We need to lead from the front
We hear it time and time again, but no one can argue - hospitality is a people business. Hospitality is about people attending to the needs of people; about people walking into a hotel or restaurant or high-street coffee bar and being greeted by people and sitting with people and being served by people. It doesn't matter what the decor is like, what the food is like, what the price is like - if the people factor isn't right, customers (people) won't return.
That makes the role of the restaurant maitre d', the front-of-house professional, more important than most of us realise.
You know when you've received good service, although you might not acknowledge it until afterwards. Hmm, you think, that was a warm welcome. I've only been to that restaurant once before, but they seemed to remember. The service was attentive but not pushy; everything I asked for was delivered, I didn't need to click my fingers to get the waiter's attention and when I left I got the impression that they expected me to return. And, of course, I will.
This week, in the first of a series about personalities front-of-house, we feature one of the best-loved - Elena Salvoni, of Elena's L'Etoile in London. The restaurant is not actually her own, but it's a mark of respect that the owners have named it after her.
Elena epitomises front-of-house expertise. "I just love looking after people" she says, and that's what it's all about - remembering faces, taking the time to listen and making every customer feel that, for a couple of hours or more, they are the most important people in the world and no one else matters (although, of course, they do).
For all the attention that is paid to chefs and the brigade in the kitchen, we should all remember that the food on the plate is only as good as the service that presents it. Get that wrong and customers won't return. Get it right, like Elena, and customers will follow you around town. "The customer is king" is the first principle of business, but actually making the customer feel like a king is the most important principle of success.
by Forbes Mutch, Editor, Caterer & Hotelkeeper
