Serving the Server with Tactics & Strategy

WHAT IS “GOOD SERVICE”?

Good service is the culmination of an organization's tactics and strategy to best address their customer’s needs. It goes beyond a friendly face or speedy delivery of an order. It involves an organization that:

• provides resources (hiring, facilities and equipment to name a few) focused on customer needs;
• trains employees on an on-going basis on customer service standards;
• sets and enforces expectations of all employees (not just those with face-to-face customer interaction); and
• arms employees with the trust, tools, and flexibility to correct customer service issues when things do go wrong.

THE TAKE-AWAY

Tactics:  Share best practices informally on a daily basis. As an Executive Chef, I arranged for Front and Back of House staff to share family meal. We would not only talk about specials, but solicit feedback on what worked the night before, what didn’t work, and how we could improve.

Strategy:  Find out from the customer what is working and what is not. This needs to go beyond a customer comment card (typically filled out only by irate customers). Identify one or two major areas where your team cannot only better serve customers but is uniquely equipped to do so.

Match your organization’s capabilities with the areas where the chance for improvement is greatest. For instance, if your staff is incredibly loyal, but has limited English skills (which is affecting the ability to communicate menu improvements), consider on-premise ESL training or subsidizing off-site training. Hiring new, more English-competent servers, can increase your chances for high turnover. 

ABOUT ME

Jordan Lichman is currently the Dean of Culinary Arts and Hospitality Management at Stratford University in Falls Church, VA. Prior to his current position, he earned his MBA from the University of Maryland, College Park, Robert H. Smith School of Business and spent 15 years in wide ranging roles in the food service industry. After earning his Bachelor of Arts at UC Berkeley in Political Economy and a Degree in Culinary Arts from the Culinary Institute of America, he worked at properties ranging from Double Five Star Luxury Inns, to contract food service, to eco-friendly street food.

Great Expectations

WHAT IS “GOOD SERVICE”?

Good service is meeting or exceeding guest expectations.

A simple answer? Perhaps, but deceptively so, because management of guest expectations is a subtle and difficult art that starts at the birth of any hospitality concept.

As a professor of hospitality, I often ask students if McDonald’s can provide better service than a high-end restaurant like the French Laundry in California, or if a Four Seasons Hotel is inevitably better than any Motel 6 (that link is the best I could do!). Invariably, my students respond that the famous restaurant or the Five Diamond hotel must have better service. But do they?  Consider your expectations while at a fast food joint – probably a filling meal, fast and cheap. However, while at a fine dining restaurant, conscious and subconscious expectations can include everything from the host’s greeting to the sincerity of the server’s farewell.

So, Good Service begins with guests' expectations, but how can a business manipulate those expectations? In the restaurant industry, managing expectations begins with the menu – which defines everything about a restaurant, from the equipment needs in the kitchen to the decor of the dining room.  If a menu includes traditionally luxurious items like foie gras, Wagyu beef, and desserts finished in gold leaf, then the team creating that concept wants guests to have certain expectations of that meal. People typically do not spend $18 for an appetizer at a drive-through window – but they will if seated in a plush leather booth, listening to classical music.

THE TAKE-AWAY

• Train staff on guest expectations – Good Service begins with training, and an effective training program ensures those enrolled are aware of expected outcomes. The students and employees who I train know their goal is to meet or exceed the expectations of their particular guests because I reinforce that concept throughout the program. 
• Be the best possible version of yourself – If you are managing a Burger King, what is the best possible version of you? If the staff has accuracy and efficiency down pat, the only element needed to exceed guest expectations is a warm, sincere greeting and a smile.  As mentioned above, Good Service can mean different things as expectations vary by setting.
• Aim to exceed, not just meet, expectations – One of the best examples of Good Service is a Denny's on Santa Fe Boulevard in Denver, at which I ate probably two dozen times while living in Colorado.  I returned to this particular location again and again because they continuously exceeded my expectations: my order was always accurate, hot, and timely; my coffee cup was never empty; and, lastly, my server was always friendly.
• Expectations can’t always be taught – As a hiring manager, I looked for personality and provided training on other skills, often hiring a genuinely friendly individual who lacked thorough industry knowledge over those with years of experience who came across as burnt out. In other words, Good Service (as opposed to merely effective service) starts in the hiring process. Have potential new hires talk with as many people as possible during the interview process, including front and back-of-the-house employees as well as managers. Also, thoroughly check references – you'd be surprised the kinds of things people will tell you over the phone.
• Training = a probation period – Finally, and most importantly, training must have consequences. Too often, especially in the hospitality industry, managers train new hires and then put them on the floor without further consideration or evaluation. In order to ensure Good Service, employers should let new employees go who fail the training program. Although this method takes time and money, hiring the wrong people to work on a team can be much more costly.

ABOUT ME

Jeremy Corn currently works as a professor of hospitality management and culinary arts, as well as the creator and editor of The Good Service Project. He has 15 years experience in the restaurant industry with the majority of his career spent as a dining room manager and sommelier. He holds an MBA from the University of Colorado-Denver, a BA from the Metropolitan State College of Denver, and an AAS in culinary arts from the Art Institute of Colorado. He holds professional certifications from the National Restaurant Association, the International Wine Guild, the American Academy of Financial Management, and the American Culinary Federation.

How the Good Service Project Works

An ever-expanding list of professionals in the hospitality industry will receive the following email. As their responses come back, we will post them with analysis and a brief biography of the respondent.

THE EMAIL:

Hello, and thank you for taking the time to respond to the Good Service Project. The goal of this project is to: (1) create a database of opinions on what providing Good Service actually is, and (2) collect strategies on how to provide the best possible service to guests.

You are receiving this email because we want to hear from you! Please respond to the following two questions with as much length or brevity as you see fit and we will add your responses to the database at goodserviceproject.blogspot.com.

Thank you for your time and wisdom, and we look forward to reading your response.

1.   What is the definition of "Good Service?"
2.   Please share one or more key strategies you employ to get the highest quality service experience possible from your staff.