How to put "hospitality" back into the restaurant industry
I’ve come to realise lately that the overall dining out experience in the majority of instances, has not been really great. Despite the hype by some, of their concept been different to others and so on, it makes little difference. I may have enjoyed the food and perhaps the ambiance of the venue, but the regularity of the service provider missing many of the important details or other mis-steps small or big, invariably negatively eclipsed the overall experience.
True hospitality is in many cases a lost art. Yes, one is often met at the door, or rather reports to a hostess standing behind a podium before been steered with a ‘follow me’ to a table inside the restaurant. Yes, there are times when that boringly, overused “How are you” filler phrase is automatically expressed. It is a nonchalant acknowledgement of patrons, spoken insincerely so as to not expect an answer. A menu card is soon offered and one is left on one’s own to choose from what’s on it. Nowadays, many servers think that the menu does their product knowledge job for them, so why bother being around until the time the order is placed.
During my early days in hoteliering, the key to success was to treat every guest as if they were the most important guest, even when the hotel or restaurant was full. I get it that when the place is really busy, with all hands on deck, that it is sometimes hard to engage with guests - even briefly. But when that occurs at the same venue during times it is not busy, it simply means that to those who operate such places - every guest is just another guest.
Way back in the 1980’s, we did not have anyone preaching to us about ‘personalization’ and the ‘know your guest’ mantra, unnecessarily painting it as an intimidating and costly initiative for hospitality leaders to go where others don’t go. Our philosophy was; be totally knowledgeable of what we sold and combine that by figuring out what each guest wanted. This ‘listen and do’ approach was simple, yet relentless and began with one singular mission: treat every customer like they were your only customer and train every single member of staff to genuinely care on making each experience everything it should and ought to be.
Looking back, I now recognise that this phenomenon of unremarkable service had stealthily crept in long before COVID-19 descended on us. I fear that it will require some really resolute measures, to bring back the hospitality ingredient that is sorely missing in the hospitality trade today. So, how can those who consistently provide inconsistent guest experiences break that cycle?
One way could be in how staff is hired and what is done with new recruits once they come on board. Restaurants are transient employers. Hire when busy, fire when business is dull. It’s a case of ‘here today- gone tomorrow’ and employees know that very well too. So, when people come and go, service is negatively affected by turnover. In this scenario, the first priority is to hire those who possess the approach, attitude and genuine desire to serve over prior experience.. Then spend time to develop and train your fledgling staff. This is a simple concept, yet, it is one that is often overlooked with all the other important details in running a restaurant.
An important distinction to remember is what an experienced hotelier once said, “I learned long ago that hospitality is present when something happens “for” us and is absent when something happens “to” us.”
Shafeek Wahab – Editor, Hospitality Sri Lanka, Consultant, Trainer, Ex-Hotelier
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