Hospitality after COVID. Part 1 - A New Service Model.
Hospitality after COVID.
It’s impossible not to think Danny Myer when you hear Service & Hospitality. The Union Square Hospitality Group (USHG) CEO, has built an empire by balancing Service with Hospitality. Myer defines Service as the technical delivery of a product and Hospitality as the emotional response to it.
At Hop, we tend to think of Service as the practical, tangible element. Physical skills that have can be clearly defined. For example, the skill of opening a bottle wine, the skill of cleaning a table, making a cocktail, having good allergen knowledge, having a clean tidy uniform, knowing how to use the tills, process an order, carry several plates. The list goes on. These are the fundamentals of running a successful business because they are the fundamentals of creating a great guest experience.
For us, the Service based element of running a restaurant is the foundation for success. Once we have that foundation in place we can then start to add the Hospitality.
Myer describes Hospitality as being about “how you make people feel”. It’s the emotional element, the human element. We need both Service and Hospitality to create meaningful experiences for our guests. Sometimes Service gets neglected. If I have a dirty uniform, spill wine on the table or I can’t answer the guests' dietary questions, no matter how warm and kind I am it's going to be a struggle to cultivate a meaningful connection with the guests.
Likewise, you can have restaurants where the focus is all on Service and the Hospitality gets neglected. I find these types of places fascinating because they span the entirety of the industry. Mcdonald’s, for example, has an incredible Service based foundation. It’s all about processes, it’s all about consistency. Walk into any McDonalds in the world and the Service element is pretty much the same. Of course, that comes with a cost, there’s not much Hospitality on offer. Ask someone how going to a McDonalds makes them feel and they’ll probably look at you like you’ve lost the plot. We go for the quick, familiar hunger fix. We know what we’re going to get every time.
But some top-end restaurants have the balance all wrong too. You’re greeted at reception, your bags taken, whisked off to your table, guided through the epic wine list, sit through five courses, sip coffee, maybe a cognac too, get handed the bill and wished a lovely afternoon. The food is excellent, the glasses pristine, the table cloths are ironed to perfection. But did you have any emotional connection to anyone there? You start to realise the smiles are insincere, the narrative is scripted, everything is too poised and rigid. Once again Service overshadowing Hospitality.
For us, Hospitality is about being genuine, honest, relaxed. It’s about being human. Being authentic. Being open. It’s ultimately about building a connection with each other. Something that we're all craving at the moment.
Stress is the antithesis of Hospitality. As soon we start to get stressed we lose our ability to be present, to listen, to connect. In short, we can no longer create connections with the people around us. We can no longer provide Hospitality.
For every Restaurant that’s about to reopen the Service element of their offering is about to change. Whether it’s facemasks, one way systems, new queuing procedures, new HACCP guidelines or new steps of service there’s going to be a lot of change.
“ For every Restaurant that’s about to reopen the Service element of their offering is about to change. Whether it’s facemasks, one way systems, new queuing procedures, new HACCP guidelines or new steps of service there’s going to be a lot of change. ”
The teams who become most comfortable with these changes, with this new Service based foundation will do best. Because once they feel relaxed in this new environment, they can then begin to focus on how they want their guests to feel. Secure in their Service based foundation they are free to provide genuine Hospitality.
Last week we spoke about building trust with our guests and teams, that all stems from getting the Service based foundation right and then focusing on genuine, authentic Hospitality. We're not saying the Service element isn't important, it's more vital than ever (it's keeping your guests and teams safe) but it can't overshadow the Hospitality.
