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Posts with tag food service

The food stinks: speak up or zip it?

table and chairs set up at a restaurantAt Cornell University, The Center for Hospitality Research has released a study on communicating complaints, showing that the severity of complaints at restaurants often corresponds with the way in which people give the complaints. The study confirms what you probably guessed -- that the harshest complaints are frequently given face-to-face, though some people offer such complaints via written letters as well.

Additionally, study respondents reported that issues relating to food and food service were the "worst failures" that a restaurant could have. Researchers therefore found it "puzzling" that respondents also said that complaints about factors that unrelated related to food or service (such as atmosphere) were the main factors in determining whether a customer would choose to never return to a certain establishment. Though I might not speak up about it, I think a hair in my food or something is the number one thing that would prevent me from returning somewhere, you?

Speeding up the drive-thru

drive thru menuWith drive-thru service now accounting for up to 70% of fast food sales, the mind boggles to hear that companies are trying to speed up their drive thru service. One method of speeding up service is to route calls to call centers - instead of simply receiving them inside the restaurant over a speaker or radio - to increase accuracy. Companies have found this to be relatively effective, particularly in areas where their employees have limited English skills. The call centers enter the menu items onto a central computer, which transmits the order directly into the restaurant's computers. Another strategy is to replace the traditional written menu board with a photo illustrated or digital one, hoping that tempting food imagery will help customers choose their food faster. There are even computer programs that average how much food needs to be cooking at any given moment.

Continue reading Speeding up the drive-thru

Food service rant: when managers 'share' tips

bartenders should not have to tip out managersMy husband and my sister-in-law are both currently working in food service, he a part-time caterer while he returns to school, she a table-waiting lifer. Both have recently been involved in that dreaded of all most crooked food service behavior: the manager who wants in on the tips.

For J., who usually tends bar and has a knack for earning a boatload of tips, one manager in particular has been tipping herself out of the bartender's pool at the end of the night. She's the only manager in the company who does it and he won't report her (though I've suggested it) because, he tells me, she's so miserable. Life is not treating her right - who is he to make it worse?

I say, though, it's a matter of principle. Food service workers may not share a very large body of common ethics, but there are two that are universal: (1) always tip generously when being waited upon by others and (2) managers may be paid less than they deserve but they never, no never, get tipped out.

Continue reading Food service rant: when managers 'share' tips

Tip of the Day

Buying ice each day for a road trip or camping journey can be such a pain. Consider (safely) using dry ice as an alternative.

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