When people
go out to dine, they only see one side of restaurant life: the deliberately staged ‘outside’ atmosphere that includes aromatic fragrances, welcoming faces
and calming décor. What they don’t see is the other side of restaurant
life: the chaotic ‘inside’ environment filled with frantic servers, overworked
chefs and a pile of dirty dishes.
This is not
to say that all restaurants experience the same level of chaos on the inside; but the basic elements of restaurant
life are assumed to be universal. All restaurants – at one point or
another – are faced with the hustle and bustle attributed to promotional specials and holiday weekends.
During
moments of chaos, restaurant life becomes a place where ‘sink or swim’
is the main mantra. Chefs, line cooks and pantry help scurry to produce
delicious meals in a timely manner, bartenders scramble to create
thirst-quenching beverages, and servers hustle between the kitchen and dining
room to satisfy customer needs.
If customers
aren’t aware of how many people work behind the scenes to produce the perfect
dining experience, they might take that whole experience for granted. For
instance, on a busy weekend, popular restaurants will often over-book their
reservations; in turn, customers have to wait extra time before a table becomes
available. During these busy evenings, customers seem to only be concerned with
what they see on the outside: dirty tables, lines of people, and frantic
servers. But in these cases, staff members actually work twice as hard to
ensure that everyone has an exceptional evening.
What people
need to understand is that restaurant life does not merely consist of food,
servers and customers. There’s a lot more that goes on behind the scenes to
make their dining experience worthwhile. Each department of the restaurant – including
servers, hostesses, bartenders, bus kids, managers, cooks, dishwashers and food
runners – works in synchronicity to produce an exceptional product and flawless
service.
The sooner
people realize just how complex restaurant life can be, the sooner they can
appreciate all the hard work that goes into their dining experience.
I definitely appreciate the amount of work that goes into making a restaurant run smoothly. I used to have a serving job, where in addition to taking orders and delivering food, we as servers needed to bus and wash the dishes. It taught me a lot about multitasking and teamwork, and actually ended up being one of my favourite jobs. While the food service industry can be great, it's definitely not easy.
ReplyDeleteVery insightful blog, I enjoyed reading about the inside look into the difficulties of being in the industry. I always appreciate good service in dining, but we could all use taking a more careful look into the possible factors that can create less pleasant experiences. Great blog!
ReplyDeleteAs a fellow server I understand the frustrations that arise with, what seems like, every shift. I agree that it is important for people to understand exactly how a restaurant works in order to appreciate their experience. This can be especially true with a negative experience as mistakes and misunderstandings are rarely because of the fault of a single person. Great blog!!
ReplyDeleteBack in the day, I was a dishwasher and I completely agree with what you have said in this post. It certainly does require a lot of effort from every employee in the restaurant to run a smooth operation and provide an exceptional experience to all patrons.
ReplyDeleteThe hosts, servers, cooks, bartenders, bussers and dishwashers truly are the unsung heroes of this industry.
Kudos to you for giving these folks the recognition they very much deserve!
Working in the restaurant industry is something I never got into. However, reading this blog post I can just imagine what the behind the scenes work would be like. Although, I do work in customer service and realize the frustration of customers wanting the perfect service. I'll have to keep all the amount of work behind the scenes next time I am eating at a restaurant and really appreciate the meal. Thanks Heather!
ReplyDeleteI have the utmost respect for all aspects of a restaurant. Most of all for servers. It is a job I don't believe I could do. Between keeping it all straight between all the tables, dealing with difficult customers, special requests, inner dynamics..aahhh! As someone with many allergies, I know I am a servers nightmare...I approach it lightly and apologize profusely! Thanks for providing perspective, Heather!
ReplyDeleteI'm with you on this one Heather. I've worked as a line cook for 12 years. It's paid the bills and put me through school, but it's definitely a thankless task. Especially where I work, for example very rarely do the waitresses share tips, and we don't pool them at my work place either. I mean I get it, but some recognition would be nice!
ReplyDeleteThat being said I also understand how you feel being 30 and almost being there. Granted I'm only 29 in May... I'm reaaaaallly looking forward to leaving the kitchen behind :)
great post :)
I agree Heather - I am currently working part-time at a restaurant and especially on weekends the kitchen becomes so hectic! Many guests have no idea what goes on behind the scenes. Great post! - I also love the list of all your favourite restaurants along the side! (Lexa)
ReplyDeleteThis is so spot on! When I worked at a hotel restaurant, it wasn't a truly busy day until someone cried! It's absolutely amazing to think of all the panic/drama that goes on behind the kitchen doors, but automatically disappears when you walk out on the floor!
ReplyDelete