Nothing New

Who remembers tableside service? Many of us who are seasoned (i.e. older) restaurant service professionals remember tableside service. The days of steak dianes. ceasar salads, strawberries romanoff, bananas foster, carving racks of lamb, etc.etc. In fact there was a time in certain areas if you couldn't perfrom tableside service you couldn't work in a formal diningroom. We studied cuts of meat, sauces, cooking tempatures, carving and you were asked to make at least 2 tableside dishes as part of our interview. Where am I going with this? There seems to be a resurgent in tableside service with a twist. Today's tableside service is not a lot of cooking but the SERVICE part emphasized. Why? BECAUSE CUSTOMERS/GUESTS WANT PERSONAL SERVICE. I am hopeful that as we move away from order takers/waitpersons we will embrace Service Professionals as a job description in the future. Of course this coin has two sides. The other side of being called a Service Professional means you must know your craft. Wine service, food preparation techniques, sauces, infusions, proper service and professional demeanor. This requires training and SELF-STUDY. As we move into a New Year we truly know "Change is inevitable Growth is optional" May we have a FRUITFUL 2007.