HOW DINERS AND HOSPITALITY PROFESSIONALS SEE FRONT OF HOUSE WORK

As I mentioned in my recent post about the Food On The Edge event, the results of a major international survey about Front of House staff in restaurants were recently made public by Fine Dining Lovers, the multimedia magazine sponsored by S.Pellegrino and Acqua Panna. And you may be surprised by some of its findings.

Seeking to shine a light on an often neglected aspect of the dining experience and the people who provide it, FDL launched the survey with the help of global partners including the Basque Culinary Center, Relais & Chateaux, S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy, Welcome Conference and The World’s 50 Best Restaurants as well as local channels like US-based multicultural magazine Cuisine Noir.

The survey gathered over 10,000 responses from restaurant staff and diners in the UK, US, France, Italy, Spain and Latin America.

We at S.Pellegrino have always felt close to the restaurant community, so the views of all these people are of genuine interest to me.

For example, I was intrigued to find out why people choose these roles in the first place. The results suggest the reasons are primarily emotional, with most respondents saying "I'm a people person" and "I'm good at it".

Surprising? Perhaps not, but what about this: over a third of them expressed the ambition to own their own restaurant. That indicates a strong entrepreneurial spirit among Front of House staff, an insight backed up by the 30% who said that being offered equity in the business would make their job more appealing. Could this be an effective way of attracting people back to the industry following the pandemic?

Clearly, motivation is not just about the prospect of ownership. In fact, when asked about areas for improvement, the number one suggestion among Front of House staff was a seemingly simple one: better working relationships with Back of House colleagues. Food for thought for restaurants managers.

On the plus side, for the 44% of Front of House staff who feel their job is not given as much importance as Back of House roles, the responses from consumers should be encouraging. In fact, 82% of diners said they are more likely to revisit a restaurant where they build a relationship with Front of House staff. What's more - and this one may be a shock to chefs - almost a quarter said they would eat at a restaurant with bad food but great service!

On the subject of no-shows, however, diners and staff seem to be on different planets. While 8 out of 10 staff said this is a real problem for their business, 9 out of 10 consumers said they have never booked a table and then failed to show up. So are just 10% of diners really causing 100% of the problem? While over half of professionals feel the best solution is pre-payment and reservation deposits, over half of diners say they would refuse to book at a restaurant that wanted pre-payment. It sounds to me like some creative thinking is required on the issue. Ideas welcome!

Of course, no survey of this nature could fail to consider the age-old belief that "the customer is always right". So is it true? Well, if they ever believed it, 86% of Front of House staff no longer do. Perhaps more surprisingly, 87% of consumers agree with them. What do you think?

If you want to see more details from these and the other answers given in the survey, you can download the full results at Fine Dining Lovers.

While you digest the findings, I can heartily recommend frequenting Fine Dining Lovers in future for a regular diet of information, insights and inspiration from the world of gastronomy.