Saturday, November 27, 2010

The Unending Search for Service Excellence


Written September 15, 2010

In my years in the Restaurant lndustry, both in Operations and in Training Department, I am usually tasked if not to upgrade, well, to maintain a very good line of Service experts or frontliners.

The truth about Service is that "it is a passion, rather than a sequence". It is carried by many as the robotics of the modern world, when in reality, Service is still and will always be, a two-way street. A give and take relationship between the service provider and the guests.

Service is excellent when "expectations are met and at times exceeded". But reality bites, no matter how a restaurant imposes its culture and service package, there would always be "difficult guests". These guests are those guests who I will rename as "opportunity", from them, we can sample and challenge the best of our resources, the best of our energy, and most importantly, the best of our PATIENCE. 

While most Restaurants today developed the SEQUENCE of Service, many still forget that the sequence will always have its loop holes. The sequence is only as good as the "executioner" or is only as good as the service provider.

I pity those people who are poor in understanding that hospitality industry is all about accommodation, it is also about learning and educating guests about the proper manner when dining in a Restaurant or staying in a hotel.

Simple terms dictate that "perfectionism" in Service is fatiguing and will always boil down to demoralized and robot-like employees. Sequence are guides, but should be altered in accordance to a specific situation in order to "meet and exceed guests expectations"

 

 

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