As a food truck enthusiast and someone who covers the industry daily, I spend a lot of time in food truck lines. I have seen good service, I have seen spectacular service and I have seen down right awful service. The worst was seeing a vendor asking a customer, “Do you need change?”

Today I’ll touch on this topic and explain why you and your staff should NEVER ask this question.

Do You Need Change? Really?

The customer in front of me had a bill for $12.50. They promptly handed the service window attendant a $20 bill. What happened next took me back. The server asked, “Do you need change?” Huh? Were they really hoping for a $7.50 tip?

What’s worse was that the customer wouldn’t have gotten back something even close to what they might if they left a 20% tip. In this case it makes the customer feel stingy for not leaving a nearly 80% tip. If you are a food truck owner you should be training wait staff that the correct phrase would be “$7.50 is your change” while extending the change back to them. This gives the customer the opening to say “That’s OK” if they intend for them to keep everything.

As an owner or manager, when a server picks up a cash payment, and asks the guest “Do you need change?”, they might as well say “Can I keep the change for my tip?”. You need to train your staff to look at the guest and state “Your change will be [insert amount here]” and give them the chance to say “OK” or “Keep the change”.

RELATED: What Your Food Truck Service Window Staff Should Never Do

The Bottom Line

Don’t risk offending your customer base by asking if they want their change. It should always be assumed that they do, if they don’t want it, they will tell you, or drop it in your tip jar.

In today’s food truck world, we’d be curious to know if any of your servers have made the mistake of asking, “Do you need change?” and what your reaction has been. You can share your thoughts on this topic in the comment section or social media. Twitter | Facebook