The Big Day Approaches

Tomorrow is Valentines Day and my crew is all pumped up to spread love throughout our restaurant and to our guests! Everyone was working on writing special messages of kindness and love to leave on a random table or somewhere in the restaurant for a guest to find. Tomorrow morning, though it's my day off, I'm going in right before open and, like a fairy of love and kindness, I will sprinkle joy all around our restaurant! Although some of our guests "don't get it" when they receive a love letter, I'm confident that on Valentine's Day, the reception will be much better, much easier to understand. I'm bringing snacks for the team too, to help them get through this busy day.

Seriously, just the fact that my whole crew is excited to do something completely selflessly for our guests is such a huge step forward for us! It is a culture change in itself!

One of the best letters I made, if you ask me. Hope it brightened someone's day.

It has been so much fun sharing the joy of watching people be surprised by a nice letter left on their table. It's as if we all have this fun secret that we can't wait to share with others. When I leave it on a server's table, I pull them aside and ask, "Has your guest seen the letter?" If the server didn't notice it, she'll say, "What letter?" with big eyes, surprised that her guests received one. Then we'll keep an eye on them together and report back to each other as we wait for the guest to discover our surprise. The server tells me any kind of reaction the guest shared with her and I smile. If the guest doesn't "get it" - they seem confused or maybe even a little "weirded out" as one server put it - then I just shrug. Not everyone will understand. I say, maybe they'll look up The World Needs More Love Letters online, then they'll get it.

A note of encouragement can be a powerful thing for anyone.

As I mentioned before, the team really loves finding the ones I leave for them. I've decided to continue leaving love notes for the team even after February. It is such a fun way to let them know how appreciated they are, to let them see that they are valued. And hiding the little notes is like hiding easter eggs for kids! So much fun!

Everyone wants to know that they are important, that they matter. Tell them!

It's going to be a BIG DAY tomorrow and I'm so excited! I'm going to make some love letters right now to prepare!

Love Letters - 7 Days

It's one week into the 28 Days of Love Letters movement that I started at my restaurant. So far the responses have ranged from general confusion to sincere gratitude. I haven't been there to witness each and every recipient open the card or hear the reaction, but I'll share the ones I know.

One - The Older Couple

This pair in their late 50s-early 60s, I'd guess, received my first love letter in the restaurant. I set it on table 43 at the beginning of the dinner rush and no one saw me. I kept buzzing past their table, glancing to see if they had found it and opened it. Finally, I saw it lying open on the table. They stated to their server that it was really nice, but gave no indication that they knew or cared where it came from. Which was nice. That's kind of the point. A random act of kindness from a random person. Doesn't matter who.

Two - The Menu Mistake

A party of four adults in their late 40s, I'd guess, sat down to dinner. I had slipped a love letter inside one of the menus in a kind of Russian Roulette move. Who would get it? I'd never know. But the host knew which one it was and what table it ended up on. The gentleman who found it tucked inside his menu kept the menu in front of him on the table for his entire meal. Everyone else happily surrendered their menus when the server collected them, but his lay under his unwrapped silverware and the server didn't want to ask about it. Finally, at the very end of his meal, he said to his server, "I found this in my menu." He was very confused about it. The server said, "Yes, that's for you." She was a cheerful girl who is very supportive of the Love Lettering Movement. She attempted to explain the idea behind it but it ended up being very awkward and I think they left more confused than anything. From then on, I have been coaching the crew to play dumb if their guests ask about it and just say, "I don't know. It looks like it's for you!" I'm also no longer placing the letters in menus (with the exception of possibly Valentine's Day) because it seems too direct - as if I have hand-picked that person to be the recipient - and it makes it appear that it is from the host team, which gets awkward.

Three - Left Behind

At least two tables have left behind the card, after having opened it. Maybe they are trying to be nice and brighten the day of the next person to sit there. Maybe they just don't give a crap. I take the card and put it in a new envelope and, essentially, re-gift it. It bums me out when they leave it behind though.

Four - Caught in the Act

The dinner rush had just started and I picked an empty table that had people sitting all around it. I thought I could be sly about it. First, I visited the couple at table 404, right next to my target table - for one, I wanted to make sure they were enjoying their visit with us, and for two, I wanted to seem less conspicuous. Then I did the same for the nice family at booth 402 right across from the target table. No one seemed to notice when I went to table 403 and slid the card inside the drink menu sitting on the table. I turned to walk away, but something stopped me. What if the people who sit there don't find it? It was pretty well hidden in the menu. Stupidly, I turned around to fix it, to make sure whoever sat there next would be sure to find it. I pulled it out from between the pages of the menu and I leaned it against the salt & pepper shaker, facing out so they would see it as soon as they sat down. Pleased with this new placement, I turned around to see the man at table 404 staring right at the card. Son of a biscuit! Busted. I walked away, embarrassed, praying that they would finish eating before 403 got sat so my cover wouldn't be blown. Luckily that's just what happened. Hopefully they just thought I was placing the card there for a guest for a birthday celebration or something, like one might put flowers on a table to surprise a loved one at the guest's request.

Five - The Young Couple

I got to see a 20-something couple receive one of the love letters. I definitely expected it to go over very well with them. I feel like this More Love Letters thing is more tailored toward a younger generation. Or maybe just those folks not hardened by age, or circumstance, or the apathy of strangers. They seemed pleased. They didn't mention anything about it to their server. And they took it with them. Maybe they looked up the website. Maybe they showed all their friends. Maybe they tweeted it and shared it on facebook. Maybe they're writing love letters to strangers right now as I type this! One can hope.

Negative Feedback

I have received a small amount of negative feedback. One server who was sweetly encouraging me said that some of the other servers have said, "Don't you think that's a little creepy?" She defended the idea, saying "I think it's beautiful! It's so positive and uplifting and people should share more random acts of kindness and less negativity."

A boss always expects at least a little negative feedback from her crew. It's just human nature. I wasn't expecting it from my own colleague, however. But that's what I got when I looked in the manager log and saw this note scribbled: "Do you really think this love letter thing is a good idea?" I took a long time thinking about what he said. I considered the fact that if my boss - the General Manager - had not been out on medical leave, he probably would have nixed this idea. It is radical, outrageous, something totally different. He's not big on change, my boss. And that's okay. The world needs people like him. Our crew needs that stability. But we also need something to change the culture in our restaurant. We need to get our teammembers to understand what is at the heart and soul of what we do - Our Guests! Making them happy in all the ways we can. I don't expect everyone to be in love with the idea of writing letters to strangers. But I've got to do something to get them to understand that it's not about the tips or the paycheck, it's not about coming to work to get the job done and go home - it's about being a part of our guests' lives. It's about making a difference in our community. It's about getting our restaurant to be a household name. And, more than anything, it's about making people happy. 

Those few words of negativity nearly convinced me to give up the whole idea. The irony of that is not lost on me - a scribbled note of criticism about my notes of love? Yeah. The world definitely needs more love letters. It needs more people spreading kindness and words of affirmation and positive thinking. I doubted myself all night and almost didn't put out any love letters. I wished that there was someone I could talk to about it, but I didn't want to share with any member of my crew a private matter between myself and my colleague that might make us seem like a less united front - we are a team of managers and I won't let us appear to be anything less. Still, I kept wishing someone would make me feel better, kept wishing someone would tell me that this IS a good idea. Knowing I would just have to make myself feel better, I gave myself a pep talk and grabbed my letters - one for a guest, one for a teammember - and I dropped the first off on an empty table and hid the second in a glass rack in the drink station. When I returned to the office later, I found a note had been slipped under my door. Someone had granted my wish. It was a letter from a teammember, saying how much they loved this idea and a lot of flattering words about me. I meant to take a photo of the letter but I forgot to before I left. Update: I was able to snap a photo of it. Here it is:

 I took that nice letter - the letter I so needed to receive - and I hung it up on the bulletin board in the managers office. I wanted my colleague to see it - to see why I am doing this. It's working.

"A person with a new idea is a crank until the idea succeeds." - Mark Twain

28 Days of Love Letters

Hannah Brencher has started a movement in my restaurant. It's one based on kindness and love - the spirit of the service industry, if you ask me. It started small with her in New York City, as a way to cope with depression in college, leaving uplifting letters, notes of encouragement tucked in the corners of the city. Soon it exploded into an organization that reaches out to those in need by fulfilling letter requests for those in need.

The World Needs More Love Letters. 

From the website www.moreloveletters.com:

"The world doesn't need another website. Not another network. Not another app. What she needs is really basic. Simple. Bare-boned. & Often forgotten in the race to get followers. & "Likes". 

Love. Pure, old-fashioned never goes out of style Love."

The idea is simple. Write a letter to a stranger. Something positive, uplifting, kind, and filled with love. Maybe it's exactly what you need to hear from someone else. And then you leave it behind for someone else to find. And maybe your kindness touches that person and she moves on with her day with a lighter step than before and a small smile on her face. And maybe she'll pay that kindness forward by helping another stranger smile. Spreading love. That's the idea.

As I learned more about The World Needs More Love Letters, I began to realize what a unique opportunity we have in the restaurant industry to really touch people's lives. Already they invite us into their lives by celebrating birthdays, anniversaries, baby showers, and all sorts of other life events with us. How many people could we touch with a movement like this, confined in our own four walls? In a perfect world, every guest that comes through our doors walks out of them happier than they were when they walked in. What a great way to take that to the next level.

So starting February 1st, in my restaurant, I'm leaving behind one or two love letters on random tables, or tucked inside menus, and even hidden away somewhere in the kitchen for the crew to find. Maybe I can make a difference in my city, the way Hannah Brencher did. Maybe I can lift the spirits of a few dozen people in my community. At the very least, I hope my crew sees the heart and spirit of this endeavor and understands that this is the heart and soul of the service industry. Surprising people with kindness. Making them feel welcome, at home, happy, and loved. Here is a photo of the first love letter I wrote. I wrote it a few weeks ago, but I've been saving it to use in the restaurant.

And then here is one left behind in the kitchen for one of our valued teammembers:

I'll be posting every few days about my observations - how the guests are receiving it, the affect it has on the crew, any comments from others, and such. So be on the lookout! And please go visit the website. If you do nothing else, watch Hannah's TEDTalk. 

Incentives

What is the biggest motivator for your crew? 

Do they come into work just to get their hours or tips and leave? Or do they come in because they like what they do and genuinely want to do a good job? Even better, do they come in hoping to truly delight their guests if they're Front of House, or deliver delicious and beautifully presented food to their guests if they're Heart of House. 

In a perfect world, we would only hire the creme de la creme who's primary objective would be to make the day of every person they came in contact with. But even I can't say that I feel that way 100% of the time, try as I might.

So the crew is there to make money? There's no crime in that. But the challenge is then on us. For one, we must foster an environment where good isn't good enough. Challenge the crew to achieve excellence. Inspire them. Show them tough love. Demand results. For two, we must find ways to motivate them. Incentives. Contests. Prizes.

But these two aspects are, without a doubt, mutually exclusive. If you don't foster that environment of excellence, the incentives become a perpetual cycle and the only way you achieve that excellence is during a contest.

Don't let that discourage you from having fun and motivating your crew with a fun activity. Ever. These games are a fun way to break up the monotony. We all get sucked into the everyday routine. The important thing is to communicate the purpose of the contest. "This is the reward, but here is the result - you should already be doing these things. The purpose of this is to reward you for a job well done and have fun while we're doing it. We still expect this level of commitment even after the contest has ended."

So what kind of contests have you seen in the restaurant?

There's the classic sales games - Tic Tac Toe, Bingo, The Perfect Check. 

There's the Guest Satisfaction awards - Name mentioned on a survey wins something good.

There's the Teamwork prizes - Participation in running food or helping others is rewarded.

There's the Just Because days - Potluck dinner or sweets brought in just for fun.

I hope to highlight many of the fun things we're doing to motivate and inspire our crew in other posts on the blog, where I can go into more detail. I'd love to hear your feedback. What was your favorite contest? What gets you excited to come into work? What ideas do you have for motivating and inspiring your crew? Please share. 

First Impressions

The key to a good first impression is eye contact and a bright, welcoming smile. So just imagine my smiling face as I say, "Hello! Welcome to Hospitality Herald." 

My name is Katie and I am a manager for a popular corporate restaurant chain. I've been in the foodservice industry since I was sixteen years old and it is my passion to provide a warm, inviting restaurant where guests can relax and reconnect with their friends and family while they enjoy deliciously prepared cuisine. 

Hospitality Herald will be the place for foodservice professionals to gather and read inspiring ideas on how to best serve their guests. There will be tips, advice, stories, and maybe sometimes even a rant. It will be an uplifting place to share ideas and experiences. Your comments are welcome and encouraged. 

I first started my career as a host and when I was nineteen I began serving. I moved around a lot after that - going from Central Illinois, to Chicago for college, then to the suburbs, and back to Central Illinois. Since then I have worked as a Service Professional (a kind of assistant manager) and was promoted into restaurant management as of May 2011. As a restaurant manager, I have helped three different restaurants to achieve and maintain excellent guest service as measured by our guest satisfaction survey. My most recent restaurant in Northwestern Indiana has proved to be a bit more of a challenge than the others. Here in Hospitality Herald I will chronicle my attempts to promote a guest centered culture - the successes, the failures, the challenges, and the fun!