hos·pi·tal·i·ty
1. Cordial and generous reception of or disposition toward guests.
2. An instance of cordial and generous treatment of guests.
How many people, business owners and staff working in the Hospitality sector have forgotten which industry they are part of and what does hospitality mean? Many, unfortunately.
Everything is in the service - to me. You could be serving ambrosia on an Versace plate or a coffee so good that it would make me levitate; still, if the service is lacking or bad, I would not return.
One of my brothers
worked at a restaurant and a bar for many years. It is a very stressful
job, not always well-paid, long hours, early mornings, late evenings,
little time for eating and going to the toilet, and, sometimes, low salaries. People arrive all at the same time (my brother called it "the big sh*t"), while other hours are so empty that you feel like a day has 48 hours. I know there are many struggling
students working
in the hospitality industry because it is
the only option they have, and you see them struggling at doing their job and keeping up with their assignments. Business owners
have it tough in a very competitive industry, high taxes and rental leases (especially in Perth CBD), expensive produce suppliers, expensive transport, difficulty in finding nice staff, among many hurdles.
Still, patrons pay for what
they consume, and they have to earn the money for it. The least we can expect is being treated nicely and having a good experience in our
time out.
Good service makes a business prosper and attracts customers and keeps them. It sounds obvious, no? Unfortunately, many businesses do forget a basic rule - a happy customer is the best ad they will ever have. And they forget it for various reasons: they are just focused on making money or surviving, selling an image, starting before they are ready, attending to more customers than they can attend to, taking for granted that customers will put up with any crap if the setting has hype or it is trendy, among many other reasons.
To me, there are a list of things that any business in the hospitality industry should be doing to guarantee that the service is decent, good or excellent:
- Choosing waiters/waitresses who are genuinely friendly and sociable, who are energetic and want to be there. They have to deal with all types of people and personalities, and usually work long hours, so they need to have those innate qualities to deliver.
- Choosing cooks who can actually cook. I mean, cook something better than the mediocre food that any of us can or could prepare at home.
- Organising the staff effectively. A business can have the best staff around, and still offer a terrible service. If the restaurant, café or bar has good food/coffee/drinks and wants to get a reputation, it needs a plan: a set of rules and procedures to follow, a list of must and must-not, a "serving routine" in which details are given on how to take orders, cue people, serve, attend to, receive payments, and welcome and farewell patrons. Not only that, they need to invest some time in informing the staff about the food they are serving: produce origin, taste of the dishes, gluten free options, type of grapes of a foreign wine, and so on, so they can reply to any query.
- Organising the layout of the restaurant having into account the needs of the staff, especially in the kitchen and serving areas. In fact, many restaurants' layouts prevent the staff from doing their job properly or make difficult their movements. For example, having
enough space between tables, not only benefits patrons, it also allows the staff
to move easily and avoid hitting patrons with elbows, dishes they are
carrying, etc.
- A business should never host more patrons than those they can serve at ease and attend to properly with the staff they have. If they do, deficiencies in the service become obvious to visitors and the patron's experience is affected. If the business increases, you need more staff, at least at peak hours.
- A business should have EFPTOS. The last two times my wallet was empty of cash and EFPTOS was
not available, my transaction cost me two dollars, which had to be added as
an extra to the price I was paying.
***
As a patron, these are the things I find indicators of a good service, and that make me return to a business and be merry:
- The staff are friendly and respectful, and smile and greet customers.
- The staff treat regular customers as individuals, and remember their order preferences and name. This is especially important in cafés and bars where you always order the same. By remembering "the usual" they show their care and appreciation towards you. After all, you could go elsewhere and stop expending your money here.
- The staff attend first to those people who arrive first.
- The staff are knowledgeable about their trade. They know their beans, liquors, wines or food. Not only that, they can even advice you if you are not sure about what to order.
- The staff leave their personal problems at home, so they attend to customers as fellow-humans not as money-making machines or an annoyance they have to put up with. If you cannot make it, fake it. I have plenty of crappy days, and I do not treat anybody badly when ordering my food or drinks.
- The staff do not have a pose. They are humble and hospitable, and they treat customers without looking down at them. After all, they do not know who they are. I could be Denmark's Prime Minister, a famous Hungarian painter, a renowned German astrophysicist, a popular online site reviewer, or just a human being who has ordered something with courtesy and expects the same in return.
- The staff attend arriving customers fast, and serve food, coffee or drinks at a decent speed. Any on-going delays are mentioned upfront.
- The staff inform of any amendments, changes or missing elements in the printed menu - upfront.
- The staff apologise for any mistake and mishap and offer a compensation to an unhappy customer who has a reason to be unhappy.
- The staff deal elegantly with customers with foreign accents. They elegantly make you repeat your order if they do not understand, or show you the menu so you point to the item you want, or vocalise what they are saying. This is especially relevant in Perth, where the number of foreign students learning English is considerable and, most importantly, the number of dwellers born overseas is very high.
***
Good service is what separates a good business from a bad one, and what makes some businesses thrive and others fail. Any business owner and manager wants to have a successful business. However, expecting customers to put up with crap, despite the fact that they pay for what they are consuming, it is not only insulting, it is stupid - like digging up your own grave.
I am your guest - be hospitable.
