Service Journals

Thursday, October 4th, 2012

Total Restaurant Covers: 188 customers ($5,135.66) My Total Covers (Lounge): 19 customers My Total Sales (Lounge): $914.44 My Check Average (Lounge): $70.34 Job Done Today: Lounge server shadowing Greg Hutchinson Busy/Slow/In Between: In between. With the function in the wine room we got a little busy Why: Leaf-Peeping season brings us steady revenue; The delicious and popular autumn cuisine; Farm-totable greatness! Challenge: Taking orders. I need to establish abbreviations and study the menu more Application Question (Dining Room Etiquette): - Stood with a smile on my face and my hands wrapped behind my back, letting customers know I am more than willing to assist them. - Held the plate with a sideways thumb, and a pinky finger up for stacking purposes.

Friday, October 5th, 2012

Total Restaurant Covers: 206 customers My Total Covers (Mollie's total covers): 206 customers My Total Sales (Mollie's total sales): $6064.31 My Check Average (Mollie's check average): $29.44 per customer/ 63.17 per check Job Done Today: Host, with the most! Shadowed Esteban/Mollie/Dan Busy/Slow/In Between: We were pretty busy Why?: Fall foliage/ Clear skies/ Delicious menu/ My shining smile! High Point: Beverly, Mollie, and Esteban all enjoyed my company and appreciated my hard work. At one point near the end of the night Dan (manager) said I deserve an A+! And both Mollie and Beverly wanted me to come back the next night to help out, and I certainly would have if I had not weekend plans. It was a good day and I hope I can continue to impress all of my instructors. Challenge?: Because of my youngster lingo, I frequently said something like, "Right this way guys" when I should have been saying, "Right this way folks" or, "Right this way ladies and gentlemen". Dan called me out on it, and I got a little bit better, but I still found myself saying "Guys", which isn't appropriate. Otherwise I think I grasped the host station fairly well. Application Question (Use of Menu Knowledge): As a host I wasn't able to describe many of the menu items to the guests, but I did explain to them what Tapas were in general and going over the menu helped me grasp the idea of tapas and convince some guests who wanted dinner to have a more casual lounge or patio experience.

Wednesday, October 10th, 2012

Total Restaurant Covers: 153 guests My Total Covers (Crocker's total covers): 6 guests My Total Sales (Crocker's total sales): $218.07 My Check Average (Crocker's check average): $36.345 The Job Done Today: Server, shadowing Crocker Busy/ Slow/ In Between?: It felt in between. But when I heard the total covers I was actually surprised we did so many... I would have guessed we did fewer than 80 tables. Why?: Our food is awesome, and we tend to have steady business even on Wednesdays, which is a really good thing. People love the farm to table, and I heard multiple reviews from foreign guests tonight saying that this was their best meal either in the region or since they've been in the United States. High Point/ Success: I actually was able to take an order when becoming familiar with our dinner menu, and was pretty successful. Also I'm getting more and more familiar with the Aloha system, and it's taking me less and less time to locate the items, put in orders, and close orders. One Challenge: I tend to get nervous when put on the spot, making myself stutter or mix up my words. I just need to feel more relaxed, which will probably just come with time... I'm a rather timid individual. Application Question (Most Expensive Menu Item? Why?): I think on our dinner menu that the GrassFed beef is probably the most expensive dish to produce. Beef, even when not locally raised is pretty expensive, and anything that is local and organic ups the price (and quality of course) drastically. Also beef takes a lot of preparation and I assume the percent Yield is pretty low, raising the Edible Portion price.

Thursday, October 11th, 2012

Total Restaurant Covers: 166 guests My Total Covers (Tyler's Total Covers): 53 guests My Total Sales (Tyler's Total Sales): $2002.12 My Check Average (Tyler's Check Average): $37.78 Job Done Today: Food runner/busser with Tyler Busy/Slow/In Between: It felt moderately busy; in between I guess. Why?: Again we usually have steady business because people love our restaurant in whole. It's great to see that we have steady business every night of the week, and it's encouraging and lovely to see that people support their local economy and farm-to-table cuisine. Our world is precious, and without the people's support it's likely to crumble. I'd love to see our restaurant sold out each night, but 80+ parties on average is great. High Point/Success: I don't think I placed the wrong dish in front of a customer once; I'm becoming more and more familiar and comfortable with the table and seat numbers. One Challenge: The most challenging aspect of food running is being able to memorize the food to seat number and picture the whole layout of the restaurant in my head while doing so. With this said, I did very well. If it was busier I probably would have had more errors. Application Question (Host Interaction/Host Tasks): I didn't do much interacting with the host; I didn't have a particular section but it seemed to be balanced throughout the servers almost perfectly; I saw the host meeting, greeting, sitting, clearing extra place settings, and helping wherever needed, all with a big smile on their face.

Tuesday, October 16th, 2012

Total Restaurant Covers: 177 Guests My Total Covers (Anja's Total Covers): 23 Guests My Total Sales (Anja's Total Sales): $396.89 My Check Average (Anja's Check Average): $17.26 Job Done Today: Bar-back to Anja and Brian and overall restaurant assistance. Busy/Slow/In Between: In between. Personally I thought it felt slow, but the numbers show we had pretty average business. Why?: Some people cancelled reservations, but I think we had a good amount of walk-ins. Also the weather's getting colder, the sun's setting sooner, and people's homes are just so warm compared to the outdoors. I would assume that with this advancing season that business will start to die off, but I hope NECI on Main can prove me wrong. High Point: I was able to get down the pour of 1.5 oz. portions of liqueur, also both Brain and Anja appreciated my company and asked if I would be interested in returning sometime next week to lend a hand and learn more in depth. Challenge: It was tough to read the ticket and find the wine coinciding. This is probably because I lack a lot of wine knowledge, and I'm sure with repetition and practice this skill will come easily. Application Question (Encountering Special Guests): I did not encounter any types of special guest this evening.

Thursday, October 18th, 2012

Total Restaurant Covers: 142 guests My Total Covers (Anja's Total Covers): 14 guests My Total Sales (Anja's Total Sales): $622.30 My Check Average (Anja's Check Average): $44.45 The Job Done Today: Server, "shadowing" Anja Busy/Slow/In Between: At first it was slow, we were about to send Colby home because we really didn't have many on the books and it didn't seem many walk-ins were coming in, but right when we were about to do so people started arriving, and I guess the lounge got swamped with business randomly near the end of service. Why?: Good food, good vibes, good people. Success: I took a table all on my own and got a great review from them. I'm starting to get a hang of this serving job and a lot of the front of the house in general. Entering things is much easier and communicating with guests is much less intimidating. Challenge: I still sometimes resort to my youngster lingo and say "guys", but at least I catch myself when I do it. I just need more practice, and I hope I can get some paid shifts even as a server/food runner/whatever. Application Question (Menu Item Suggestion): I did actually suggest some items, even when all on my own. I was able to get one lady to purchase the daily market beef and got her and her friend to purchase multiple glasses of wine.

Friday, October 19th, 2012

Total Restaurant Covers: 131 guests My Total Covers: 84 guests My Total Sales: $2,966.24 My Check Average: $35.31 Job Done Today: Food Runner/ Busser Busy/Slow/In Between: If was feeling slow at first, with not many reservations on the books, but it picked up with walk-ins. The amount of business is still pretty good. Why?: It was a rainy and gloomy Friday. A cool and uninviting atmosphere lingered in the outdoors. Success: It didn't really have to do with my job, but I'm getting better at identifying aromas and flavors in wine. Challenge: I misplaced some items because I messed up the seat orders once in a while in my head. Application Question (Unique Serving Styles): I personally haven't experienced many unique service styles. My home town doesn't have much to offer in the area of extravagant service, I was also a pretty picky eater as a youngster. Even in China I never encountered out-of-the-ordinary serving styles; just interesting food.