Ever notice that the best shows on TV communicate a particular theme each season?
Shows like Homeland, the Killing, Mad Men, and other past greats like The Wire or The Sopranos tell complicated stories with dramatic themes like: you can never go home, you can’t deny your true nature, or the past will always catch up with you.
If the writers have done their job well, the theme of the show is reflected in the main and secondary storylines all the way through until the televised narrative comes to a dramatic end.
I’d say that if my life was a series, this season has been full of wonderful narrative twists and turns—some expected and others completely unanticipated. The season in my life and on Foodwoolf.com has been about big changes that began with small actions and events.
By aligning my personal and professional goals with my internal compass I saw how the incremental turns could lead to entirely new vistas.
The theme of 2014: Actively live in the paradoxes.
Give in order to get
Get comfortable being uncomfortable
Go slow to move faster
Get small to go big
Whenever I made leaning into a paradox a priority throughout my days in 2014 I saw extraordinary things happen. When I actively chose to do the opposite of easy—picking up the phone when I wanted to not call back, sending a generous email to a stranger rather than ignoring their request—I found success, generosity, abundance, and work that I have always wanted. Continue reading “Food Woolf Season Finale, 2014”
Ever since I wrote the essay “How I got into Restaurant Consulting,” I’ve gotten lots of emails from men and women who are considering restaurant consulting as a potential career. Though the people vary in age and approach, they all ask the same big question: What do I need to know in order to become a successful restaurant consultant?
I wish I had a simple one-line answer, but I don’t. There are no easy answers or shortcuts for building a meaningful career as a freelancer.
Most businesses don’t have the time or money to teach their staff what true hospitality is. Instead of investing in teaching compassion and genuine hospitality, most restaurants and retailers invest their time and money in teaching their teams how to recite a finely-tuned script for making friendly and efficient sales.
Rare are the shop keepers and restaurant employees who craft their language to suit the buying needs of their particular customer. Instead, it’s “what can I get for you” or “are you ready to order?” Rather than take the time to share stories of how customers were won over or made regulars through a few key exchanges, businesses focus on encouraging number of sales per hour, check averages, and a high score on a secret shopper report.
The problem is, the more we focus on speeding things up, the more we lose an important part of building business: connection.
I recently received an email from a business student who wanted to know how most restaurant consultants get into the industry. Though I may not have the official statistics on restaurant consulting at my finger tips, I do know my own story. I’m happy to share my perspective on the business of restaurant consulting with you.
How do restaurant consultants get into the industry?
For me, I started young. I was a teenager when I got my first restaurant job. I worked in the 110 degree kitchen making milkshakes at a fried seafood shack. My intention getting into restaurants at that time was to make some spending money. I never imagined the food and beverage industry would be where I would make my profession.
I became a waitress and bartender in my twenties. I enjoyed taking care of people and found comfort in the camaraderie I felt with my co-workers. I knew I had a unique talent for service and my entrepreneurial spirit helped kept me rolling in the tip money.
From Part time to Full Time
I went from dabbling in restaurants to taking things a lot more seriously when I started managing restaurants in my 30’s.
The more I poured myself into my job, the more I discovered that the work I did in restaurants fulfilled me in a way that writing never could. I enjoyed building a community, being of service to others, and getting passionate about the products we sold. I saw how leading others not only helped transform their lives, but also mine.
It was also around this time that I began to see that restaurant work was an honorable profession. It was a job I was learning to enjoy from the inside out.
Then, after six years of thriving as a restaurant General Manager, I went to work for Nancy Silverton, Joe Bastianch, and Mario Batali as part of the service team of Pizzeria Mozza and later, Osteria Mozza. It was there I honed and developed a service vocabulary and systems. I became a trusted leader in the dining room — in sales and in happy, return guests. Then, after more than four years of putting my service theories to the test through personal research and development, I felt ready to begin my work as a Service Consultant.
If you’ve even played around with the idea of opening a juice bar, you’re not alone. Lots of people–about one in ten new restaurant owners today–want to invest time and money into turning fruits and vegetables into liquid gold. I work as a restaurant consultant in the city of Los Angeles and in a few city blocks there are at least one or two juice bars and there are more on their way. Fresh juice bars are a $5 billion dollar business that’s projected to grow from 4% to 8% a year.
So why is a fresh juice bar such a popular idea? Well, if you think running a juice bar is easy, think again. There is no such thing as easy in the business of food.
Search the internet for suggestions of how to start your own juice bar, and you’ll find advice that suggests that location is the most important thing to figure out first. After that, they say, come up with a business plan, and then come up with a concept.
As someone who has worked in the restaurant industry for over two decades, I humbly suggest you consider something else first: is running a juice bar something you want to do for the next five years?
Freshly pressed juices are the newest food fad. Lots of people want to get in on a business that promotes a healthy, on-the-go lifestyle for health conscious people who want to take care of their bodies in a fast and efficient way.
Regardless of what business you’re in, every line of work has its share of archetypes. You may make your living in a dining room, in the middle of a retail showroom, under stage lights, or in the center of cubicles. Where doesn’t matter. Just like a movie with predictable characters, we all encounter common personality types in the workplace.
Heroes vs Foes
Boilerplate people we want on our team are types like the fearless leader, the go-getter, the quiet workhorse, the inspirational force, and the problem solver. But no matter how great your workplace is, there always seems to be a few pernicious characters. You know the bunch. They’re the complainer, the drama queen, the liar, or even the Friendly Incompetent.
Business Archetype: The Friendly Incompetent
I recently witnessed the most astounding version of the Friendly Incompetent, a negative business archetype, at a bookstore in Pasadena.The book shop employee was a tall, good looking guy with a nice smile. I noticed him right away as he said hello to customers as they walked into the store. Just as I was taking mental note of his good service instincts, however, I began to notice a pattern of neglect. Every time he’d say hello to a new customer, he’d turn his back on them just moments after they crossed the threshold.
He would ignore needing glances and check his iPhone or push a stack of books from one side of the counter to another, like a child pushing blocks for no reason. When an inquisitive book-buyer made her way to the front desk, the tall smiling guy exited the counter in order to adjust a coffee cup display just before she could reach him. Seconds later, I watched as another co-worker noticed the neglected customer and jumped to her aid with a great sense of urgency.
Later, the Friendly Incompetent complained loudly about the colors of the bookstore’s carpets and how disappointed he was in the state of the book-selling business. When customers asked for information about a particular item, he pointed them to a faraway shelf, rather than walk the person to the stack of books himself.
After just one hour of observing this man, I calculated he not only lost the business several hundred dollars in lost sales opportunities, he also reduced efficiency in his co-workers. In addition, he created such an uncomfortable setting of bad customer service, I had to leave.
“Hospitality exists when you believe the other person in on your side.” –Danny Meyer
The first time I became aware of this important dynamic of service, I was in my mid-twenties and more than a few years into my career as a bartender. I’m not sure why I hadn’t seen the important link between the service person who gives a damn and an engaged customer. I might have been naturally inclined to give that sort of service, it took an extraordinary waiter with international charm to make me realize the equation needed in order to create a memorable service bond.
The restaurant was called Dali, a small Spanish tapas restaurant that straddled the border of Harvard Square and Somerville. I went there for a romantic evening out with a then boyfriend, and we were taken care of by an older fellow with grey hair and a thick Spanish accent. He was what I called “a lifer”, a person who never got out of the restaurant business. He carried himself with proud gait of a professional but was also suave and flirtatious. The waiter winked at my boyfriend with a knowing smile and made me feel like the most beautiful woman in the room. He made us feel like VIP’s as he coaxed us through the menu in a playful and knowledgeable way that felt equal parts conspiratorial and friendly.
Thanks to his service, the sangria was like nectar, the food was mind-expanding flavorful, and everything he suggested showed us a whole new world in food.
I glowed for days after that dinner. It wasn’t until later, when the gauzy haze of perfection began to fade, I was able to make out some of the key guideposts of what made his service so spectacular. His service was flawless. His movements were graceful. The waiter’s timing was spot on and, above all, the man made us both feel like he wanted nothing more than to be the best server in the world for our important celebration.
The Dali waiter showed me the importance of a guest feeling like they were the best thing that happened to him all day. He showed me the power of making a guest feel like they were taken care of, and cheered on until they had the best time of their lives. This lesson is something I carry with me in all that I do.
Tips on how to give Great Service
1) READ your guests:
When approaching a guest, read the body language, energy, and banter as you approach the table. What are the cues you pick up on? Maybe the guests are on a first date and nervously banters. Maybe the guests are old friends who desperately want to catch up. Perhaps the diners are business associates hoping to get to the meal as fast as they can. Regardless of who your guests are, you can use your powers of observations to figure out WHO your guests are.
2) LISTEN to what they want
3) IDENTIFY what your guests need:
By carefully listening for cues and clues of what a guest likes and dislikes, you will be more able to find a way to identify what your guest wants and how you can get it for them. Be aware of the need to treat guests individually when multiple guests at one table may have divergent desires.
4) Tailor make your response to the specifics of the guests’ needs:
Communicate to the guest in a manner appropriate with their needs that you identify with them and will do everything you can to make sure they are satisfied with their experience. Note: how you deliver information to a guest is just as important as how you deliver food to a table.
5) Ensure the food and service is impeccable:
Match your actions with your words. Stay on top of the ordering, delivering, and clearing of food. Read the energy of the table as the food comes out. Be aware of new needs that will come up throughout the service. Checking in with guests, changing the flow of service as necessary, and reading your table’s energy throughout the course of the meal will help to make a satisfying dining experience for your guest.
No one can control how a diner responds to customer service
News flash: I’m not the boss of the world.
I know you know that. Most of the time I know that, too. The problem is, sometimes a tiny little piece of me really wants to believe I can control the way things go.
When a guest comes into our restaurant, I want them to love what we do and feel taken care of. To be honest, there’s a tiny piece of me that cross-my-fingers hopes that all the hard work everyone puts into our food and service will somehow change someone’s life.
But every day, I have to remind myself that how things work out in this world is not up to me.
How people perceive the things is entirely up to them. No matter how hard I try, I can’t sway the perceptions of others with my passion, commitment, and East coast willpower. I’m an Aries (read: ram mentality) and the first born of a Massachusetts family, so believe me when I tell you I’ve been trying to exert my will on everyone and everything for years.
The problem with my earnest, heart-felt customer service is that sometimes it backspins. It can hit customers the wrong way. In my earnestness to help I may come across as annoying, or worse, bossy. I may tell a guest something that looks and feels like a YES–but it may come across as a giant NO to them. There are days when my desire to get things right goes awry and the people I work with end up feeling more stomped on then helped.
Being the boss of me
It wasn’t until rather recently that I began to understand that my desire to help and my need to control outcomes was making me–and sometimes the people around me–very unhappy. When people didn’t understand what I was doing for them or to them, I got hurt, defensive, and overbearing. I tried harder to make people understand that my way was the best way rather than try to understand where they were coming from.
There were days when I felt like I was losing the battle in giving great service. I knew something was off. I knew I needed to change the way I did things.
For me, the first step in giving up control is having faith that everything will work out, as it should. I’m learning that if I want to be happy in my life and in my work, I have to accept the results as they come. And boy, is that a hard one.
Luckily, I have a lot of great people around me who are helping me get to a place of acceptance and surrender. These people–my committee, I like to call them–coach me to look at how I can work on myself and leave all the people, places, and things around me alone.
I have to stop making my will to get the things I want the largest factor in the equation of service. In order to be of service to others, my will can’t be bigger than other peoples’. I have to turn the greater than symbol towards love and compassion and put myself on the small side.
So I may or may not be able to make you happy when you come into my restaurant or you come to this website to read what I have to say. The thing I have to keep reminding myself is that As It Should doesn’t always look like How I Want. Everybody hates bad customer service. But customer service isn’t as pretty when it’s delivered like a sledge hammer.
“We should realize that this event [of eating and being fed, is a ritual]…The whole thing of compassion comes in there. What helped me was waking up and thinking of my penny catechism: “to know, to love, to serve God.” I don’t think of God as up there. I think of God as right here in whatever I’m knowing and loving and serving…”
Opening a restaurant is grueling. You think you know the depths of hard work and then–just when you think you’ve got everything planned out–the undertow of the process takes hold of you and pulls you under. You never think a restaurant opening can be any harder than the last one you did, and yet…here you are struggling to keep afloat.
There’s no time to think about how many hours you’ve been working when you’re in the process of getting a restaurant ready for the public. Things go wrong. People drop away. Plans change. Equipment doesn’t show up. Things get hard. Then, everything starts to go great. And just when you think you’re about to catch your breath, something unexpected occurs. The doo-doo hits the fan and you’re challenged to push yourself even harder than before.
But when restaurants are your life, you can’t help but enjoy the dare. Can you go another hour without a meal? Is it possible to get one hour less sleep so you can do that one more task? In the big test of opening, the days end with meals that are barely chewed (inhaled, really), clothes are left in a hump at the end of the bed, and your face–covered in a thin veil of construction zone dust–gets a pillow case compress rather than a good washing because you can barely keep your eyes open. Your mind spins through through dreams in order to work out the last unconscious detail.
Yes, restaurant openings are demanding. But they’re also damn sexy.
The work builds camaraderie and professional growth. The work is so consuming, you can survive on almost no sleep or food–making restaurant openings a whole new kind of diet that helps you lose a few pounds while allowing you to eat whatever little tiny bit of decadent food you can wrap your mitts around.
Do enough restaurant openings, and you begin to realize you can do and learn more than you ever thought you could. You stumble upon little discoveries, like the way you short-cut a problem with a novel approach or great idea, or uncover a way to save the business a bunch of money by thinking outside of the box. Or find a deep well of kindness, rather than frustration. Continue reading “Service 101: Opening a Restaurant”
Be careful what you wish for. Because if you really, really want something, you may actually get it.
For me, the big it I was wishing for had a lot to do with work. Back when I started this blog, my work in service excited me, but I could only see myself going so far as a server/bartender. So, after a couple of years of thinking about how I could expand my world in service, I dreamed big and started my own business as a service consultant. That choice to take a chance on the work I loved had me heading in the right direction of my aspirations.
The more I worked as a teacher of service, the more I discovered I needed to learn. I became a student of the masters of great service. I read lots of books. I took courses. I honed my craft and longed for alliances with like minded individuals. I began heaping finer points onto my wish: I want to be part of something bigger than myself.
My dream for living a life of service had me wishing for a job within a restaurant group–a collective of restaurants that felt approachable, served really great food (the kind of food I could get super excited about), offered incredible service, and employed big-hearted people who understood what it takes to create a comfortable environment for its customers and employees.
For a while there, I thought the only way I could have the kind of life I was dreaming of would require a drastic change in scenery, a move across country, and a complete overhaul of my life. Either that, or a lot of consulting gigs that could keep me busy enough to pay my bills and give me a little bits of what I was looking for in different locations.
Turns out, the life I’ve always wanted to live doesn’t require a moving truck or a major remodeling.
Wishes are coming true for me right here in Los Angeles.
The day I finished a great consulting job in Rancho Cucamonga, I started thinking to myself about my dreams of living a life of service. I started day dreaming about what would come next. For a moment, I worried how long it would take for me to find my next client.
And then, I checked my e-mailbox.
Within 48 hours, a whole new chapter in my professional life began. After almost a year of dreaming of becoming part of a small restaurant family, I have been given the opportunity to help run a small, 20+ seat bakery and pizzeria in Santa Monica. Though this is something of a departure from my consulting work, it is a pleasure to know I now have a full time home within a small, four-restaurant family known for their great baked goods, incredible market-fresh menus, heart-felt service, and a dedication to serving the community.
I couldn’t be happier.
But, for the record, making a dream reality, requires a whole lot of care and maintenance (maybe more than you could have ever imagined) to keep them alive and well.
If you dare to dream big enough, be ready for a lot of work.
“Awareness is the birthplace of possibility. Everything you want to achieve begins here.”–Deepak Chopra
As a Service Coach, I observe restaurant teams in action and coach them how to win the game of earning customers for life. I take groups of service professionals from being average–and sometimes minor–players to being highly coveted members of an award-winning team. I help shape natural talent into something special.
Most owners understand the basic business proposition of giving their customers a consistent product. But what many people in business fail to identify and grow in their staff is the importance of making customers feel as if their needs were exceeded. Again and again and again. Businesses that take the time to help their staff be aware, listen, and foster an intuitive sense about what customers want, tend to be the winners in the game of making customers for life.
I am lucky to be a restaurant consultant who has the great fortune of working with smart and insightful people who understand the value of hospitality. These visionary business owners see the long road ahead of them, recognize the need to invest in customer service programs, and bring me on to help improve their game. Like most great leaders, my clients understand the value of getting assistance to sure up their weaknesses–way before a weaknesses become a failure.
The first step in successful coaching starts with observing. I can tell a lot about a restaurant within the first few minutes of watching them in action. Give me a corner seat, a handful of minutes during a busy service, and I can give you an accurate assessment of a restaurant team’s potential, problems, and requirements.
Following my initial observations, I show clients what I’ve learned from watching their dining room. I offer them information on how keeping a constant eye on specific areas of their dining room can result in obtaining key information about their diners and how to better deliver what they need. Even in some of the best restaurants, leaders may fail to identify key areas for improvement. I notice dropped napkins while staff members walk over them. I identify neglected customers and lost sales opportunities where staff members walk past in a rush to get another task done. In some especially hurting businesses when owners can only see business losses, I may find unlocked beer coolers and liquor storage areas, menus with confusing descriptions, managers with lacking leadership skills, and dining rooms with a personality disorder.
Awareness may be something we’re born with. Our modern lives drain us of the impulse to stay aware. Lately, it seems, most Americans don’t seem all that comfortable with awareness.
That’s not a question most people have the chance to think about on a daily basis. But if you’re Sophie Chiche, the curator of the inspiring website, Life By Me, you get to contemplate that question every day. On the colorful pages of Life By Me, you’ll find readable interviews from contributors from all walks of life. Sophie documents great conversations with Nobel Peace Prize recipients, massage therapists, designers, visionary leaders, teachers, fellow blogger Chris Gillebeau, and people like me.
What is most meaningful to you in your life?
The speed of today’s modern world has many people devoting their time to the daily monotonous tasks. Without an internal compass driving you to find meaning in the small gestures or be useful in all your actions, the daily task of keeping on top of the bills, showing up to work on time, answering emails, and putting food on the table will grind you down. But small tasks can take on a whole new significance if done with the purpose of giving, devotion, and commitment.
Life is a precious commodity. Why fill up all the spaces with meaningless tasks?
I recently had the good fortune to answer Sophie’s big question of meaning, thanks to a friend who put in a good word for me. I urge you to clear a few minutes from your busy day to spend some time looking around this inspirational online resource. If you’re interested in finding out how I answered the big question of meaning, swing by the website and read my interview here.
Do yourself a favor and pay a visit to Life By Me. Sophie and her team have created a beautiful website that sparks hope, creativity, and a desire to find meaning in the small and big moments. Life By Me makes you want to take positive action in your life to create significance.
Is what’s meaningful to you an ever-changing target?
Or does one thing in your life give you purpose?
It takes courage, strength, hope, and help to make your Big Dreams come true
The Big Dream is hard to achieve when you don’t have anyone but yourself to rely on. You need strength, talent, and motivation to fulfill your desires, but self-will can only get you so far. If you want to be successful in realizing your Big Dream, you better have a few key people in your corner.
Just watch an Oscar speech and you’ll get an idea of just how many people it takes to make one person reach their Big Dream. Friends, family, colleagues, technology crews, and even wardrobe people become essential in making something as simple as acting work.
Who will you need to rely on to make your Big Dream come to fruition? Are you strong enough to ask for help? Who can you trust to give you honest feedback and keep you on point? Because let’s face it, the road to success is too difficult to navigate on your own. There are twists in the road, surprising perils, and unforeseen challenges on the way to The Big Dream.
Accountability team
An accountability team might be small (one person might be all you really need) or comprehensive (a handful of friends and colleagues who you trust), and be available to you for advice, perspective, mentoring, and guidance. The quantity of helpers isn’t nearly important as the quality of the people, because these individuals will demand that you stay true to your word and deliver on your promises. They must be strong-willed folk who won’t be distracted by excuses and will call your bluff. Your accountability team must be trust worthy, true to their word, and able to offer insightful advice that will push you to go further than you thought you could.
If you think you might want or need an accountability team, the first step is to identify The Big Dream. Got it? Great. Next up, decide if you are ready to make the commitment to support someone else on their road to success. If you can’t give 100 per cent to someone else, then there’s no expecting someone to give the same to you. Accountability teams only work if both parties are willing to put in the hard work. Are you prepared to show up prepared, ready, and excited every time you make an accountability date? Are you prepared to be accountable for the things you say you’re going to do?
Reaching out to others to ask for help and guidance isn’t always an easy thing to do. You’ll have to be vulnerable. You’ll need to have trust or faith in the people you turn to. You’ll have to be willing to take advice. You’ll need to share secrets or personal information. You’ll have to be humble enough to accept critical suggestions and feedback. You’ll have to give credit to others for their help.
Leading a Visioning and Branding Workshop with the Ra Pour leadership team
The faster our society gets, the looser we get with our systems. We cut corners. We text and walk. We don’t read the recipe through to the end before we start cooking. We go to the grocery store without a shopping list. We show up to popular restaurants without a reservation. We don’t prof proof read. We start a blog without knowing what we’re really blogging about.
We let the sparkly light-show of the PROMISE OF SUCCESS blind us to the realities of the work required to achieve victory. We get distracted by the siren song of PROFIT and FAVORABLE OUTCOME and forget to create a set of guidelines or a structured plan to get us where we want to go.
The famous movie tagline “Build it and they will come,” is a great first act twist, but it isn’t what you’d call a solid business plan.
Look, most people don’t find the words “actionable objectives” and “sustainable culture” sexy. But I do. Because if you want to be successful in life or business, you have to know the steps that are required to get you where you want to go.
Not planning, organizing, creating a set of guidelines, or charting a course for success is why many great people and wonderful ideas fail. Businesses collapse. Movies with great first acts fall apart by the end of the second act. Restaurants shutter after a year. Overnight successes crash and burn under the pressure. Blogs are born, go strong for months with an unending steam of daily posts, and then spontaneously die. Continue reading “Service 101: Slow Down and Vision Your Life (or Business)”
