FIRST SIP ®
It is (Really) All About Service
a disappointment, no mater what it costs, when the food is not up to par. However, I think for many of us in the business, it all comes down to service. If I can’t get another glass of water or fresh pepper, it is not going to be a fun evening. I just got back from Vegas, which as a dining
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capital has many lessons to teach the rest of the country. T e city’s bars and restaurants deal with a volume of customers, no matter their size, that few other markets could handle. T at means staff training and teamwork are essential for everything to run smoothly. So is there enough training and support out
there, given a sometimes lavish budget, to help a relatively young pool of wait staff get up to speed? I was pretty unimpressed by much of the customer service I encountered, i.e. “I think somebody from your party might be inside, maybe you can fi nd them.” Or “Has that paella I told you would take 45 minutes really not arrived after an hour and a half?” We as beverage executives need to give staff the training, technical support and wherewithal
to deal with demanding crowds on busy nights. We also need to know when servers are too green and shouldn’t be overloaded with tables—particularly large ones—at busy times. T ere has never been a better training camp on how to deal with huge volumes of overly
expectant customers than Las Vegas, particularly in hard economic times. However, many operators seem to be dropping the ball and that is unfortunate. I do believe that service was consistently better before the economic downturn, so the question is now how we can harness that kind of staff training to provide the level of service customers really want—and need—as value added for their money in challenging times. Even poor service can be redeemed by small gestures. Legal Sea Foods’ Sandy Block touches
on some of these techniques in our closing column B2B in this issue. One of my negative experiences was bookended by a highly professional manager who actually asked about my meal. He apologized for his overwhelmed staff and brought out a little dessert: that gesture went a long way. T ey don’t make them—or train them—all like that anymore.
Cheers!
Liza B. Zimmerman Editor-in-Chief
6 | APRIL 2011
have had fantastic food and superb drinks in many places that range from back alley bars to Michelin-starred dining. It is always
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