FEB.MAR 2014
V
“And yet - says Mauro Santinato of
Teamwork, from a Rimini company
specializing in consulting to restaurants
and hotels - in any restaurant where
the kitchen is the mind, the room is
on the arm. Those are two elements
that must work in harmony if they
want to get the desired result. Instead,
too often, kitchen and dining are two
worlds unto themselves, locked in their
leadership and unable to feel empathy
for the needs of each other. I think,
as always, it’s a problem of lack of
professionalism: I repeat that I consider
a basic concept: the restaurant is not
a business that you can whip up just
because they like to cook. It requires
study, attention, self-denial. Only in this
way you can pick up results. And I’m
not just talking about the restaurants of
the highest level, but also of all those
mid-range.”
HOW HEAVY IS THE DINING
ROOM?
It’s a matter of percentages. For
some professionals, the merit of success
should be divided equally between the
hall and the kitchen, then the canonical
fifty-fifty. For others, even the most
important room is the kitchen, is the
company that creates the atmosphere,
which interfaces with the customer,
it makes him feel welcomed, collects
requests and complaints.”People do
not go to the restaurant to fill their
belly - continues Santinato - but to live
a rewarding experience from all points
of view. Not only with the taste buds.
Indeed, if people go to a restaurant
with high expectations about the
quality of what will end up on their
tables, much of waiting will have to go
in the room, which has to work as a
perfect body with the task of making
the dishes. For this reason, I believe
that what is in the pot represents only
30-40% of the success of a local and
that if the room is not able to work
properly, even the best chefs can
never be able to lift the atmosphere
compromised.”
“The brigade room plays a very
important role - says Ciro Fontanesi,
professor of Alma, the most
authoritative training center of Italian
cuisine at an international level - that
significantly affects, for better or for
worse, all the catering activity. The
employees that move in the room
must interpret the philosophy of the
restaurant. They must embody it. In
addition, in a few moments they must
understand the psychology of the
customer, his tastes, the points on
which to leverage to build a proactive
relationship and which ones to avoid.
Also, the brigade is the room that
should dictate the timing of the output
of the food and service, very important
element in the evaluation of an
experience at the restaurant. According
to our findings, the meal must be
contained in a space of time between
the time and the hour and a half,
avoiding downtime too long without
pressing the diners.”
MAITRE, CHEF DE RANG
, are
nineteenth-century figures that seem
to find no place in the restaurant
today. The cost-cutting management
has decimated these skills, which
remain alive only in the premises of
the highest level. In all other is the
walk of the chef, who goes in person
at the tables, the maximum degree of
empathy that you can find. Of course,
part of the fall from grace of the maître
is determined by the attitude of the
staff of the same room, sometimes too
concentrated in their role and in their
bombast to be really friendly and able
to respond to customer requests today.
Perhaps they are more concrete and
less attentive to empty formulas, devoid
of content and traditional customs
are always understood by most.The
maître today must evolve into a more
modern management techniques that
manipulate and know the basics of
all business functions and knows
marketing.” The figure of the maître is
very important - continues Fontanesi -
especially in catering of high and very
high range. It can not therefore remain
anchored in patterns of the past, but
evolve in line with the times. Today the
chef shows some overexposure, it is
the center of attention: however many
cooks, though talented, are unable
for various reasons to weave a proper
relationship with the client, which must
be mediated by a figure of reference. In
our courses, we expect an educational
activity 60 hours devoted to issues of
the hall (reception, mise en place, the
relationship with the customer). Our
idea is that we need to know the basics
to be able to express classical concepts
of modernity.”
DINING ROOM: FROM COST
TO INVESTMENT
“Yet today - said Santinato - 85% of
waiters carrying plates are simple,
devoid of empathy, customer focus,
ability to sell and make a suggestion,
serve merely doing little damage as
possible, maybe a smile, maybe being
kind but that’s all. Instead a room is
composed of well-trained professionals
who know how to perform their job
well, they are able to capture a few
details from the customer psychology
and, thus, to better interpret the
service. Often, when I ask a waiter
to describe the dish, adding a further
question, namely whether the waiter
himself has tasted the dish. Well, 95%
of respondents answered me “not.” Of
course if the waiter has not tasted the
dish, he has been instructed by the chef
at a briefing, he could not tell, do not
feel that dish as their own and not be
able to communicate properly to the
client, with poor sales results. A room
well formed and structured - continues
consultant - not a cost to deal with, but
it is an investment. Having professional
waiters, able to take the controls
correctly and are able to interpret the
psychology of the customer, can make it
rise by 10% turnover of the restaurant.
Let’s take, for example, the desserts:
many clients go to the restaurant to
taste the delicious dessert, but come to
this part of the meal already satiated.
In this case, the common question,
“Do you want something else? “ is
ineffective and desserts remain in
the kitchen. It would be much better
if the waiter knows how to make a
description of “emotional”, able to tickle
the palate and the heart of the diners.”
KEYWORDS
How to have an efficient room?
Whether it’s of high-class restaurants, a
pizzeria that ‘s doorstep, develop these
five steps can help to improve the re-
lationship between kitchen and table
service
TRAINING
No zombie waiters, waiters
or runner, fast but unable to commu-
nicate and sell. They, too, can become
instruments of sale.
INVOLVEMENT Briefing to define com-
mon strategies between kitchen and
dining room, including the dishes of
the day
FEEDBACK
Debriefing is very impor-
tant to put on the table the strengths
and weaknesses in the relationship
between living room and kitchen and in
the results.
ANALYSIS
gives a clearer frame of deve-
lopments in the service.
Goals define the points to be pursued
in order to overcome the difficulties
together.
THE RESTAURANT
Pipero to Rex, a successful alchemy
One of the temples of modern Roman
at the table, one of the locals who is
