For great service, get a backpacker
"We'll see what we can do" is not good enough. Stephen Evans has no worries.
For as long as I can recall I have admired the US approach to service. There is a general understanding that it's not enough to satisfy the guests' requirements; instead, you have to wow them.
In January I found myself sheltering from a downpour in a coffee bar in London's Earls Court - an essential stop on the backpacker's tour. It was an unscheduled stop, so I had nothing to read and I found myself listening to the Australian behind the counter.
His delivery was punctuated with the phrase "no worries". In the 20 minutes or so that I was there, he must have said it at least a dozen times - and it worked like a charm.
"No worries" is an instinctive, positive reaction, reassuring the enquirer that their request has been registered and will be dealt with in a hassle-free manner. I think the Brit's automatic response to a request is to look for the negatives, pointing out any problems upfront.
Honesty is laudable, but it doesn't buy you time. I will give you an example.
Last year I was on a flight to the USA, sitting next to a woman who was HR director for a US telecoms company. The plane took off and, within the hour, dinner was served. The starter was a chicken mousse affair. My neighbour pointed out that she was vegetarian and had ordered a special meal.
At this point, the response should have been "no worries". Instead, the air hostess said that they had no record of a vegetarian booked into business class on this flight, so as far as she was aware there was no suitable meal on board.
She disappeared back to the galley with the words: "I'll see what we can do." Ouch!
It's obvious that, when you are more than 35,000ft in the air, if a meal hasn't been loaded you are not going to conjure it up mid-flight.
What arrived was a small bowl of mixed leaves without dressing, a bread roll with a portion pack of non-dairy spread, and a small plate piled high with penne in tomato sauce, which spilled unattractively over the sides, topped with half a black olive.
It was clear that this had been cobbled together in the galley using ingredients from the economy-class menu, and the hostess had decided to go for quantity rather than quality.
If only she had smiled and said "no worries" or "not a problem" at the start, they might have got away with it - although training in presentation would help. As it was, they had a very unhappy frequent flyer on their hands.
As a result of my coffee bar experience, I have broadened my admiration of service styles to cover not just the USA but the New World - and if there are any backpackers reading this who are looking for a job, I'm definitely in the market. n
Stephen Evans is currently working with City Centre Restaurants. He is also chief executive of Food That Delights, non-executive director of Dineline, chairman of First! Venues and a member of the Restaurant Association national committee.
