Giving pleasure with a simple thank you

On my recent visit to our shop in Edinburgh, our catering manager, Roz, proudly handed me a letter. It was a complimentary letter written by a mother.

It ran to several pages, congratulating Roz and her team on how well they had looked after her on her recent visit to the restaurant.

It was the first time this customer had been out on her own with her baby and she was finding it difficult to balance the different tasks - looking after the baby, buying food as well as finding an empty table and a highchair. But the team, seeing all this, quickly came to her aid.

As the customer explained in her letter, what could have been a very trying time turned out to be an enjoyable experience thanks to the resourceful restaurant staff.

Reading the letter reminded me how important it is to take time out to say thank you. The pleasure this customer's letter brought to Roz and the team was enormous. It put a spring in everybody's step that day.

We have only a week to go before we open our new shop in Solihull. The Place to Eat, our main restaurant, is now finished but the caf‚ is still being installed. Menu trials are well under way in the Place to Eat but I'm afraid menu trials in the caf‚ will be last-minute.

It's a good job we have experienced these conditions before. We still have a number of vacancies in the catering team, which is causing us some concern, particularly as we are right in the middle of new rotas for six-day trading. Few branches, therefore, can give us the expert help we usually rely on to open new restaurants. But a week in catering is a long time.

The makeovers of our nine "older" restaurants are nearer completion. The task is enormous, particularly in the larger restaurants at Oxford Street and Brent Cross. Judging by the sales figures, existing customers approve and we seem to be attracting new business.

Looking further ahead, we have decided to set up a series of workshops across the country for catering managers.

We have never done this before, but we have a number of major issues to tackle, such as managing a menu over six and seven days and making a profit. Working in small groups of six to eight people, we hope to get managers to share ideas and experiences.

So far the idea has been well received.

CAROLINE MORTIMER is general manager, catering, for the John Lewis Partnership.

Next diary from Caroline Mortimer: 4 October