Track 22

Unit 4

culinary arts

owning a successful restaurant

pages 36 and 37

Listen for main ideas and listen for details

Good afternoon.

Today were going to discuss how creating a positive dining experience is key to the success of your restaurant.

Smart restaurant owner needs to understand true major concepts about customer service.

First, that there are many factors that contribute to making customers feel satisfied.

And second, that a successful dining experience is built on contrast I would do I mean by contrast, by this I mean the restaurant staff must work hard so that customers can relax.

I can’t emphasize this enough, for today’s lecture I’d like you to take the perspective of a restaurant owner, pretend that you are someone like me who starts a small restaurant because you love cooking and you love bringing enjoyment to people from food.

Will this be enough to guarantee your customer satisfaction and your restaurant success.

The answer is no.

With my first restaurant; I had a great time cooking but I didn’t understand the restaurant as a business and I lost lots of customers and lots of money.

Unfortunately, this is an uncommon; many small independent restaurants don’t succeed. In fact, only about one in five lasts more than five years and this may surprise you, more than half of all restaurants are independent.

According to the US national restaurant Association. We see chain restaurants like Applebee’s and Denny’s everywhere but actually about half of all restaurants are independently owned.

So, what’s the key to a restaurant success. As I said at the outset, there are many factors, but let’s consider one of the most essential factors in the dining experience; ambience.

First, a restaurant owner has to decide what kind of social experience to create for customers; a fun place; upscale; romantic perhaps.

Then the owner must decide how to create that feeling. The type of furniture, lighting the declarations, the music, the table arrangements and the close that the staff where are components that work together to create an overall feeling ambience.

Now, going back to our original two concepts. I’m going to illustrate how ambience and other factors contribute to customer satisfaction and how contrast rules the restaurant business.

Using an example; let’s suppose there is a couple, Justin and Kate, it’s Kate’s birthday. Justin decides to take Kate to an upscale expensive Italian restaurant called Dantes.

Justin calls and makes a reservation for Saturday night at 8 PM. He tells them it’s her birthday. Let’s consider Justin indicates expectations for Saturday night.

As far as the ambience goes their expectations are? Dantes will be quite? with soft music, tablecloths, candles and flowers, gentle lighting, and of course very polite waitstaff.

As for general expectations Justin and Kate are looking forward to a special memorable dinner.

They want to feel pampered. They like the restaurant staff to pay attention and respond to their needs so that everything flows smoothly.

There’s another factor that makes customers feel satisfied.

Of course, they expect delicious food. Dantes is known for its creative menu, Justin Kane are our typical customers with high expectations. How can a restaurant owner like Dante meet those expectations?

First off, the restaurant owner and the staff must have a clear understanding of everything they need to do to make customers happy.

They must also expect to work hard and be very well organized. This is another factor in the success of a restaurant.

So, I was everything that done. Many restaurants like Dantes have a brigade system. A brigade is a group of workers.

One brigade is at the front of the house, here house means restaurant. Of course, they take care of the tables. The other brigade is at the back of the house. The cooks and the ships they take care of the kitchen.

A successful restaurant, the owner and the staff knows how to balance the flow between the front of the house with the customers are and the back of the house, the kitchen.

Now, let’s discuss in detail what happens at Dantes to prepare for typical Saturday night for the front of the house.

The staff make sure the tables are read that everything is clean and water; the flowers, the candles, the music, the lighting, the menu was everything that contributes to the ambience.

For the back of the house, the staff focus on the food itself. Now, back to Justin and Kate.

They arrive at Dantes at 8 pm. there greeted and there led to a beautiful table in a quiet corner.

They enjoy a long leisurely dinner at 10 PM. They walked happily toward the door feeling very content with the whole experience.

What were the two main reasons? Dantes understood what it needed to do both in the front of the house and the back of the house from the ambience to the food, to meet their expectations.

Plus, the restaurant staff worked hard so that Justin and Kate do the opposite.

Relax; success is built on understanding this contrast. Remember, so keep these two concepts in mind as you consider your future as a restaurant owner.