These days, I hear a lot of criticism of people who work in service in the restaurant industry.
After two years of withdrawing into oneself and in the current economic context, expectations are high when it comes time to treat yourself to an evening at a restaurant. At the dawn of the holiday season and in this era of benevolence, I appeal to your patience, your courtesy and your understanding. Being a better customer is also a way of supporting the tourism, hotel and restaurant industry.
An industry in remission
Our industry has been among the hardest hit by the pandemic. Our restaurateurs and restaurateurs are struggling to recover and are encountering serious recruitment problems, I am the first to deplore this. But I firmly believe in finding the balance between very short-term needs (finding staff) and medium-term objectives (finding staff who can provide an impeccable customer experience, from reservation to invoice).
If the art of drinking well and eating well is at the base of the gastronomic experience, that of welcoming well is at its heart. The relationship with the customer is first built in the dining room.
Thanks to our restaurateurs who are committed to showcasing our excellent Quebec products, our culinary culture has been enriched in recent years. However, it is essential for waiters and waitresses to know how to offer them, to develop the vocabulary to present them and to be able to suggest wines that will sublimate them… Service is an integral part of the culinary experience, we tend to forget it.
The art of service can be learned!
Today, more than ever, I remain convinced that a well-trained workforce is essential.
In-service training makes it possible to develop know-how and interpersonal skills, in order to become better advisers, to better meet the needs of customers, while meeting the commercial imperatives of the employer.
With trained staff, everyone wins. A quality experience will make the customer feel like they got what they paid for (literally and figuratively). He will even want to introduce his friends and family to the right address. The employer will thus make his clientele the ambassador of his brand and the impact on his turnover can only be positive. The service-trained person will realize their value and are likely to see their skills impacting their portfolio as well. The delighted tourist will recommend the Quebec destination to his network. Let us recall here that in addition to being a hub of our cultural identity, our gastronomy and the restaurant sector represent an important economic engine for Quebec.
When you visit a country, go out to a restaurant or sleep in a hotel, you are not just looking to discover a place, eat well or sleep comfortably. You want to live an experience. It is in this sense that we train all our students at the ITHQ, including future waiters, maîtres d’hôtel, room managers and sommeliers by trade.
If you come across talented waitresses and waiters, a good tip is always appreciated. But I also encourage you to give them your compliments. Encourage them to pursue a career in this wonderful field and above all… to come and train!
Liza Frulla, general manager of the ITHQ