HOTEL FOOD AND BEVERAGE SERVICE; THE MOMENT OF TRUTH

Articles on ‘the moment of truth’ are usually written from the viewpoint of the recipient of the service. In the hospitality industry, a moment of truth is therefore ‘when an interaction occurs between a guest/customer and the service provider that can leave a lasting positive or negative impression on the one served.’

For some of us, ‘the moment of truth’ goes beyond the personal interaction; my moment of truth as a guest to a hotel could be when I drive to the parking lot and observe pools of water long after a rainfall. In discussing this moment of truth you could empathize with me. Nevertheless, ‘the moment of truth’ should also be considered from the viewpoint of the service provider, which is what this article intends to do; empathize with the server during the service.

Whether we represent management or guests/customers, our expectations of service providers are very high, especially in hotels. We expect servers/ waiters (in restaurants, lounges, hotel guest rooms, banquet rooms, and snack bars), restaurant hostesses, cashiers, bartenders and food runners, to put in a lot of effort towards preparing for service which I vehemently support (refer my previous articles, part I and II on preparation for service).  So let’s assume our servers are ‘on top of their game’ for this moment when a guest/customer walks through that door (in the case of a hotel’s restaurant/ café/lounge bar, or in the case of the hotel’s main bar, where the customer settles down at a choice spot or in the case of room dining service, the room service attendant ‘invades’ or preferably steps into the privacy of the guest -since it is upon a request).

In part I of preparing for exceptional service, I indicated that this whole food and beverage service work arena can be quite intimidating without the presence of guests and further hinted how their could be even more intimidating; using George the gardener and my own restaurant hostess experiences. In this article I am assuming that our servers have overcome their self consciousness and have developed eager attitudes toward service.

During the service encounter, anyone of the following scenarios is likely; our servers may never have met the guests/customers they are about to serve before; they may have had a good/ bad /normal encounter with the occasional guests/customers they are about to interact with or the guests/ customers they are about to encounter may be among the ‘regulars’ and therefore all formal barriers have been broken.  Bear in mind however, that our servers would actually encounter all of the above during the six to ten-hour shift they will be on the service floor.

The duties of servers can be tedious and challenging but are vital to the success of the hotel. Apart from preparatory tasks before guests arrival, when guests/customers arrive servers offer cocktails, specialty drinks, wine, beer or other beverages. In some high-end food service outlets, servers demonstrate a good knowledge of the wine list and are able to recommend food-wine pairings. They recommend food options and even request the chef to make changes in how food is prepared. Servers memorize the ingredient list for the dishes and the manner in which the food is prepared. Silver service staffs are specially trained to serve at banquets and by the way it is not all about technical and professional skills, there are the social skills to observe and I think that is where some guests/customers 'forget' themselves; you read right, yes, guests/customers.

To perform the above duties, emotional labor is often required. The nature of work of our servers is physically demanding, involving prolonged standing and static postures, carrying and lifting and repetitive movements, often combined with other unfavorable working conditions such as the poor design of the workplace.

Before I ever knew that the Japanese have a proverb that 'people have three faces' I had reasoned so, through various service encounters in my hotel career. Every guest/customer has three faces; the one you will ordinarily encounter, the second which shows up when an issue crops up and the third which you rarely see. Until you work in food and beverage service you cannot image the daily drama that plays out on the service floor. One plot leads to another and every twist and turn leads to a tale of interaction between servers and guests/customers, from the server point of view, of course. 

In the points high lighted below, I am not suggesting that a server’s experience is all doom and gloom. They encounter good guests/customers too, but as a guest told me once, 'good service is so news. It's the bad service that makes news interesting.' Apart from the negative human encounters, their working conditions also place a toll on them. Below are few encounters:

Hotel Restaurants

I am a hostess and I know that I must save four-top tables for parties of four. A couple walk in and the ‘she’ does not want a table for two. She insists on a four-top table. When I apologize and explain that I am expecting larger groups and I am expected to save the four-tops for parties of four, she looks down at me, makes fun of me and even gives a nasty remark suggesting I do not understand how important they are as guests/customers.

This other guest/customer is a perfect gentleman, it seems. When it is his turn to order, he does not look at me, the server; he looks straight ahead and sneers/mumbles some words.  I can hardly hear what he says and I get very embarrassed trying to get him to confirm what he ordered.

Room Dining Service

I love room dining service, making the guest feel special; but it can be disheartening when we, servers, find ourselves having to deal with:

• Guests not fully or even mostly dressed(particularly during breakfast delivery)

• Guests asking about other guests in the hotel

Hotel Bars/Night Clubs

Unless you have worked behind a bar, you will not realize how much stress and harassment we, bar staff have to suffer on a daily basis.

• Our legs tend to get sore standing the entire shift 

• We may be mentally alert but we get physically exhausted in busy bars

• We smell like a brewery after the shift 

• Some of us develop hate/disrespect towards drunk people

• It can be very hard to hear  

• Customers  think they are being helpful by shoving their rubbish into their glasses 

• Customers  do not understand what 'closing time' means 

• Female servers/barmaids are harassed perhaps just because they are serving  drinks?

• Customers ask uncomfortable questions-Are you straight/gay/married/single?
  
  
  
  And for all servers, when 'the customer is always right' is given a standing ovation despite the fact the guest/customer is CLEARLY NOT, in those moments we are guided by the ethics of the industry, if there is any(on the matter), or we just have to ‘grin and bear it’ taking those moments as exigencies of the job. 
  
   

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HOTEL FOOD AND BEVERAGE SERVICE; PREPARATION FOR EXCEPTIONAL SERVICE PART 2

USING THE FIVE SENSES

A toolkit as defined by a dictionary could mean 'a set of tools, especially one kept in a bag or box and used for a particular purpose.' It could also mean ' a personal set of resources, abilities, or skills.'  

Considering the above definitions I can confidently say I used at least three of my senses as a 'toolkit' when I was working in the housekeeping department of a hotel. The more I used the kit, the better I become in a particular area of my work. 

In this article I suggest how the five senses may be used as a 'tool kit' in food and beverage service by food and beverage service personnel.

It may cost nothing but it certainly can become a self-development toolkit for the personnel to influence the culinary experiences of guests/customers, contributing to the exceptional service in discussion.

In Part 1 of this article, i made a number of suggestions to help equip food and beverage service personnel before they encounter the guest/customer to deliver the exceptional service explained in the article. 

I mastered the art of 'identifying clean' by the use of my eyes (does it look clean?), the use of my nose (does it smell clean?) and the use of the sense of 'touch'(does if feel clean). Let's see how an extended version may be used by food and beverage service personnel.

SIGHT: Look up; are there any lights flicking, any too dim to read the menu or any burned out bulbs? Is there anything not quite right as you keep your eyes up and around the whole area dedicated for the service-this is irrespective of whether its indoors or outdoors. Lower your eyes and inspect another circumference. If indoors, you may note the uneven hanging of curtains or shades and slanted wall pictures or artifacts. Step back and assess the pattern of the table layout. 

You should be making the needed corrections as you carryout this visual inspection. Note that when guests/customers walk in and they take their seats, their eyes wonder around, consciously or unconsciously, before they even order the drink or food! 

The table top is a point of focus as well. It must be attractive, interesting but functional. Before you panic, the modern art of table setting does not require every square centimeter to be filled with cutlery, crockery and glasses. Keep it simple and consider using a centerpiece or decorative item to enhance the table top. For instance when I observed that guests/customers were not particularly impressed by fresh flowers, I used miniature Ghanaian carvings as centerpieces. These made conversations at the tables!

In looking down, observe cables running across the paths(indoors and outdoors) of guests/customers.

SMELL: Many words are used to describe the sense of smell and different types of smells; aroma, fragrance, bouquet, perfume, odor, scent, stench and stink. To simplify this discussion, you want a healthy and pleasant smell.

We all love (I assume) the fresh pleasant and clean smell after a heavy rain storm or which the wind carries down before a thunderstorm.

Note that the longer a room is closed off and is not ventilated, an odor develops ranging from mildly unpleasant to offensively musty, the later indicating the presence of mold or mildew. Spraying an air fresher does not make it any better! Open windows and doors to let in fresh air.

TASTE: The sense of taste, talking about food, is not easy either. I remember organizing a special class, 'Menu appreciation,' just so food and beverage personnel will go beyond describing food as 'nice' and 'delicious'.  I observed a big challenge. Many of us are found wanting in finding appropriate vocabulary to describe foods in general. Ghanaian foods are generally described as spicy or mild, but are these adequate?

The tongue recognizes five basic tastes:salty, sweet, sour, bitter and unami-a savory aspect associated with mushrooms and meat. But taste is influenced by many other factors.

Again to simplify the discussion I would like to refer you to the link provided below. Explore expanding your vocab in describing foods. 

http://www.esolcourses.com/content/exercises/grammar/adjectives/foodadjectives/vocab/vocab1.html

TOUCH: This is believed to be the first sense we develop as human beings. It is a powerful sense. In transferring it into the food service environment, find the right temperature (if using air condition) which makes the guest/customer comfortable. 

A sense of touch may also be impacted by the perception of personal space. If you are sitting alone at a table for 2 near a wall, you would probably feel cozy and secure. If the same table is positioned in the middle of the space surrounded by others you will likely feel exposed and invaded. This tells you that different table styles/layouts influence the environment (cozy and secure, anchored and secure, communal etc).

Last but not the least and perhaps the most obvious on touch is the physical touch of different finishes; ranging from the feel of the table to the comfort of the chairs and even the texture of plates and cutlery.  Food service personnel usually do not have much control over this but I do get upset when paper tissues are used at certain food service environments instead of linen napkins.

HEARING: Sounds create feelings connected to mood. It triggers emotions and builds memories. There is nothing more distracting in a food service environment than loud music or other noises. Consider your type of guests/customers. Volume control is necessary for guests/customers to hear themselves and the type or selection of music must fit the target market.

Come to think of it, as food service personnel we easily complain about not having certain tools available to work. You now realize how amazing our human body may be used to excel in the delivery of food and beverage service! Be intentional/deliberate and  execute an experience which results in exceptional service!

HOTEL FOOD AND BEVERAGE SERVICE; PREPARATION FOR EXCEPTIONAL SERVICE PART 1

It is very tempting to write about my recent experience as a victim to poor food service in one of our top hotels but I intend to restrain myself since one of my objectives in the blog is to place myself in the shoes of hotel personnel in each department I focus on.

In the first article in the food service series (…creating the experience), I generally threw a challenge to practitioners in the industry, particularly the food and beverage service department in hotels, towards becoming more creative in the service of Ghanaian foods. I suggested working around themes, exploring exciting ways to present food and drink products and paying attention to how best to enhance the interaction between service personnel and guests/customers. The second article addressed the need for top management in the industry to commit to thorough orientation for the newly employed, particularly since personnel usually lack the required competencies.

In food and beverage service, team work is critical but as a member of the team I would want to be at my best, so whatever capacity personnel are working in, whether as waiters (in restaurants, lounges, room service, banqueting, and snack bar), restaurant hostesses, cashiers, bartenders or food runners, providing exceptional service should be considered by the individuals in the team.

Our attitudes betray us in many ways before, during and after the service. In this article we look at before the service and provide some suggestions to equip you to offer exceptional service.

Generally, exceptional is a compliment––"the service was exceptional" means it was better than what was expected.

Food service assumes many forms today even if we narrow our focus to only hotels. Basic food service standards seem to be presumed by all and sundry, however nothing is more important than one’s attitude! A choice of attitude impacts every decision made on a day-to-day, moment-by-moment basis.

For the many entering the food service arena to work, I must confess that our own eating practices are without flair. We eat with our hands, a spoon or a fork; not with fork and knife. We do not make a distinction between a teaspoon and a coffee spoon nor are we particular about drinking our soups with soup spoons. Spare me, when it comes to the silverware which should accompany desserts, we think it is frivolous, perhaps except for scooped ice cream. There are diverse crockery and tableware which most of us may be seeing for the first time particularly if we are new comers in the industry.

When it comes to beverages, we drink from the bottle, a cup or any glass without making a fuss of the appropriate glass required for a particular beverage.

There are varieties of equipment, table linen and condiments and a major headache is a menu of dishes totally unfamiliar to us!Trust our hotel chefs to confound us with names of foods even for our common 'kelewe'!

Indeed this whole food service work arena can be quite intimidating without the guest’s presence how much more when a guest or two walk in!

As a restaurant hostess years back, although I was taken through a thorough training I still felt intimidated when customers looked at me twice as I greeted them with my heavy Ghanaian English accent.

Once you are on the food service ‘floor’ even if you are only cashiering, exceptional service begins with you.

Adopt an eager attitude to learn. Aim at:

• Demonstrating a keen knowledge about the company you are working in.

• Learning the food and drink products(reciting the entirety of the menu, specials, wine list, etc.).

• Explaining in detail each menu item and providing suggestions to guests with ease.

• Learning about food safety

• Demonstrating knowledge of the uses of specialist equipment, the importance of the presentation and appearance of the food service environment, the factors that contribute to creating the right ambiance and atmosphere for dining, the specific tasks to be completed to prepare for service). These could be in respect to room service, lounge service, restaurant service etc.

•  Learning the language of service: ‘My pleasure,’ instead of ‘Okay.’ ‘Please accept my apologies,’ rather than, ‘I’m sorry.’(Practice this with your colleagues, they may make fun of you but remember your goal is to stand out).

• Practicing proper etiquette. This goes beyond ‘service with a smile.’  It includes serving female guests first and exhibiting an appropriate posture etc.

• Developing a positive attitude, cheery disposition and being accommodating.

• 'Reading' the personality of colleagues.(you will be reading customers/guests on the service floor)

• Dressing, speaking and acting professionally

No job is too small to put in the above effort. Nature has a way of rewarding. All the best.