A Spotlight in the Highs and Challenges in Hospitality

On a fabulous mid January morning I stepped into DRIFT to begin a days work. It wasn’t until mid way through that I was reminded of the many highs and challenges myself and the team face on any one day but particularly a busy one!

I’d recently taken a holiday, like so many, the first proper family break in over 2 years. Christmas came and went, New Year brought a dose of COVID, how will remain a mystery having been at home in the preceding days but it did allow time for completing overdue tasks.

Staff training was one of these, customer service has always been a top priority and with a number of new, some young team members it was invaluable time spent.

And so it was proven on this, my first busy return day. We welcomed a prospective DRIFTER for a taster session, at the same time we were beginning to get busy after a calm start. She set about clearing tables and cleaning them down. She operated the till, I was impressed how quickly she became acquainted with it. She was confident in taking orders, she plated up cakes, listened out for the ‘ding’ of the kitchen bell, took food orders out and responded to requests from both me, the team and customers; she’d first stepped her toe in the building the day before.

Not easy on the back of a short induction and a reliance on asking questions and taking some direction. All whilst the customers, takeaway and inside diners continued to visit.

It made me fully appreciate what we expect each working day. The level of multitasking is quite astounding and all done whilst keeping a smile on our faces and a calm demeanour. Of course the examples above only scratch the surface of all roles and responsibilities.

But it’s all incredibly worth it to see a smile and show of customer appreciation, “that food was incredible”, “where did you say the cheese was from?”, “I can see you’re really busy, you’re doing a great job.”

I accidentally collided with a colleague, we both ended up wearing a partial pot of tea, thankfully neither of us hurt. As I mopped myself down I used the time to make fun of myself evoking much laughter from those toward the front of the takeaway queue.

It gives you, the team and the customer a lift, it shows we’re human and not programmed robots. Not everything runs perfectly in a day. Time can slip away, a customer isn’t attended to as quickly as you would like, waiting customers require further communication other than a welcome but it can’t be given instantly due to attending 1 of a number of mounting tasks. And this was the case that day. We welcomed constructive customer feedback and addressed all manner of matters brought to our attention. It’s much easier to do that there and then. To use humour and honesty is my own personal handle in many a challenging situation.

We all work slightly differently, no 2 people are the same. What we have in common is a desire to serve and do the very best for each and every customer. We don’t always get it right, it’s not deliberate or intentional but we always strive for getting it right.

So the start of 2022 is to focus on training our new staff, pick up pointers where we know we can do better in our current team and welcome you all to DRIFT where we always work hard to ensure each and everyone is able to EAT, DRINK and RELAX.