HOTELS

Bob Puccini

More Than Customized Design
August 18, 2008

Most people think of the Puccini Group as a design firm, but we are actually hired to consult on operations almost equally as often, especially outside of the United StateS. Internationally, it is interesting to see how many countries that have a long history of foodservice, but have a disconnected level of training compared to guest expectations. I believe design has been “globalized.” People have learned what good design looks like and that is what they want whether it is in Delhi, Beijing or Moscow. The consequence of this is a newly developed group of world-class, and world experienced, restaurant designers that ply their skills around the world.

However, it seems so easy to take a beautiful space and through operational inefficiencies make it unprofitable and inefficient. The most basic skills are the most important--how to take care of guests: training and guest relations. I have always taught that good service is anticipating your guest’s needs. That means being conscious of what is going on at the table. Routine sometimes replaces consciousness. Serving from the left and clearing from the right may be correct, but what is the rule for addressing a table when one guest is holding forth and the others clearly want to eat? What do you do when one guest eats quickly and the other takes their time? Do you really wait until everyone is done before you clear? Of course there are the black and white answers, but in today’s world you have to understand more than just the rule book. Managers need to empower service staff to make snap decisions and judgments to please a guest. Hospitality by definition is about customized experiences to make guests feel special, this cannot be programmed. But alas, service has been globalized too.

I remember many years ago speaking at a conference in Singapore and talking with hotel operators who were working in China just as development was beginning. They impressed me with their stories of hiring staff a year in advance so that they could teach them how work in a 4- and 5-star hotel. I remember one GM telling me that many of his new employees had never really worn shoes and that getting them to keep them on was a task in itself. Now, 12 years later much has changed in China, but you still see the government addressing customs of the people that are out of context with the multitudes visiting the Olympics.

China is not the only place, frankly it happens here, too.

Posted by Bob Puccini on August 18, 2008 | Comments (1)