Service with a smile...it makes all the difference
 |
What’s the secret behind winning GTN’s Greatest Garden Centre Front of House Team? Who better to ask than Melanie Sewell, of Frongoch Garden Centre.
How important is the front of house team to your catering offering?
I believe our success is down to the equal weighting we give food quality and service quality. One without the other does not give the customer sufficient reason to return. When you get both right, and exceed your customer’s expectations, you’re on to a winner.
Do you give staff special training in this area?
Yes, absolutely. First of all we begin with staying at your station, and ensuring we greet the customer and smile before the customer does so to us. Secondly, we work on talking and asking questions in sentences, to ensure we come over as being friendly, e.g. “Would you prefer white or brown toast with your breakfast?”, as opposed to “white or brown toast?”
How do you ensure that your staff always have smiles on the faces?
I’ve found the easiest way to achieve this is through recruiting naturally happy, smiley and confident individuals. I also ask them which station they prefer to work at, as this inevitably gets the best out of them. I am also quick to correct when poor service is given, and give an example of what would have been great service, and how that would have made the customer feel. Lastly, I’m always looking to praise great service given, or when it’s been a particularly tough day, to thank them for working so hard, and to acknowledge what a hard day it was. I aim to praise more often than I correct less desirable behaviour.
You also won the Greatest Garden Centre Catering Team award - what makes your catering so special?
I believe we tick lots of boxes: friendly, cheerful, bilingual (Welsh!), and caring service; a pleasant and comfortable environment for customers; a fresh food offering that reflects our customer base; wonderful, all homemade cakes; and a quality hot and cold beverage offer.
For more catering tips see the July issue of Garden Trade News. To subscribe email karen.pfeiffer@tgcmc.co.uk
|
|
