goldenharvestcafe.com Blog

There are certain things that should never be done in a restaurant.  Some we are brought up with and everyone knows them.

• Never whistle at a worker.
• Never yell or be mean to a customer.
• Never tell a customer they are wrong.  Even if they are.
• Customers should never go wandering back into the kitchen.

Some are more difficult to figure out.  Sometimes there just isn’t a right or wrong way of doing things.  My father is always asking me how much of a tip to leave.  That is completely arbitrary.  There is a standard 15%.  But some older people are stuck on 10%.  And restaurant workers are usually around 20%.  And then there is the quality of service.  And do you add in the quality of food?  Now the server doesn’t share much of their tips with the kitchen crew – it’s actually against the law for restaurant management to mandate the sharing of tips – so it doesn’t seem fair to tip according to how good the food is.  But most people do.  And of course when you go get a coffee at a coffee shop – who tips twenty cents?

The one I find fascinating, exasperating, and irritating is the bell.  Whenever I go somewhere and there is a little bell on the counter with the sign, “Please ring for service”, I gently tap the bell and then hold it so the sound doesn’t echo and continue.  Okay, so maybe I take my irritation of the bell a little too far…

Many restaurants also have this bell.  We use it to let the server know that their food is ready for pick up and delivery to the customers.  My policy is a single tap for each order that is up.  Simple and Functional.  If the food sits longer than sixty seconds two quick taps of the bell are rung.  At the sound of the two taps than anyone who can must come and get the food to take out.  This occurs if the server is stuck at the register or taking the order of a large group or just a group that doesn’t know what they want.  Again this seems simple and functional.

And yet cooks of all generations and all experiences have this undeniable and almost compulsion to hit the bell repeatedly and with enough force to attempt to smash it into the counter.  I hate this for the following reasons:

1. I hate bells.
2. It makes the servers feel an unnecessary urgency and stress.
3. It makes the servers feel like they are at the beck and call of the cooks.
4. It makes the customers think that the server is going to slow and that their food has been sitting too long.  The customers will look more suspiciously at the food and be more critical of it.

Why are these points bad?

1. I learned pretty quickly that owning a business, at least my business, involves me being at work for most of the day and every day.  One of the main reasons for owning your own business is so that you can create an environment that is conducive to your wants and desires.  To your comfort level.  It is amazing how long that took me to realize.   Once I did, I really began enjoying myself and my business.  Interestingly, the business began to flourish as well.  I also found that many people like and dislike many of the things that I do.  So if I hate the sound of a bell going off in a rapid and loud staccato, than there are other people out there with the same feelings.  But no one I know actually misses that sound!
2. When people are under stress they actually move slower and make more mistakes.  If the server is flustered and stressed out from hearing the bell dinging like mad in the background, they won’t be able to give good customer service, won’t be able to think clearly, and will make mistakes. 
3. People who don’t work in restaurants don’t realize the amount of pride and ego that is involved in restaurant workers.  Employees tend to be on the younger side of the age spectrum – still full of piss and vinegar and ready to take on the world at a given moment.  It isn’t until the world has won a few rounds that we can temper our pride with the foreknowledge that there is a bigger picture than just ourselves.  By ringing the bell so forcefully, the cooks are trying to dominate the servers.  By ignoring the bell the servers are countering that dominance with their own.  Who loses?  The customer.
4. When people are critical they will find fault even where there is none.  If a customer hears a bell ringing like mad and then sees a server, flustered and angry, rushing to get the food it is only natural for them to view their meal with a jaundiced eye.  Every little infraction will be noted and blown up out of proportion.  The server is on edge, the customer is intolerant and no one wins.  The server gets a bad tip and the customer leaves unsatisfied and unfulfilled.

My family and I went out to dinner at Gallagher’s Irish Pub & Restaurant.  It was a busy Thursday night with great live Irish Folk music and a flowing, happy environment.  We sat down at our table and since it was busy were expecting a reasonable wait for our drinks and food.  Almost immediately the bell went off.  Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding.  I looked back at the kitchen and there was the cook looking directly at the server as she was taking an order from a table next to us.  Ding, ding, ding, ding.  This went on the entire time we were there.  The server was doing fine and trying to stay calm, but at one time she went back and words flew back and forth between her and the cook.  I was to far away to hear, but I saw a few heads turn to listen.  Shortly after that the owner came out and started to help facilitate the meals.  The server, though she tried her best, was flustered and hurried.  And therefore the service not as good as it could have been.  All because the cook didn’t know or couldn’t stop himself from abusing the “bell rules”.

I sometimes find myself in the dichotomy of ownership versus worker. As a worker there is nothing worse than a group of diners showing up one minute before a restaurant closes. As the owner, I am eager to accept all customers. If we are open even by five seconds we need to welcome our customers with open arms and smiling faces. This is a tough thing for employees to do. And as it happens my family tends to arrive at restaurants right at closing time much more often than I feel comfortable with. And yet it is a good gauge of the employees. If the employees are friendly, cooperative, and gracious at closing time, than I have even more respect for them and will give a corresponding tip at the end of the meal. If they aren’t…

Recently we dined at Porter Street BBQ in Eureka. Slinking in about an hour before closing, we were greeted by a young lady who was both patient and friendly. It was a slow evening – just us and one other table. I did a quick head count – as I always do – and saw six employees. Six workers and seven customers. Not a good ratio.

If you haven’t eaten at Porter Street let me set up the restaurant for you. It is an order at the counter restaurant, though they do bring the food out to your table. The register is near the front door with an open kitchen behind the counter. There are seats off to the left of the register. The food comes out to you dry. That is, they don’t add any BBQ or fixings. All of that is on a salad bar near the register. This evening they had all already packed everything away – leaving a few small portions of each condiment on a table near the salad bar. I won’t even go there. As we walked to our table I noticed they had even taken out the trash – putting a tray over the trash cans so that customers couldn’t use them anymore. At this point I checked the time. Yep we still had a good forty-five minutes before closing time. I went to the bathroom to wash my hands and they had the door wedged open and a wet floor sign in the middle of the doorway. I maneuvered my way around the sign and walked in. I don’t know what they were mopping with, maybe stick-em.

We ordered a little bit of everything – pork, beef, and chicken. I’m thinking that we should have gone at lunch time. Or at least a few hours earlier. The meat was dry – even after slathering on BBQ sauce. The chili was actually really good – big chunks of beef and bacon. Sopped up with garlic bread. Mmm mmm.

While we chewed our way through dinner the employees had an impromptu Frisbee game with metal lids that they soared back and forth in the kitchen. I thought for sure they would stop once they hit the hood system with a loud bang. It merely got them more excited. No one thought of going home or finishing up the cleaning. Not with such a fun game to play. By this time we were the only customers, but looking around there were at least three dirty tables. And this is a restaurant where the customers throw away their own trash! Once Frisbee was over they had an argument that I hear at home quite often. Of course my children are 10 and 14. “No it’s your turn to take out the trash. I took it out last night.” “Well I’m not doing it.” “Are to!” Now that’s good times. I don’t care who you are. As we were walking out I looked back and saw that the kitchen crew had switched to snapping towels at each other. Now if my employees were doing that…well if I caught them they would be turning in their resumes at…Porter Street.

When ever I go out to eat I constantly grade and discuss everything that is going on in the restaurant.  To the detriment of everyone else at  the table.  My wife finally said, “Sean, just blog it, will you!”  She is always full of great ideas.  I’m sure it wasn’t a euphemism for another word.  I’m positive…

So in her wise words I will start to blog some of my dining experiences – from the perspective of a restaurant owner.  Hopefully it will be a point of view that, if not unique, at least will be coming from someone who has literally been there.  Usually a few hours earlier.  I will be posting blogs on my experiences that I have with both employees and customers.  I will also be critiquing some of the kitchen products that we use (and many times don’t use after about a day!).  And since I’m a voracious reader I’ll even throw in the odd kitchen related book review.

I’m sure you will let me know what is interesting, useful, or just plain idiotic.