Eating Out

An open letter to restaurateurs

 

 

AN OPEN LETTER TO RESTAURATEURS

 Dear restaurateurs

Help your patrons have an enjoyable, if not extraordinary experience at your restaurant, keep them coming back, and encourage them to write good reviews of your food and service on the internet, by implementing some simple measures to cater for their needs.  Help your patrons make the best possible choices and leave your restaurant feeling content.

 

Tell your patrons something about your restaurant and food so they know what to expect and are not disappointed when the food arrives.  This is a great opportunity to tell the patron something about your philosophy of food.

 

For example

·        “we cook traditional Italian food the way it has been done for centuries and take pride in perfecting an approach to cooking handed down through the generations”

·        “we like to push the boundaries of cooking and enjoy experimenting for your pleasure with the latest techniques in cooking”

·        “Our food is a fusion of the best the world has to offer and gives you delicious, new inspired taste combinations.”

·        “We aim to provide you with an exciting range of food that not only tastes delicious but is also good for you.”

 

Tell your patrons something about the portions of food you serve.  Australians are becoming very unhealthy because of the amount of food they eat.  We eat out more than we ever did.  Large servings of calorie-laden food served at restaurants can contribute to the obesity epidemic we are experiencing. Yet sometimes people want to eat a hearty or indulgent course or meal.  Give them the information they need to make a good choice.

 

For example

·        Our food is served in generous portions

·        Our food is wickedly delicious

·        We are pleased to offer a range of food that caters for the weight-conscious, (coeliacs, diabetics, peoples with allergies to nuts, vegetarians and vegans – please see the menu for items marked WC, C, D etc.)

·        You can mix and match our food choices so that you can be as indulgent or as good as you like

·        Our food is served in small portions to delight the senses, you can add extra side dishes if you like a more substantial meal

·        You can choose your portion size at our restaurant eg. one, two, or three scoops of ice cream, two, four or six chops in a rack of lamb, small, medium or large serves of rice, 100, 200, 300g of meat (some Italian restaurants allow you to order entrée sized meals of pasta for a main)

·        Our food is comforting and filling

·        If you eat this course you will consume so many KJs (even McDonalds is brave enough, honest enough and serious enough about our burgeoning waistline to give the KJs content of its food.)

·        You can choose a small, medium or large plate of food at our restaurant to suit your appetite

 

The benefits of letting the patron choose how much food to eat rather than the chef are that there is less food wastage and the customer should be more satisfied

 

If you insist on describing your food in a foreign language provide a translation.  As a chef you may be well versed in French culinary terms but do not assume your patrons have the same knowledge or even need or want the same knowledge as you. 

Consider the following:

·        There have been tasty gravies served in the English-speaking world for as long as they have been jus in France. 

·        Just look up an English-French dictionary to realize how ordinary some French culinary terms are.  En croute means on toast – why would you use this term on a humble breakfast menu. 

·        Why would you keep using French terms on your menus if you are not running a French restaurant? 

·        If using French culinary terms is part and parcel of your trade, or if there is truly no English equivalent, then it is still easy to give an English description after the title of the dish in the menu – help your patron to know what they are eating and therefore make better choices and be a more satisfied customer.

·        If you would like to educate your customer then provide a glossary of culinary terms you use in your menu – a consistently award winning Italian restaurant in the Hunter Valley does just that – it is very helpful and interesting.

·        How would you feel if you went to a Chinese, Indian, or Brazilian restaurant and the entire menu was in Cantonese, Urdu or Portuguese, with no English equivalent?  Would you feel welcome and sophisticated?

 

Be honest about what you tell your customer in your menu.

 

Consider the following

·        If you describe a dish as a main course consider whether a patron could eat just that dish and feel that they had a meal and leave replete.

·        Many people have their main meal at night and only have one course – the main course – they expect this course to be balanced with some protein, carbohydrates and vegetable matter (in fact for our health’s sake it would be good is there was less protein than carbohydrates and less carbohydrates than vegetables or salad).

·        In some restaurants a dish labeled as a main course consists almost entirely of protein – often a lump of meat of some description with dabs of condiments and maybe a garnish of vegetable matter – it may be delicious, look attractive and even be a work of art, but it is hardly a balanced meal.

·        Many main courses can only be turned into a balanced meal by adding additional orders of side dishes, but this is not always obvious from the menu description.    

·        Sometimes you can go to a restaurant with a companion and order two main courses, one could be complete in itself and the other is lacking in just about everything other than the protein

·        Ordering side dishes to pad out a frugal main course is both expensive and often wasteful of food because the side dishes are designed to serve two or more.

·        Maybe your main course should be relabeled a second course to follow the first course if it is not substantial or balanced enough to be a stand-alone meal.

·        Tell your patrons exactly what they are going to get for their money, for example “this is served with half-a-dozen grilled asparagus spears and a deliciously fluffy roast potato, or this is served with a garnish of asparagus and several slices of roast potato with a delicate sprinkling of olive oil and a touch of spinach leaves.

·        If you are not prepared to tell your patrons that the mashed potato or scrambled eggs they are eating was reconstituted from dehydrated ingredients, or that pie you claim was freshly baked was actually baked 3 days ago,  you shouldn’t serve them

·        Are you explicit enough in your menu for patrons to know exactly what they will get and therefore be happy with their dining experience?

 

Maybe you could describe some of the technique you use in your cooking to help the customer appreciate the amount of skill, effort and timing that goes into creating a special meal.

 For example,

·        do you make your stock, gravies, pastry from scratch?

·        what is the difference between a rare and medium rare steak?

·        how do you make your egg sauces or mayonnaise or meringue?

·        You could also invite patrons in to see you in action in the kitchen

 

Being a chef cannot be easy, the long and odd hours, the lack of a normal social life, the vagaries of the seasons and food delivery etc, the fickleness and maybe even unrealistic expectations of customers. The difficult techniques and the challenge of spot-on timing must make the profession a nightmare at times.  When patrons don’t like something about their meal they often don’t say anything negative at the restaurant but simply don’t go back again.  The restaurant may miss out on a word-of-mouth recommendation and even be condemned without the chef being aware of what is wrong.

 

You could

 

·        Welcome feedback as it will help the restaurant become more successful

·        Not punish patrons for criticizing the food you serve them (there are horrible stories of insecure or vindictive chefs etc spitting in food or worse because a patron has upset them)

·        There is a saying – if you can’t stand the heat stay out of the kitchen – not everyone is going to like your food, some may even criticize your dishes that everyone else thinks are delicious, some may even be rude in the way they comment on your food

·        For a patron to make a negative comment on your food usually would mean that they are pretty seriously disappointed

·        Some restaurants overtly encourage patrons to give feedback on their experience at the restaurant, both good and bad.

 

Eating out today in Australia is fantastic compared to last century when you would be lucky to find anything other than a Chinese restaurant in a country town.  Now we are able to eat sophisticated dishes made from the finest and freshest ingredients in the out of the way places. We are a very lucky country in this respect.  Make sure that patrons visiting your restaurants want to return again and again.