed and encouraged newbies, and our "bucket" challenge!
• Arranged and prepared tables for customers to offer memorable experiences to guests and foster repeat business

Very popular, high-volume cocktail and tapas lounge

• Determined customer preferences to suggest appropriate cocktails and increase sales.
• Anticipated guest needs and provided proactive service.
• Built solid rapport with many frequent patrons to cultivate guest loyalty.
• Walked guests through our extensive house cocktails, barrel aged cocktails and large gin selection.
• Maintained customer satisfaction with timely table check-ins to assess food and beverage needs.

Retro old Italian-American style restaurant

• High-turn over.
• Arranged and prepared tables for customers to offer memorable experiences to guests and foster repeat business.
• Upsold high-profit items such as appetizers and mixed drinks to enhance sales numbers.
• Applied comprehensive knowledge of wine, cider and beer to increase daily beverage sales.
• Carried out complete opening, closing and shift change duties to keep restaurant working efficiently and teams ready to meet customer needs.
• Scheduled numerous reservations and managed seating arrangements simultaneously in high-traffic restaurant while maintaining calm, professional demeanor.

• Society, Trattoria on 4th and Black & Blue.
• Huge volume of guests, and all different expectations.
• Lead service in private dining rooms at Black & Blue.
• Prepared table side caesar salads, meat carving, fish de-boned and desserts at Black & Blue.
• Trained and developed new staff on restaurant operations and policies to strengthen performance and expectations not given knowledge of in reference to who-is-who and VIPs.
• Modeled strategies to wait staff for delivering exceptional and friendly service to every guest, every time.
• Trained staff members on use of POS system.
• Used communication and problem-solving skills to resolve customer complaints and promote long-term loyalty.
• Applied comprehensive knowledge of wine, cider and beer to increase daily beverage sales.
• Learned to develop my own clientele with returning guests.
• Served and maintained service expectations for VIPs of the restaurant group, including celebrities, investors, intimidating cliental or by request.
• Took pride in providing personalized dining experience from start to finish and within guests budget. Customized platters and wine pairings, with chefs input and approval and use of our sommelier.
• Set and enforced performance and service standards to keep consistent, high-quality environment devoted to customer satisfaction.
• Learned to go above and beyond as an ambassador of the restaurant group and leading by example for my trainees.

Canadian bistro with high volume happy-hour

• Cultivated warm relationships with regular customers.
• Explained menu items and suggested appropriate options for food allergy concerns.
• Worked with POS system to place orders, manage bills and handle complimentary items.
• Bussed and reset tables to keep dining room, lounge and work areas clean.
• Educated bartenders, clerks, and servers on responsible service protocols.
• Trained and developed new team members on restaurant procedures, menu items, and performance strategies
• Demonstrated strong knowledge of food and beverage service standards and led by example to instill in new servers