By Brigid RansomeWashington ’12
everyone in both the front and
Now more than ever, chefs,
list, it’s their responsibility. Get
back of the house. If it’s on the everyone “looking” to make
restaurant owners, and caterers are forced to think creatively to
sure everything is shipshape.
ensure that their businesses will
The flow of the restaurant
be profitable and sustainable over
should be efficient. You should
time. With a riot of well-conceived
aim to have no dead ends and
eateries out there, customers are becoming adept at discerning what counts as value and what doesn’t. Make sure your restaurant is picked out of the crowd.
Being Your Own Restaurant Consultant
As a restaurant consultant, I’ve noticed that many of my clients have an unclear view of their business goal—which, at its core, is to make the customer happy. I reassure clients that if they stop, look, and listen, they will find ways to meet their goal.
Stop Stop long enough to get a fresh perspective on your restaurant by putting yourself on the other side of service. Dine with a group of nonrestaurant-related people to garner their invaluable insights. Their fresh eyes may find a typo on the menu or an inhospitable coat-check
no bad seats. A bad seat is one where a guest feels shoved in a corner or invisible to the wait staff. While there are no hardand-fast rules for achieving
optimal flow, the lion’s share of problems can be solved if guests are spared from the noise of the kitchen, and are far from the line outside of the restrooms.
Listen Feedback is everywhere. The proliferation of social networking sites—where opinions rule—can either be the Midas touch or the kiss of death for your business. No matter how excellent your menu or customer-centric your staff, if your business consistently has less than stellar ratings, chances are it will suffer. So how do you take the social
policy, and they will give you a customer’s perspective on service.
feedback and apply it to your business? Find the comments that are
There is oftentimes a communication gap between front- and back-
“Although gazpacho is typically served chilled, this particular one
of-house personnel, which is swiftly noticed by customers—usually revealed in a bollixed-up order. The fix? Consider stopping long enough for an all-staff, bi-weekly meeting. Management can share information about things like liabilities and laws related to serving an inebriated patron, or new health care laws that will impact workers. Staff will feel safe enough to make suggestions and level critiques if management models a “thick skin” in response to issues raised. Always be sure to take conflicts between individual workers into a
truly helpful. They are usually well-written and specific; for example, was definitely too cold.” A comment like this will help guide future behavior in the kitchen. Train a seasoned front-of-house staffer to read all comments, looking for well-conceived critique both good and bad. Now, participate! Respond with appreciation to the positive comments and nondefensively to the negative ones. Even if you have no immediate answer to a problem, let them know you will be discussing their
private meeting to seek resolution.
concerns with staff. Don’t get into an “altercation.” No matter how
Look
personal or damning the comment you are responding to, always be polite, upbeat, and strategically brief. Then, take the comments
Customers invariably find the visible flaws when dining. Dirty
a discussion of how they would handle that particular situation.
walkways, cluttered hostess stands, and unkempt restrooms sour an experience for any guest. While every front-of-house staffer has a list of station-specific tasks, non-routine tasks, like checking to see if light bulbs need changing, can go unnoticed. Provide schedules of tasks to
mise en place no.65, February 2014
to your all-staff meeting and actively engage your employees in This discussion will create a spirit of camaraderie and prime your employees with responses they can use should they face any of these situations. Together, if you stop, look, and listen, you can all become better stewards of your business.
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