By Wendy Waren, VP of Communications for the Louisiana Restaurant Association. This article ran in the LRA Fall 2013 A La Carte magazine as part of the ongoing series, Beverage Beat.
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Jacob Briars receives the "Golden Spirit" award at Tales
of the Cocktail in 2010 for his informative and funny
presentations, and for his passion for connecting spirits
and cocktails to their broader cultural context. |
The Art and Philosophy of Hospitality was one of the most
well attended seminars at the 11th Annual Tales of the Cocktail, a
five-day cocktail conference that took place July 17-21, 2013 in New Orleans.
Nearly 200 industry professionals—owners, managers and bartenders—packed into a
Royal Sonesta ballroom to hear from four of the leading bartending pros in the
world.
“What has now been the topic for the last couple of years is:
Have we lost sight of service? Are we now so focused on producing the perfect
cocktails, using the very best ingredients and products?” asked Jacob Briars,
head of training and education for Barcardi. “Understanding the history and the
very fundamental part of bartending that is taking care of your guests and
giving a warm hospitable feeling to every person that walks through your door.”
Panelist Ludovic Miazga perfected the art of cocktail making
at some of France’s top establishments before making his mark on the London
cocktail scene as the manager of one of the world’s most highly acclaimed bars,
Milk and Honey. He kicked off the seminar with a little history lesson on
hospitality.
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Ludovic Miazga shares his insight of cocktail and culinary
pairings with guests of the exclusive D'USSE Cognac
event at the Degas House in New Orleans, July 17, 2013. |
“Hospitality has its origin as the word host,” informs
Miazga. “But it wasn’t always a very welcoming term. Often it meant to prepare
yourself to receive your opponents.”
The contemporary definition centers on the relationship
process between a guest and a host, connected to the entertainment world, to deliver
an experience for something that you know or even don’t know. The root of
hospitality is respect.
“Hospitality is about ownership and training, individuality,
confidence, being authentic and sincere,” said Colin Peter Field, of the Hotel
Ritz in Paris.
Field knew he wanted to be a bartender when he was 14 and
took a study trip to Paris. As the head bartender at the Hotel Ritz in Paris
since 1994, his philosophy on the art of hospitality has earned him numerous
awards and twice named the World’s Best Bartender by Forbes Magazine.
“Don’t ever ask guests if they’d like a drink half way
through the beverage they are drinking,” said Field. “Remember, you are not in
your house, the guest is not in his house, but as a bartender you are there
much more often, so be a gracious host. In a bar setting, never tell people
where to sit, let them seat where they will feel comfortable.”
In France, the hotel schools, all 137 of them, specialize in
hotel training—meats, wines, whiskey, scotch, vodkas, service and etiquette—in the
first two years. In 1984, France’s Minister of Education added a degree for
bartenders in the country with an additional one year of educational
training. Field developed the bartending
degree curriculum over the course of 10 years.
“The visual aspect of the establishment is 55 percent of a
guest’s experience – clean cloths, tidy bar, clean bathrooms,” said Miazga.
“You should be able to hear the melody of the bar tools, avoid unfavorably
smells, no fruit flies, no smell of cigarettes on hands and the tangible like
the garnishes, engagement, glassware and menus.”
Originally from Czechoslovakia, Alex Kratena is one of the
UK’s leading mixologist and has worked in various establishments from New York
to Tokyo, in Michelin start restaurants and 5-star deluxe hotels.
“Bartending is really about common sense,” said Kratena. “Great service is about three things, planning, expectations and
measuring success.”
Kratena encourages managers to involve everyone in the
operations and creative planning process. He says leaders provide the vision
and make sure the ladder is against the right wall, while managers focus on how
the team can climb the ladder most efficiently. Including the entire team may
improve creativity and efficiency and as a result, the bottom line.
“How do you measure success?” asked a seminar attendee.
Although it seems very corporate, Kratena encourages secret
shopping on a regular basis. In addition to self-assessments and staff
performance reviews, having a third party to visit the establishment several
times at various times of the day is a real indicator of how well the staff is
doing in providing exceptional customer service.
Zdenek Kastanek, hailing from the Czech Republic and
bartender at 28 HongKong Street in Singapore, credits his mother with giving
him the book “Everything I Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten,” which he
reads regularly.
“The book teaches you everything you need to know to be a
good man,” said Kastanek. “Don’t steal anything, put things back where you
found them and don’t hit anyone. I’d recommend this book for any person who
wants to be a bartender or work in the hospitality industry.”
Increasing the awareness of the bartending profession is the
goal of Tales of Cocktail and the underlying message of all of the panelists.
Kastanek seeks to educate and remove the public assumption that individuals are
working in a bar or restaurant because they are in school or can’t find
anything better.
“Staff selection is key to creating a successful bar
business,” said Miazga. “Women tend to drink less behind the bar and have less of
an ego than men.”
Miazga recommends establishing a standard of service guide.
In his 12-page handbook for staff, he includes an overview of the business, the
rules of the house, staff responsibilities, tasks to do all the time, speed of
service, floor responsibilities and closing procedure.
Miazga’s Standard of
Service Guide’s Staff responsibilities:
1.
Be on time.
2.
Be ready for service.
3.
Be sure to eat your staff meal before or after
opening.
4.
Take ownership of the space.
5.
Make guests feel welcome.
6.
Enter everything into the POS system, including
ALL accidental drinks, off wine, flat champagne, etc.
7.
Keep your work environment tidy and clean (all
floors, office, staff room, stock room and even the bathroom).
8.
Speed of service (drink delivery), food and
upselling.
9.
Attention to details and awareness of
building—candles on, music, napkins, ashtrays, ambiance.
10.
Give customers what they want, within reason.
11.
Do not give excuses, find solutions.
“Never say hello and goodbye the same way twice,” advises
Field. “’Are you leaving already?’ ‘When will we see you again?’ ‘Oh, you’re
heading out?’ Saying it differently each time keeps you authentic and sincere.”
Miazga referenced a quote that he always keeps top of mind
by American poet Maya Angelou, “’People will forget what you told them, people
will forget who you are, but people will never forget how you made them feel.’”
He concluded with, “To serve is to love.”
That’s because Haley Bittermann, corporate
executive chef for Ralph Brennan’s Red
Fish Grill, found a more sustainable and efficient way to manage its
cooking oil. Bittermann installed an automated
oil management system from Restaurant Technologies, Inc. (RTI) in the restaurant,
which is known for its seafood specialties. Just 60 days after implementing the
RTI system, oil usage at Red Fish Grill decreased 48 percent. 
