Featured Post

Free Bread

Amidst a pandemic, particularly in the United States, being a Restaurant Manager has provided a series of character building experiences.

Those of us that have survived thus far continue to face new challenges daily, as ever-changing Stay-at-Home Orders and Lockdowns limit the scope of our businesses, and our ability to provide service in our communities.

As we muddle through these uncharted waters, we are forced to refocus our efforts daily, creating new ways to ‘stay in the ring’, so to speak. Some brands have focused primarily on marketing, while others have stripped down the staff, leaving only managers and cooks to run the business. Lighted tents brighten parking lots in shopping centers, and makeshift drive-thru spaces have become popular.

Whatever efforts we are making to drive traffic, in whatever capacity we are allowed to do so, we can not lose sight of what always brings our guests back; Excellent Customer Service.

Before you head to work today, think for a moment about what the people in your particular community are going through in their daily lives.

Is there a stay-at-home order in place?

Are children attending school in their bedrooms, on laptops?

Are grandparents missing their grandchildren, having had their first Christmas without them?

Tensions are high, depression is sweeping the nation, and the uncertainty of what’s at the other end of this is overwhelming to us all.

So what can you do, as a Restaurant Manager, to provide a brief moment of joy?

The simplest act of kindness goes such a long way. In some cases, going out to pick up take-out food is the only time your guest may leave the house. Human interaction is very limited right now for the large majority. When they do go out, if it isn’t a pleasant experience, they will not be returning. On the flip side, if you can make a stressed out mother, whose four children are learning virtually, laugh out loud, or unload her day, she will definitely be back!

In my restaurant, I have started including bread and butter in every take-out order. I can not adequately describe the level of gratitude I witness, time and again, when I tell a guest “We put some bread and butter in there for you as well”.

The “complimentary bread basket” is something we offer guests who dine with us, though the company chose to change the policy so that it was only provided upon request. The policy change was well before the pandemic struck, and has not been revised.

Fortunately, I am given the freedom to run my shifts as I see fit, so long as it suits the interest of the business.

So, free bread it is.