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Luis Saravia
Florida International University
Dining Service Management
Prof. John Masi
March 26th, 2022
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Overall, the book emphasized the restaurant business from the perspective of Danny
Meyer. From the author working at a young age at a restaurant to being a CEO of his own
company, Union Square Hospitality Group. Meyer tells his own experiences into his ventures
while to give students reading this book insight of what can happen at any moment. From
reading the book, I myself can somehow relate to the real-life experiences that happened in the
book as well. From almost having a customer almost being hurt in an instance to providing
excellent service to those who dine alone. The details inscribed within the book help broaden the
meaning of hospitality. It prepares future restaurant owners of what to expect of their career. For
my future, I can take this book with me everywhere I go. With the book and I as a manager
sometime soon in the next couple of weeks or so, I can take the information in the book and
apply it to real life situations. This book helps hone the definition of hospitality and its
carefulness to its guests. What were the major takeaways for this book that are most important to
me? Throughout the book, I was met with a lot of good information that I can use and deliver to
my guests.
Takeaway 1: Understanding the Difference between Service and Hospitality.
Working at the same restaurant for the past 4 years has taught me a lot. In the “The Restaurant
takes Root” chapter of the book, Meyer explains that service is the technical delivery of the
product to the customer whereas hospitality is the delivery with a sense of personality. You listen
to the guest with the appropriate response while being thoughtful and gracious. You can place
anyone in the cash register to take orders or in the front of house to clean tables. Many of them
doing so however they feel like it. They just do it because they just want money and go.
However, it takes someone with great motivation to tend to the guests and bring a good attitude
so the customer can feel welcomed and cared for. I know when I place myself on the register or
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in the expo window, I always try to answer customer questions as clear and precise as possible to
help them. Having it their way and to leave a lasting smile to their face and assuring them of any
help they need to grab one of us. Working under a hospitality group for a while, it created a
sense of work ethic while balancing a positive personality to tend to the guests. As always,
bringing a good hospitable quality to guests makes them want to come back, maybe with more
friends and family.
Takeaway 2: Dining as a solo guest instead of a group.
This one hit me as I read it. Meyer has stated his experience when fine dining restaurants rejected
him when he asked to dine solo. He noted that the service attitude towards him changed instantly
as he ordered the most expensive bottle in the restaurant, which became worthy of the server’s
attention. If a customer orders a menu item that is cheaper than the most expensive dish on the
menu, the hospitality should be constant. The customer should be treated with the upmost respect
regardless of whatever dish they order at whatever price. Solo diners are an important part of
business as they can be the steppingstone to bring more people in. The more people that the solo
diner brings in next time, then those people can bring in more of their own so on and so forth.
Before I started dating my girlfriend and always having someone dining next to me, I would dine
solo at restaurants. I would go to the Miller’s Ale House or the Chili’s on campus at FIU and sit
at the bar and grab some food and a drink to accompany it. It would get lonely sometimes and its
nice to have the bartender or server give beyond good service.
Takeaway 3: People who are not alerted in advance.
I cannot stress how much this relates to me when taking charge of the store. My general manager
has the tendency to not communicate to us about any call outs in the store. It sets us back a lot
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and leaves me to wonder how the hell am I going to run the store when I have 2-3 call outs this
day. I would have to run around the store helping people and talking to guests leaving them
wondering why their food is taking so long. Meyer explains in the “Constant, gentle pressure”
chapter of the book that people would be out of the loop and become angry and hurt when
information isn’t presented to them. They would feel as if as soon they were communicated
about the situation, it had already happened and are already underprepared. Most people that do
not communicate do not realize the snowball effect that can take place when nothing has been
told about a situation. When it already happens, then things can start to fall apart. And when it
does, it becomes harder to take control of the situation. This especially becomes harder when the
poor communication reaches the customer when they have been waiting for the food for long
period of time. This gives them the bad impression of the business and at the end may not end up
coming back to the restaurant ever again. Giving bad word of mouth and spreading to a good
amount of formally potential customers.
Takeaway 4: Staff member as surfers, not servers.
Us as hospitality workers give a good amount of energy into our jobs and careers. As many as
good as we do, there are always going to be mistakes along the way. Meyer describes in his book
that waves are like mistakes, they always happen. There will always be another wave, so the
choice is to get back on the surfboard and anticipate it. We know in our careers there will be
countless upon countless numbers of mistakes, but to get back into action and continue working
creates something that everyone develops working at the restaurant. This quality creates
composure, which is anticipating the mistake and getting back into the loop when it happens.
This serves as a good quality, as restaurants always looks for people who pushes through the
motion when they’re under pressure. During lunch and dinner rush at the restaurant, everyone
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becomes pressured. Our stations become slammed, line out the door, online orders coming in
nonstop, uber drivers asking for names of the order, remaking food for guests on top of the tens
of tickets we have on the board, you name it. It becomes a lot to do especially when
communication becomes poor. But it develops composure as more they experience. They can
work diligently and calmly the more they face a chaotic rush.
Takeaway 5: The 5 As for effectively Addressing mistakes.
Getting back up on the surfboard and riding waves must come with a plan. Without a plan to fix
the problem, then more conflicts can come. Upon reading more in the book, I saw a guide known
as “The Five As for effectively Addressing Mistakes”. To have Awareness to address the
mistake especially if no one else notices it, to Acknowledge to the guest that there has been a
mistake, Apologize to the guests about the mistake that happened, take action and make amends
to resolve it, and provide Additional generosity for more serious mistakes. This makes a very
good connection with the first takeaway of this essay: The difference between service and
hospitality. You are going above and beyond caring for the customer and finding ways to
accommodate them in case such mistake arises. It gives them a good impression that a mistake
has been made and that they have been given something additional in return of their time.
Scenario 1: Addressing any situation before it happens in this scenario. When someone
calls out from their shift, they should contact the General Manager. If the General Manager lets
the rest of the crew know that the person called out, then it gives us time to prepare for the shift.
It would give anyone who is the MOD (Manager on Duty), time to rearrange the shift
accordingly. If there is an ingredient in the store that has been 86’d (Not available), then we can
call for someone from another store to bring it to us as to not disappoint the customers. This
scenario can help us especially before the restaurant opens. If there is an unexpected issue that
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may occur to a guest’s food, then it would be extremely important to let the guest know about it.
By using the 5 As of Addressing the issue, the guests can give us a chance to let us earn back
their favor. It lets them know that we have acknowledged the issue and are working towards
taking action to satisfy them.
Scenario 2: Treating solo diners fairly and evenly as if they’re the VIP of the restaurant.
There is a solo diner that comes into the store and buys juts a draft beer. The guest pays with
cash and coins instead of card. I served the beer to the guest as they sat down to drink. Another
diner sits down to order our Wagyu Burger and Onion rings with a glass of white wine. they pay
with their metallic Apple Card and leaves a tremendous tip to our restaurant. I pour the glass as
they sit down and waits for the food. As soon as I finish taking their order, I would be in the
dining room checking up on guests making sure that their food is good. I walk up to the guests
with their glass of beer and asks how their beer is. From there it may happen to spark up the
conversation of which beer would I prefer more, their origin, and share any beers to try out in the
future. I then walk over to the guest with the burger, rings, and wine and ask them how their food
is. They say it’s amazing and asks where the food is sourced, how do you guys make it, and what
sets us apart from restaurants like Burger King or Wendy’s. From there we would converse about
the food and how our restaurants focuses on being eco-friendly and strives to only use the best
organic ingredients available to us. The two guests are different: One person paid with just cash
and whatever coins they found in their pockets. The other guests paid with their platinum Apple
Card. Did it matter what they paid with? Absolutely Not! It doesn’t how much you have or how
you pay, guests will always be treated fairly and evenly as if you got the most premium item on
the menu.
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This book has given the insight of how hospitality sets the tone for the guests that sits in
our restaurants. Meyer has told stories about his restaurants from being told that many of his
ideas wont work at all to fighting with a drunken guest. I’m more intrigued to even keep the
book myself to improve on my abilities as a restaurant manager. It ties to many real-life events
that can occur in my time in the restaurant to help guests feel welcomed and to address any
situation that may occur. Providing exceptional hospitality to my guests in my restaurant is the
driving goal that sets the stone for others. This book sets the example for future owners opening
a restaurant to expect the unexpected.