FRESH BAKED MY ASS
I get that in today’s marketplace more and more places do not make things “From Scratch” anymore. Our favorite Donut Shops, now truck in the product, pizza is made from refrigerated boxes of dough shells ready to be sauced up, Biscuits, Muffins, etc.. are bought already made, refrigerated, and ready to be microwaved or grilled when ordered.
If you decided that was the best strategy for your restaurant fine. JUST DON’T LIE and say “Fresh” on your menu or other advertising. If I’m reading your breakfast menu and see Fresh Made Blueberry Muffins I might think… I haven’t had one in ages. and order it while I continue to look over the menu. Then when I see the waitress go to the cake display next to the cash register, grab a saran-wrapped muffin and bring it to the kitchen. My blood pressure goes right up.
If you’re not getting what is wrong with that scenario? Firstly one would think fresh baked goods are still in the kitchen. Secondly, a Fresh Baked item would still be warm, and wrapping it in saran wrap to display would lead to condensation leading to bacteria. So the muffin she grabbed was either left over from another day or possibly toxic.
I had once place that called itself a Bakery grill my “Fresh Baked Muffin” and it was COLD in the middle still. Too Funny.
Learn to Cook Eggs
OK, that should be. Learn to cook eggs or don’t offer breakfast! 🙂 I have found it unbelievable how many places open up that have no idea how to cook. Now I guess there are many people…maybe even most people that think an over-easy egg just means the yolk is still runny. However just like a steak can be rare, medium, well done, etc… Eggs also are Over Easy…over medium, and over well. BTW over well is not the same as over hard. The yolk is still nice and runny just the white cooked a little more. Again the general public may not know this but certainly anyone “In the Business” should. Including wait staff, cooks, owners, managers, etc…
The cook, waitstaff, and customer relationship.
Yes, the adage ” The Customer is always right” mostly applies but I look at the wait staff as My watchdog, my advocate, the go-between me and the cook. If I didn’t want gravy on my meatloaf, or peas instead of carrots and my burger rare instead of well, on and on, I expect them to look at the plate when they are in the kitchen and make sure it’s right. This is where my peeve about the eggs comes in as they are the easiest to detect if cooked right. You can SEE if they are cooked right! A burger or steak can be more difficult to check and would be totally on the cook to mark correctly. That leads to the temperamental cook(s). This can screw up everything as the waitstaff will feel bullied and not want to stick up for you when something is wrong with an order. Hey, You’re leaving in 15 minutes they have to stay and work with the pissed-off cook for another 8 hours.
At one place when I complained about the cook microwaving my omelet ( actually everyone’s omelet that wanted cheese) She responded with “You want to tell him”? I said hell yeah and walked back into the kitchen and explained to him how he made a great omelet on the grill but then used the microwave to melt the cheese on top essentially ruining all his good work and turning the omelets into rubber! I explained all he had to do was add the cheese and cover the omelet on the grill even squirt a little water under the cover and steam things up for a few seconds and the cheese would melt fine. Granted there are better ways to cook an omelet but that was the shortest way to incorporate what he was doing with a surefire fix.
So everyone working together with the goal of quality service and product is better than the kitchen and dining staff having standoffs like they are opposing teams will not help. The issue of what is acceptable and not is the Owner’s / Managers responsibility. Let me tell you that when the staff sees you buying frozen or refrigerated products and selling them a “Fresh” or Fresh Baked” they know right away what kind of business person you are. They, like almost all of us in a workplace will also follow along with the program. If they see management screwing over the customers they will too.
Some closing tips and thoughts for customers never in the business:
When you didn’t get what you ordered:
I have used the line “I think I got someone else’s order”… It does give them “An Out” for not paying attention and bringing you the eggs cooked wrong, gravy on the meatloaf, peas instead of carrots, etc… However most don’t realize their mistake and reply with “No, That’s what you ordered” leaving you no choice but to point out the errors. Still do it politely because the next step will be to decide if you want to play the “Will they Spit in My Food Roulette” if you ask for it to go back and bring you what you actually ordered.
My thoughts on that are don’t eat in places you think that would ever be an option. and if they are willing to lie about Fresh Bread, Muffins, Organic, Farm to Table, etc…
Gratuity Included:
This one still pisses me off! For a large group or function ok??? But for 1 or 2 people eating or drinking during normal hours, it comes off like the place is begging.
One of my first experiences with this was decades ago in Ft. Lauderdale there was a Howard Johson’s across from the beach and I was using the newspaper and payphone looking for work and drinking coffee. Probably had 6-7 cups was bottomless coffee back then and when I was done my check had that “Gratuity Added”
Now I forget the exact amount but we are talking like the bill was $1.50 and the added 30 cents for gratuity. But I asked my server as i was a little surprised. This was Howard Johnson’s not a high-class type place. Then I made fun of how they thought her running back and forth forever an hour was only worth 30 cents!
So you know just how old I am, this was around 1989-90. The HoJo’s, Payphones & Newspapers are all gone now! 🙂 Anyways I did leave her a five and got one of the jobs I called on the next day. That brings us to the next item.
Tip well if you can:
I don’t really go by a percentage. I will however factor if I asked for unusual or many things. How many refills, how poor the service was as well.
For those that know acronyms: TIPS: stands for “To Insure Prompt Service”. In days of yore a tip was actually paid upfront, so while today we tip after a meal or service you can also think as just that…..a little payment to get good even better service the next time you come in.
