The sorry state of American table waiting was made professionalization within the industry," Richle abundantly clear to Eric Weiss as his server at says. "The higher the tenure of the waitstaff, the Pastis, the touristy bistro in New York's higher the sales per square foot." Meatpacking District, took his order. Weiss runs Service Arts, a high-end service consultancy that Waiter trainers claim that an investment in has trained thousands of servers (he finds the term education pays off very quickly for restaurants. "In "waiter" demeaning) working at establishments an ideal situation," says Debbie Thomas, a worldwide, from Hilton hotels to the celebrated hospitality trainer in San Diego, "you would see a California restaurant the French Laundry. When 10 percent to 15 percent increase in check averages Weiss inquired about the origin of the daily menu's the day after training." Still, convincing restaurants, Malpeque oysters, his server replied, "They're from waiters, and even prospective waiters, to pay as the East Coast." little as a hundred dollars for formal training remains a challenge. "The East Coast of what?" asked Weiss, after the server walked away, "Albania?" A server not Unlike in Europe, where serving is often a career knowing the provenance of an item as important as rather than a backup plan, American tablewaiting a Prince Edward Island oyster was Weiss's first sign remains a bootstrap business, and some of the that even in this restaurant, a tightly orchestrated biggest skeptics of waiter training courses and corporate concept, the staff hasn't been properly schools are seasoned servers themselves. While trained. As if on cue, the server returned with waiters at places like Pastis can make upwards of Weiss's glass of Muscadet. "See that?" asked Weiss. six figures in salary and tips, the national average is "He put down my wine with his hand on top of my just over $20,000 according to the Bureau of Labor glass. That's disgusting." Lesson #2: A server's Statistics, and remains below 2008 levels, according hands should never touch anywhere a diner's to Steven Gottlieb of PayScale.com. For most mouth eventually will. American waiters, a few hundred dollars is a significant investment. For Weiss, table-waiting is an art that, if properly learned, can help both restaurants and waiters make Josh Greene, a server at San Francisco's Flour & more money. "It doesn't matter if it's a five-star Water who's been waiting tables since 1993, feels restaurant or a busy diner," he says. "Every server that standard training (shadowing a veteran server needs to understand how to give truly great for a week) is ample preparation. "Restaurants are service." His 3- to 5-day workshops, conducted in pretty dynamic environments," says Greene. groups of 50, often on behalf of hotels, resorts, and "They're constantly changing menus, wines, and restaurants, use such techniques as video analysis customers." He has worked with formally trained and role-playing to help servers reach their full waiters in the past, but that type of training doesn't potential. transfer well to most hip, urban restaurants, where the servers are often "young girls in their 20s with Weiss's colleagues are few in number-perhaps a lot of tattoos," and a knowledge of seasonal, local less than two-dozen waiter trainers exist across the ingredients is more valued than the proper way to U.S.-and most are reeling from the recent lay a napkin over a lady's lap. (Discreetly, and from recession. In 2008, Milton Sheppard opened the the right.) Waiter Training School in the Bronx, N.Y., charging $175 for courses, but the business soon The training business is also migrating online, with ran out of money. He now operates a clown college countless videos and websites on how to wait tables in the same space. Yet there are grounds for just a Google search away. Bernard Martinage, optimism. "The operating environment is the best president of the Jacksonville (Fla.)-based of the past four years," says Hudson Richle, senior Federation of Dining Room Professionals, believes vice-president of research at the National standardization will distinguish pros from Restaurant Assn... "There's an increase in amateurs. The FDRP hosts over 4,000 certificationexams annually, including those for the Houston's having their waiters undergo online training is a restaurant chain and Aramark caterers, and the cost-effective alternative to revamping kitchens. "If growth in Front Summit (the FDRP's online you improve the dining room, you don't have to training course) has allowed the FDRP to offset the touch your food," he says. "We have over 500 decline in demand for physical courses. Martinage culinary schools in America. Good food is expected expects certification to grow by at least 50 percent everywhere. The weakest link is really the dining over the next two years, as restaurateurs realize that room."