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...

  『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 ...

  『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 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 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...