Terms of Service: Philly restaurants dish about treating customers right
Please note: This article is published as an archive copy from Philadelphia City Paper. My City Paper is not affiliated with Philadelphia City Paper. Philadelphia City Paper was an alternative weekly newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The last edition was published on October 8, 2015.
From the greeting to goodnight, a polished front-of-house service is the link that brings together the perfect meal.
Eilon Gigi, general manager of the recently opened Abe Fisher restaurant, was born into hospitality. “My parents are Moroccan and hospitality was really a part of my childhood,” he says.
Gigi’s dad was a bartender and a server on merchant marine and cruise ships, and he eventually became a chef. His mom is an amazing Moroccan cook, he says.
“Whenever people came to the house they were immediately offered Campari, little mezze [small plates]. That’s what I grew up with. Whenever people come into any establishment that I’m in, I just want them relive to those times from my childhood when my parents were so good at hosting. It’s second nature to me,” Gigi says.
Hospitality service should be second nature. Think about it. When you’re describing a particularly positive restaurant meal, the first topic of conversation is the food. Maybe you’ll also discuss striking decor, particularly distinctive restrooms or a bustling open kitchen, but service is rarely mentioned.
That’s not an accident. In restaurants with the best service, steps are taken to ensure that guests are well taken care of — that all their needs are met and all their questions answered, that water glasses are full and special requests are taken into consideration. Being able to meet all points in an unobtrusive way, at a pace that keeps the evening moving seamlessly, is an intrinsic element of the experience. It’s also one that doesn’t come easily.
Ellen Yin, owner of Fork, High Street on Market and a.kitchen and a.bar, breaks it down this way: “Number one, you have to be a pleaser, that has to be inherent in you.”
Yin began her career in hospitality at an early age, working as a busgirl at Fromagerie, a storied French restaurant in Monmouth County, N.J. Her mother was a great cook and her father had no qualms about inviting company over on weekends. For Yin, there was something natural about the progression from home entertaining to fine French dining. Yin says she loved working her way up from bussing to serving.
With Fork in the prime of its adolescence and three newcomers under her belt, Yin has taken the “pleaser” mentality and transformed it into a mini empire of restaurants.
As much as you might expect Yin to have secrets to cultivating the high level of hospitality that exists in her restaurants, she breaks it down to just a few points of service that are quite simple.
“I always tell the staff — however you say it — don’t say, ‘no.’ We phrase things in a way that gives people options. If someone calls asking for a reservation at 7 o’clock, I don’t say, ‘No, sorry, I’m booked.’ I say, ‘Oh, 7 o’clock? Could you do 7:30? Would 6:45 work?’ That’s how I try to think of service.”
Little things, like taking the word “no” out of rotation, does wonders — as does recognition. With 17 years at Fork, Yin’s created quite a following and countless regulars that she greets nightly. For her, seeing her clientele grow is part of the satisfaction. She remembers chef Greg Vernick coming into Fork when he was a teenager.
But the growth doesn’t end with regulars. A handpicked staff and high a level of service can mean lots of room to grow. Yin has seen plenty of her staffers rise in the ranks, some even making their way from bussers to managers.
“It’s bigger than just a service component,” she explains. “It’s the bigger picture. I love service. I love seeing people respond positively.”
Val Safran and her chef partner, Marcie Turney, single-handedly transformed 13th Street into a dining destination with Lolita, Barbuzzo, Jamonera and Little Nonna’s. (They are planning to open Bud & Marilyn’s in 2015.)
With each of the restaurants seating between 50 and 75 people and with a constant influx of diners, the mood at their places is energetic. Space is tight, lights are low and tables refill minutes after seats are vacated.
Before getting into the hospitality game full-time, Safran was an eighth-grade Spanish teacher. “When you have employees, it’s almost like teaching in a classroom. They want structure. They want to know that they’re going into an environment that has order, that’s organized, that’s under control.”
For Safran, the power is in hiring. She still does all of the hiring for all of her restaurants. “If they don’t have experience, that’s OK, I’m looking for someone who’s just a nice person,” she says.
This might seem overly simple, but for Safran it’s a formula that works. She’s a big believer in making sure guests at each table know exactly who their server is, and to have that server taking care of them from soup to nuts. This creates a level of comfort that keeps things personal in restaurants that are pretty much always bustling.
When it comes to service, Safran takes a refreshingly humble approach. She strives to be a role model for her managers so that they can, in turn, be role models to their staff. But there’s more to it than that. “You can’t be the best or the smartest. You have to find people who are better than you with whatever you do. It’s only going to make it better for everyone,” she says.
Just around the corner at Vetri, general manager Bobby Domenick encounters a different sort of fast-paced service.
“One thing that works to our advantage is the size, we have about 30 seats, [an] intimate setting that almost makes you feel like you’re in someone’s living room or dining room. We really like to get to know all of the guests that come here,” Domenick explains.
And while the townhouse dining room might seem cozy and laid-back, Vetri’s tasting-menu format means that 30-plus plates arrive at any given table over the course of the meal. “That’s a lot of hands running the food out of the kitchen, it’s ever-moving,” Domenick says. “But from the guest’s point of view, it comes across as very serene. Service is in the background.”
The concept of service existing in the background is one that comes up over and over again. Lauren Shandelman is general manager of Fountain Restaurant at the Four Seasons Hotel. In a place with so much history and such loyal clientele, Shandelman finds that attention to detail and anticipating guests’ needs are the most important elements of service.
“Before I arrived, this place had quite the reputation,” she says. And maintaining a certain level of hospitality is a little easier when several staff members have more than 15 years of experience.
Back at Abe Fisher, Gigi is the first to admit that as much as he and his staff strive for impeccable service, sometimes mistakes happen. Quoting hospitality impresario Danny Meyer, Gigi says, “The road to success is paved with mistakes well-handled.” Instead of dwelling on blips in service, Gigi prefers to use them as leverage to a good experience.
“Have them leave thinking about how good of an experience it was, how we reacted rather than the mistake that happened. That’s what I look for all of the time. The food, all of those things are amazing, but they’re not as lasting as the memories that you have from how you were taken care of at a restaurant,” Gigi says.
At the end of the day, for Gigi and other front-of-house pros, it’s all about intuition. “Hospitality is like being a psychologist, a hunter and a ninja, all at the same time. It’s the ability to read everything that happens, assess it, analyze it and act. And a lot of it is without any words,” he says.
