Key to Great Service

Throughout my Restaurant Service Journey I have often been asked "what is the key to great service?"

Having worked several service positions in 30 years; busboy, waiter, Captain, Chef de Range, Wine Steward, Maitre d'hotel, Restaurant Manager and Restaurant General Manager I thought at each position I had found the answer. Culinary knowledge, formal service techniques (e.g. tableside service) wine expertise, computer literacy, written and verbal communication skills to name a few. These qualifications are very important however the answer was there for me from my first busboy job.

The Key to Great Service are Great Employees.

Successful Service Restaurants retain great employees by: Hiring people with a Passion for Service and a can-do attitude, training and developing ALL employees, promoting on ability, compensating fairly and enforcing policies equally.

Many times management becomes focused on administrative and financial responsibilities, latest food & beverage trends and bringing in more customers we forget the foundation of our restaurant is:

The Employees.

The Service Culture (see previous blog) will determine the type of employees and ultimately the level of service. We live in a multi-cultural society. Our employees are a representation of this society. How do we successfully create and maintain a Service Culture with such a diverse workforce.

Let's discuss this in our next blog.