Setting the Table: The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business
Turning Over the Rock
This chapter is about engaging with customers and forming a relationship with them. Gathering information about customers helps a business owner offer what customers want. Meyer (2006) says, “The more information you collect, the more frequently you can make meaningful connections that can make other people feel good and give you an edge in business” (Meyer, Turning Over the Rock, 2006, p. 81). Often it is obvious that a customer is unhappy or well-pleased and it is written on their face. Meyer (2006) also says that the standard “the customer is always right” mantra is no longer the case. He likes to tell people they are wrong while still keeping them happy and engaged.
The many suggestions Meyer (2006) offers about how to pull off the fact that the customer not always being right and still keep the customer can be helpful in a tense situation. However, customers are wise to the way businesses no longer consider them “always right.” Having a code that alerts co-workers to a potentially bad situation is good, but customers do not go out to eat or to go shopping to be told that what they want is wrong. It might be better if one were to make them feel right even if they are wrong. That would be the true measure of management perfection, but it is difficult. It might be best to practice scenarios before they occur.
The 51 Percent Solution
This chapter is about the staff. They have to be good people and good workers. The 51 percent is emotional job performance and the remaining 49 is the technical job performance. That means that a worker can be slow, but if they have a warm personality, the customer will forgive their lack of speed. “An executive or business owner should pack a team with 51 percenters, because training them in the technical aspects will then come far more easily” (Meyer, The 51 Percent Solution, 2006, p. 142). Some people just need a job and do not enjoy the work, so they will not be good employees.
Meyer (2006) lists the emotional skills that are needed for the 51 percent. They are the typical skills such as optimism, intelligence, work ethic, awareness, empathy and integrity to which most people are attracted. Meyer (2006) says that the technical job performance can be taught. The emotional job performance cannot be taught. It is best to hire people who have the skills listed above rather than hiring them and hoping they develop them.
The Road to Success is Paved...
In this chapter, Meyer (2006) talks about how it is okay to make mistakes in business because every mistake is a learning experience. Meyer (2006) says, “When you acknowledge a mistake and genuinely express your regret at having made it, guests will almost always give you a chance to earn back their favor” (Meyer, The Road to Success is Paved with Mistakes Well Handled, 2006, p. 222). He lists the 5 As for addressing mistakes: awareness, acknowledgement, apology, action and additional generosity. The chapter is full of examples of how restaurants make various mistakes such as not having seating available, serving the wrong food, and refusing to break policies about seating extra people at a reserved table. Usually the mistake is recompensed by offering a free bottle of wine, a free meal (sometimes at another restaurant), or going to the patrons’ home to remove a bottle of champagne from the freezer before it exploded and leaving chocolates and caviar to go along with it.
This chapter teaches that mistakes can be learning experiences. Meyer (2006) explains that when things like refusals to break policy occur, those are easy mistakes to not make: just break the policy. Other mistakes like not having open tables for patrons who had traveled a long distance is not so easy, and no one’s fault. That just requires some additional generosity after becoming aware of the mistake, acknowledging the mistake, apologizing for the mistake and taking action to fix the mistake. It is better to go to a little extra expense to keep a long-time customer than to let them go off in a huff never to return to the restaurant. Their long term business is worth more than the extra expense to fix the mistake.
Constant, Gentle Pressure
Meyer (2006) begins this chapter by saying: “Three hallmarks of effective leadership are to provide a clear vision for your business so that your employees know where you’re taking them; to hold people accountable for consistent standards of excellence; and to communicate a well-defined set of cultural priorities and nonnegotiable values” (Meyer, Constant Gentle Pressure, 2006, p. 187). Meyer (2006) explains that when he was in his 20s and trying to manage a restaurant, another restaurant owner friend of his demonstrated using a salt shaker how management works, which is that things are always off, but a good leader can put them back right. That is the leader’s job. Meyer says that managers should teach the entire staff how to keep things running on rather than off. They should also have a core strategy. His is to always be improving.
This chapter teaches that good restaurant leadership is continuously fixing the numerous problems that can occur in one dinner shift. Leadership also includes teaching the staff how to keep things running smoothly. Meyer (2006) has a strategy of always improving, which is also a good lesson to take from this chapter. By learning from mistakes and taking on new challenges, good leaders can become great leaders. If a restaurant is always improving, then their patrons continue to patronize them.
References
Meyer, D. (2006). Constant Gentle Pressure. In Setting the Table (pp. 187-218). New York: Harper Collins.
Meyer, D. (2006). The 51 Percent Solution. In Setting the Table (pp. 139-160). New York: Harper Collins. Retrieved November 8, 2019
Meyer, D. (2006). The Road to Success is Paved with Mistakes Well Handled. In Setting the Table (pp. 219-236). New York: Harper Collins.
Meyer, D. (2006). Turning Over the Rock. In Setting the Table (pp. 77-96). New York: Harper Collins.
