“How to manage the CrazyWaiter” – for dummies
I'm working already 20 years in the restaurant business and I think I can say I know how to do it. I'm very easy to manage, but even better if you keep the following things in mind! I guess it doesn't work only for me, but for most of you - so feel free to reuse it!
- First of all: never ever use the imperative. You absolutely don't have to beg but at least ask friendly
because I'll do it anyway - Say what I have to do and try to avoid explaining how to do it
- In 90% of the cases there is a reason when I do something in a different way as usual
- Try to collect as much tasks as possible and give them in one time. It is annoying if you keep giving a new task after I completed the former task. When given the complete to do-list I have (also) an overview and I can combine things and make priorities
- Don't stay immobile watching after giving orders. Help me, do something else or walk away
- Most of times I know what and how to do. If I don't do it immediately I'll see it a moment later or something else has a bigger priority to do
- Don't give feedback when the heat is on
- Give me the chance to work as independent as possible. Just let me do my thing.
- Don't worry, when I need help or don't know anything I won't be afraid to ask
- I'm not blind for the interests of other stakeholders but never ever forget that the guest is the central point in (almost) everything I do!
How to respond to reviews
I like review sites because it's a mirror of your own work. Also it's a great source of finding new restaurants and places which I use a lot. Especially when the company answers because it shows that they care (a bit more) of their guests. My favorite answers are from Hotel Villa Schuler in the beautiful Taormina (Sicily, Italy) at Tripadvisor, especially this one should be in all hotelschool textbooks. I used their answers as inspiration for this article. There are also some answers from EasyHotel Amsterdam. Some tips on how to respond. (-->)
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The elements of Service Quality (1)
We're delivering quality. But what is it? In very short it is the difference between expectation and that what you get. If you get more than expected, the quality is high, and vice versa.
If you ask people about quality you'll get a lot of words. If you put all the terms which come up in a box and sort them in groups, you'll find five groups. Clever people (scientists) speak about dimensions. They are easy to remember with the word RATER
Reliability (26%) Reliability is the ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately. Do we deliver what we promise?
Tangibles (10.8%) Tangibles are the physical facilities, equipment, and appearance of personnel.
Assurance (32.3%) Assurance is guaranteeing the process of performing services
Empathy (10.1%) The care and personalized service given
Responsiveness (20.8%); With regard to the dimension of responsiveness, the quick problem-solving ability of the service personnel is a good opportunity to impress the consumer
To be noted is that the percentages are valid for hot spring hotels. But my feeling says its the same for restaurants and other businesses. A lot of managers think that the Tanglibles are very important, but they really should take care of the capability of the employees on assurance, reliability and responsiveness.
The term RATER comes from (Parasuraman et al., 1988). The weights of every dimension are from Hsie, 2007
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CrazyWaiters Drinks Calculator
This weekend the CrazyWaiter spent his time spending assisting a friend who threw a party. Of course I concentrated myself on the food and beverage with serving his guests and friends. When J. asked some weeks ago for help to plan how many drinks he should buy for his party, I made a calculator. I'm happy to share it with you. You enter the values in the yellow and the blue cells, and the list to buy will be visible in the pink cells.
As always with calculatingmodels, the quality of the output depends strongly on the input. If you enter 40 guests during 6 hours, don't be surprised that you can bring back 75% of the stock to the shop when there are only 25 guests during 3 hours. Luckily we could get the money back, but what a pity that we had to spent this money on a parking fine - never felt so stupid 
BTW, when I entered the right data, the shopping list was very close to what the people had consumed in reality :proud:
The party was nice, but it is over now, so here it is...
CrazyWaiters Drinks Calculator
(Disclaimer: use it wisely and at own risk. CrazyWaiter is not responsible etc. etc. etc.)
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What is a customer (or guest)
A very nice quote to put on the wall somewhere in your backstage. And yes, ofcourse you'll change the word customer in guest !
A customer is the most important visitor on our premises.
He is not dependent on us. We are dependent on him.
He is not an interruption of our work. He is the purpose of it.
He is not an outsider of our business. He is part of it.
We are not doing him a favour by serving him.
He is doing us a favour by giving us the opportunity to do so
Mahatma Ghandi (in a speech in South Africa in 1890)
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FAST – how to recognize a stroke
Not a very happy subject today but basic common knowledge. One of your guests or collegues can have a stroke or TIA. Both a stroke and a TIA are medical emergencies and need immediate medical attention. As a way of helping the general public become more aware of the symptoms of a stroke or TIA, a simple 'symptom checklist' to remember has been devised and publicised. This is to think of the word 'FAST'. That is:
F - Facial weakness. Can the person smile? Has their mouth or eye drooped?
A - Arm weakness. Can the person raise both arms?
S - Speech disturbance. Can the person speak clearly? Can they understand what you say?
T - Test for each of the above three things.
If any of these symptoms suddenly develop, then the person needs to see a doctor urgently. So call an ambulance FAST. The FAST checklist does not cover every possible symptom of stroke or TIA. However, it is easy to remember and it is estimated that about 8 or 9 in 10 people with a stroke or TIA will have one or more 'FAST' symptoms.
(via Stroke | Health | Patient UK)
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1, 2, 3 bend!
It's a fun trick to show to kids. First you bend as much as possible. Then you push just above your knees for about 15 seconds. Then you bend again and you'll see that you're much more flexible! Of course they don't believe you. Let them do it themself and they'll see that the CrazyWaiter is always right!
(Via Science of Running, originally seen at the Google+ of Turboslak)
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How to fold a napkin in a colbert style
We are supposed to teach and train the trainees, but they are also teaching us things... Like folding a napkin in a colbert style. Fleur is showing how (and will do the 1200 napkins needed for Christmas and New Years Eve this year)
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This blogpost might save your hands
I see it all the time, collegues who clean and dry wineglasses without putting the foot in the corner of the towel. And nobody instructed them ever to dry the glasses in a safe way. Following your old habit can be very dangerous! Why?
- The foot (purple arrow) can have sharp edges because a little piece of glass broke off. While turning the glass to dry it, you'll have thus a nice scarf in your palm or fingers. Aarrghhh!
- The stem (the piece you hold in your hand) can break. Mostly it will break near the foot (orange arrow) or at the button (yellow arrow) and because you put some force on the glass, it will be launched and work like an arrow which will damage your hand. Auwww!!!
Don't forget: We CrazyWaiters need our hands more than anyone else!
(thanks to dear collegue P. to take the photos. And to my other dear collegue S. to give me the urge to write this blogpost after planning and postponing so many times)
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B = C x O x M
Most readers know that I like reading about scientific research, but a lot of knowledge can be explained very easy. Today we have the formula
Behaviour = capacity x opportunity x motivation
- Behaviour is what people do, or what you want them to do
- Capacity is what people can do. You can give trainings for that. But never forget that you also have to work on the other two factors in the model!
- Opportunity is what people are able to do. The management has to create enough (human!) resources, good conditions, tools and materials to make the work possible
- Motivation is what people want to do. I start to believe that most people are motivated, but are demotivated by the management. Motivation can be stimulated, however by (1) making clear what’s in it for them, (2) being involved, (3) providing rewards, (4) giving feedback and (5) stepping into the other person’s shoes.(*)
The formula is originally from Lilian Ripple (Chicago) in her 1955 paper “Motivation, Capacity, and Opportunity as Related to the Use of Casework Service: Theoretical Base and Plan of Study.” . The image is taken here.
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