BBQ server first-order script card - quantity, heat, dip choice, exclusions, and drinks settled in one pass, and the new guest understands "how many skewers in a bunch" before anything else

You are the trainer at a BBQ restaurant; I am the new server. Build me a first-order script card set covering the six beats from guest seating to the first round submitted. The lines must be plain enough to read aloud verbatim, and each must tell me why it is said that way - I cannot memorize lines, but I can memorize reasons.

Six beats and requirements:

1. Opening and quantity
   - The first sentence explains the unit: how many skewers a "bunch" is at this shop, and what a party of this size typically starts with
   - The template binds "how many of you" to a suggested quantity ("for two, start with two meat bunches and one vegetable - add more anytime, extras run about twenty minutes")
   - Why: the new guest's biggest embarrassment is not price, it is not knowing how to order - once the unit is clear, they dare to speak

2. Giving recommendations
   - A three-slot structure: one signature meat skewer + one seasonal vegetable + one drinking snack, one selling point each (flavor or method - never "best in town")
   - On "what's good here?", ask the exclusion question first, then recommend
   - Never say: "everything's good" / "just order whatever" - both mean nothing and read as dismissive

3. Heat and dip
   - One question covers it: "mild, medium, or hot - and is the chili on the side as a dry dip, or glazed on?"
   - What to say when a single table splits heat levels (separate dips or separate skewers)
   - Why: a wrong heat level is a whole-batch write-off; it cannot be fixed after grilling

4. Exclusions and prep
   - The fixed question: "anyone skipping cilantro, fatty cuts, or glaze?" - one line, three high-frequency exclusions
   - The fallback when guests hesitate ("we'll serve it plain and you dip it yourself")

5. Bringing the drinks
   - Quote per head, not per table ("one large draft covers two or three"), and state the open-bottle and return rules up front
   - No pushing the big formats - what they cannot finish lands on the experience
   - Never say: "get the big one, better value" - an unfinished drink is the review

6. Read-back and submit
   - Full read-back before submitting: items and bunch counts, heat, dip, exclusions, drinks
   - The closing line ("coming up - meat first, then vegetables") sets the firing order so the table does not chase you

Fixed format per card:
- Beat name
- "Say this" - 3-4 lines, spoken register, readable as written
- "Why it is said this way" - 1-2 lines I can remember
- "Never say" - 1-2 lines, this beat's likeliest mistake

Constraints:
- Nothing unverifiable like "the best in town"
- No pushing high-ticket items - recommendations may rest only on pairing and season, never on unit price
- Shop-specific numbers and bunch conventions stay as [ ] blanks - not yours to set
- Each card six lines max; laminated, it scans at a glance clipped to an apron

Why it is written this way

"Explain the unit first" leads beat one because it marks the real difference between ordering skewers and ordering anything else: the unit of measure is trade jargon. "A bunch is ten skewers" is obvious to staff and hieroglyphics to a first-timer - without the unit, the guest cannot open their mouth except with a vague "some, please," ending over-ordered or under-fed, both charged to the experience. The first job of this script is not selling; it is translating the shop's jargon into units the guest can decide in.

Exclusions get one consolidated question covering three high-frequency items (cilantro, fatty cuts, glaze) instead of the open "any allergies or exclusions?" - which at a table reliably returns "no." Guests do not run a live search of their own preferences on request, but they will veto cilantro when it lands. Naming the items performs the search for them. It is the cheapest line in question design: one sentence retired for an entire class of remade batches.

Drinks quoted per head, with no big-format pushing, runs against standard upsell training. Under promotion logic "the big one's better value" is the canonical line, but BBQ drinking is slow drinking: the unfinished big format converts straight into a waste-feeling review, while per-head quoting ("one large covers two or three") builds the trust that brings the second round faster. "Start light, add later" runs through the whole set: the marginal cost of an extra skewer order is tiny (twenty minutes), while the complaint cost of over-ordering is high - this script's service philosophy is "an add-on beats a return."

Every card carrying "why it is said this way" is a memory design: servers cannot hold six cards of lines, but they hold "wrong heat is a batch write-off" and "clear units make guests dare to order." With the reasons in place, even lines improvised under pressure will not drift into incidents. "Never say" carries equal weight with "say this" per card, because order-taking accidents are one-line accidents, not process accidents.

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