Seeing things from the customers perspective...

As servers, hosts, bartenders, kitchen crew, etc. We have to remember that we always see the restaurant from a different vantage point than the customer...  When we start our day we come in the back door, customers/guest come in the front.  When we step behind the bar we are looking out, guests are looking in. When we approach a customer at the front door we are looking behind them at the door, they are looking behind us at the dining room.  When we seat a customer they are sitting at that table for 1 hour, we stop and go at the table during service, never really spending more than a couple minutes at a time.  When we are taking an order we are looking down at the customer, they are looking up or side ways.  How does your apron look?  Does it have food stuck to it?

The true art to what we do is to see it from the customers perspective.

-When they come in the front and they are taking in their first impression of the room, is it clean? is it set properly? What does the outside of the building look like?  Remember we may not see the front of the building all day, but potential guests see it all day.

-At the bar or greeting counter what does it look like behind you?  You are look out, they are looking in...

-When you bring the customer to the table are all the plates clean?  Is there trash from the last table?  Is there something stuck on the table?  Remember they are stuck with what ever imperfections there are for an hour.  If you notice something fix it, let the customer see you fix it, it shows you take pride and they will appreciate it even more.

Take a minute or two, a couple times per shift and look at things from the customers perspective, go to the front and look at the room like you are just coming in for the first time.  What do you notice?  Are all the tables set the same?  Are there drippings coming down the wall behind the bar?

Take a second when you are folding napkins at a table you are at the customers perspective what does your dining room look like?

If you see something wrong fix it.  It will make you feel good.  Take pride in fixing it, don't get upset because someone else did not notice it.  Getting upset and assigning blame is a waste of time and energy.  You could take pride and make yourself feel good or go negative and make yourself  and someone else feel bad by blaming them.

One other thing to keep in mind is, truly the customer may never consciously notice when everything is right (little things, like clean plates may be noticed in the subconscious) but when it is wrong it is top of mind and it stays there.

Have fun and make yourself and your guests happy, happy :)

Mike

The Oppertunity To Give A Gift.....

We talk about Zheng-attude or what we see as taking the extra step...  We sometimes take for granted what exactly we do in the restaurant/hospitality business.  I feel we are lucky because we have the oppertunity to make people happy.  Does it happen all the time?  Not always.  Does it happen 98% of the time...yes :) 

We have an oppertunity to give a gift to everyone who comes through the door, to practice our art of hospitality.  Sure alot of times we are here for the money, to make tips.  But we come in contact with so many people during the day, we have so many chances to make someones day better.  That is the fun part of what we do. 

Now we have so many examples of how we do this and I know things happen everyday that do not get recognized by me or your other crew members.  But take pride in knowing that we appreciate it and the people you come into contact with appreciate it.  But I wanted to share this example with you because it really hit home. 

We had a couple that really enjoyed their meal at the Riviera a couple of weeks ago, they asked Richie to come out and say hi.  This was nice because they really appreciated the pride that the whole crew put into their evening.  The lady was a vegan and asked if they gave enough notice could the kitchen prepare something special for her and Richie said sure.  Would this create extra work sure but Richie was taking pride in his craft/art, which for him is his food.  The couple called a few weeks later and said they wanted to drive from denver for their aniversary dinner and would the kitchen do a vegan option for the wife.  Richie said no problem.  Not only did they do a vegan option he brought in a table cloth, candles and roses for these people.  The couple was blown away!!!!  No one told Richie to do this. He took it upon himself to make their evening special, that was the gift he and his staff were able to give.  It turns out the gentleman is a journalist from denver and he would like to write a story on the riv.  Now Richie did not know this at the time but he put his gift out there anyway and it just so happened.....

Now I know this is an extreme example, but the overall point is you have the ability to make hundreds of people a day a little bit better by giving the gift of you and your personality.  Sure there is good food and drink in there but the real art is your interaction. So have fun with people, get to know them, throw that kitchen guy or girl a compliment, let a customer know you like their shoes...what ever. 

If you are working at GRIND get out and check in with the customers, make sure they are recognized, at Zheng or the Riv say hi to that table that you recognize but are not in your section.  It is just the little extra that makes the difference.