The bible of the restaurant 〜the recipe of JapanesJapanese hospitality and management

  『The bible of the restaurant』 Chapter 10    Importance of team communication  メンバー同士でコミュニケーションを図る   The priority in the daily restaurant operation will change every minute and every second. But how can we catch the moment of the change of priority quickly and accurately that changes every minute and every second? The simplest and most effective way is to always communicate with team members. It's ideal for all members to understand each other’s mind perfectly and to be able to share the same picture by eye contact, but in reality it's quite difficult. I recommend having prompt and precise communication as much as possible. Especially during busy peak hours, verbal accurate communications will help the team to calm down. Taking close communications will increase the possibility of sharing same picture of the whole restaurant among the team and should lead the team to choose the correct priority.   “Verbal communication”  Verbal communication will help...

  『History of Crystal Porcelain』 The history of [Crystal Porcelain] goes back to 1598 originated from HAZAMI-YAKI in Nagasaki, Japan. After years and years of effort, sophisticated crystal porcelain was finally created.  『Crystal Porcelain』 Cutting or digging every holes in the pottery manually, and covering with its ori magical clay to bake. 2 times of baking process with over 1,300℃ gives this porcelain a transparency like a shining crystal. This legendary porcelain will give you brightness to your dining scene.  『Unique Special Gift』 Serving your special guests with Japanese legendary [Crystal Porcelain] will be the best way and the most exclusive way to entertain. It is favoured at many of 5 star hotels, Michelin-star restaurants, embassy, membership clubs, etc ... it is 100% made in Japan. 

  『The bible of the restaurant』 Chapter 9  Decision making process of “bussing” tables  テーブルをバッシングすると判断するまでの流れ    Here, we talk about priorities that change every minute and every second, using specific real-life examples that everyone is actually experiencing in the daily restaurant operation.  Bussing the table (reset or clean-up the table) is an extremely important task for restaurants. Many of fine dining restaurants see “bussing tables” as an entry-level position and might assign young new members or non-experienced members as a busser.  The task of busser might sound very simple if you think the job is only to clear used plates and glasses off the table and to reset the table for the turnover. But decision making process to choose the correct priority to deliver “ultimate service” as a team, is not that easy. First, raise your face and look at the entire restaurant with your own eyes. Read and feel the situation of the restaurant immediately and ...

  海外のビジネスの長期的な成功には、現地の人間との良好な人脈が必須である。 海外でビジネスを円滑に回していく際には、現地で働く労働者や取引先との良好な人間関係やコミュニケーションが非常に大切になってくる。それも、現地の駐在員コミュニティーではなく、その国の人間との関係である。私の経験上、取引先との接待やちょっとしたやり取りでも、駐在員同士ではなく、現地の人間との関係性を大切にしている企業ほど、成果を出す確率が高まる。外国人である駐在員は数年で転勤してしまうのに比べ、現地の人間はより長い期間その企業に勤める可能性が高い。  そして出世して数年後には幹部クラスになり、大きな決定権を持つ人材に成長する事も決して珍しくない。仮に転職しても、同じ業種か関係性の深い業種である可能性が高い為、将来的に再び何らかのきっかけで仕事上の関わりを持つ可能性も十分にある。それらの人材と良好な関係性を築く事が出来ていれば、その後の付き合いに有利に働くことは明白であろう。  読者様の中にも、今これを読みながら笑みを浮かべて大きく頷いている方も多くいらしゃると思う。このような優秀な人材が築き上げた人間関係によって成果を生み出す事が出来たビジネス上の利益や恩恵は、卓上の数字や社内の様々なレポートに表される事はない。実際にそのような人間性を評価する事は困難であるし、そのようなシステムもほとんどないからである。  しかし、日本の優れた企業はこの「人間関係」を評価する企業も海外企業と比べたら多いように感じる。これは企業の平均寿命が圧倒的に長い日本だからこそ成しえる技なのかもしれない。このように、「人間関係」を重視する文化が根付いているからこそ日本の企業の平均寿命は世界一長いのであろう。 

  『The bible of the restaurant』 Chapter 8  Choose the right priority to become the best  感動を生める人間は、正しい優先順位を選択する  The most important factor in delivering the ultimate service is to think and choose the correct priority of the task. Always think and act, think before you move. This is the most basic and obvious thing in working and in everyday life, but surprisingly most people are unable to practice.     Even though you think you that are using your brain before moving your body, many people are poor at work because they have wrong standards and directions. And people who are not able to choose the correct priority will not be able to improve their level of work skills.  Priorities change every day, every hour, every minute and every second in the actual site. In order to read and feel the changing priorities accurately, it is important to think before acting. Look around the entire restaurant and observe customer’s reactions and teammates movement...

  『The bible of the restaurant』 Chapter 7  A team player must see the whole picture  「周りが見えていない人」はチームワークを乱す  [Raise your head and to look around every 5 seconds] and [observe every customer’s facial expression every 3 minutes] should be the basic movement for service members, but it is not so easy to do unless you always keep this in your mind. A lot of people tend to concentrate too much on their duty or only sees the task lying in front of them. This will make them difficult to see the whole picture of what is going on in the restaurant and also makes it difficult to feel the atmosphere in the restaurant which is changing every single second. Person who has fallen into this kind of situation will be left out the team. It is often seen by a member who is not able to choose their job priority correct according to the situation. When you have this kind of member on your team, the restaurant will lose the balance. Once the restaurant loses its control, just a slight bl...

  『The bible of the restaurant』 Chapter 4  The spirit of “Japanese tea ceremony”  一期一会の精神  “ICHIGO-ICHIE” is a Japanese four-character idiom that describes a cultural concept of treasuring the unrepeatable nature of moment. It is translated as    “Treasure every encounter” or “once-in-a-lifetime meeting”. It is most commonly associated with Japanese tea ceremony.  Preaching of SADO (Japanese tea ceremony) dictating that each occasion on which hospitality is offered and received is to be cherished as a unique experience in one’s life. Even when the same group of people get together in the same place again, a particular gathering will never be replicated, and thus each moment is always once-in-a-lifetime experience.     This mind-set can be related in everyday life, and daily operation in the restaurant. The moment that you meet a customer walks into to the restaurant that day, the moment when the customers and customers meet each other, a...

  『The bible of the restaurant』 Chapter 5    Look around every 5 seconds  五秒に一度は顔を上げて周囲を見る  No matter how excited you are talking to your customers, busy with your routine task, busy taking orders, busy settling the bill at the cashier, or on the way to toilet or break-time, make sure you raise your head and look around the entire restaurant to see what is going on. You never know what will happen and when customer needs you. Also your teammate might need your help and support. Not only what you hear, but information from your eyes will be very helpful to analyse the situation in the restaurant. It will help you to choose the right priority.    Especially pay attention to the entrance of the restaurant. According to a service survey in Japan, "80% of customers feel uncomfortable when they are not recognised or attended by crew as soon as they enter the restaurant”. No matter how good the service is after that, or even regular customer who usually enjoy...

  『The bible of the restaurant』 Chapter 6  Observe facial expression every 3 minutes  三分に一度は全てのお客様の顔・テーブルを見る    Customer’s expressions, feelings, and atmosphere on the table are changing every moment. Check every customer’s facial expressions and table status in order to quickly notice the changes (every 3 minutes will be great). This mainly benefits the following:  “Identify the purpose of the visit”  Most customers don't just come to the restaurant to satisfy their hunger. It can be business occasion, family gathering, celebrations of an anniversary, a gathering of company colleagues and party with friends or a date with a loved one. And the best service to satisfy each purpose will be different. If you could quickly identify the purpose of your customer’s visit, you will be able to increase the possibility to provide the best service to impress each and every customer. “Notice the change of the atmosphere”    If customers are "ten people t...

                  『The bible of the restaurant』 Chapter 3  Not as a “customer” but as a “person”  お客様としてではなく、一人の人間として接する    The ultimate service is simply to fulfil the biggest desire that a person has. So what is the biggest desire that a person has?  It would be "Acknowledgement of your existence as a person." I think this desire will be fulfilled by treating “customer” with respect as a “person”. Well, what exactly does it mean?   To put it in easier words,  “Treat customer with the same attitude towards your closest seniors in your school days”  If you were a member of group activities or some kind of committee in your school days, I think you can understand it well. When you talk with your closest seniors, you speak casually. You do not use formal vocabularies but the love and respect is within your words and attitude. You have natural smile and honest facial reactions when talking with them. ...

『The bible of the restaurant』 Chapter 2  Customers are “ten people ten colours”  お客様は十人十色  All customers are different human being.  Their race, age, gender, personalities and characters are not the same.   As there is a saying like:   “TEN PEOPLE TEN COLOURS”    “No snowflakes fall in the same spot”   “Beauty is in the eye of beholder”  Which means their favourite food and drinks are also different as well as the speed and timing they eat and drink. And the purpose of the visit to the restaurant should also be different. Some might drop by just to fulfil their hunger, but usually customers have other reasons. Such as business entertainment, company gathering, date with their loved ones or family holiday lunch. So we should carefully decide how to serve the customer to fit their purpose of the visit by understanding and feeling the atmosphere of the table. This enables us to impress customers and to provide the Japane...

『The bible of the restaurant』 Chapter 1  Japanese hospitality “the ultimate service”  究極のサービスは「おもてなしの心」  In order to improve your restaurant, you need to set goals first. The higher the goal is the better it is. For example, “let’s be profitable just enough to survive” or “let’s try to be listed as top 50 restaurants in our city” might be a little too low goal to lead a passionate team.   You should set a goal such as “let’s provide the Japanese hospitality (the ultimate service) to all the customers” to become the best restaurant in the country.  It's easy to say "ultimate service" but it’s difficult to carry out and to implement that kind of mentality and system into the team. Because providing ultimate service means to impress customers and move their feelings by touching their heart. If you have 100 customers daily, your team must create 100 impressions. And those 100 customers do not visit your restaurant for the same purpose. Even if it’s a regular cu...

  『History of Crystal Porcelain』 The history of [Crystal Porcelain] goes back to 1598 originated from HAZAMI-YAKI in Nagasaki, Japan. After years and years of effort, sophisticated crystal porcelain was finally created.  『Crystal Porcelain』 Cutting or digging every holes in the pottery manually, and covering with its ori magical clay to bake. 2 times of baking process with over 1,300℃ gives this porcelain a transparency like a shining crystal. This legendary porcelain will give you brightness to your dining scene.  『Unique Special Gift』 Serving your special guests with Japanese legendary [Crystal Porcelain] will be the best way and the most exclusive way to entertain. It is favoured at many of 5 star hotels, Michelin-star restaurants, embassy, membership clubs, etc ... it is 100% made in Japan.