Service

We Can Do That! And More!
(Originally printed in the Key News-Las Vegas-Aug. 2003)

It’s Monday evening in Dallas, Texas, and the phone rings at the hostess stand in Pappas Bros. Steakhouse. The guest on the line is effusive about the wonderful experience she and her husband had at the restaurant last weekend and she wants to host a few friends next Saturday night for the couple’s anniversary. She has special requests, like a specific 8-top with a great view and the same waiter who did such a fine job serving them.

The hostess replies, “We’d be happy to do that. What time would you like to reserve?”

“We’d like a seven o’clock reservation, but I’m wondering if you could pick us up and bring us home? It’s a big celebration, lots of champagne and wine, and we don’t want to be driving.”

Again, the hostess replies, “Glad to do it. We have a limo service we use for just such requests. Let me get your address.”

“Well, I didn’t exactly have just limo service in mind. I’m wondering if you could pick us all up in a helicopter from Love Field? We’re meeting our guests there and we think it’d be fun to just fly over directly from there. Then, later take everybody back to our place in a limo. Do you do that?”

“We can do that! Anything else?”

“Do you do anything special for anniversaries?”

“Let us surprise you. I just need a little more information from you, and I’ll get to work on this. We’re so excited you’re celebrating with us! I’ll call you back to confirm all the details, so don’t you worry about a thing. We’ve got it handled.”

Quite a reservation, I’m sure you agree, but nonetheless the real deal. And, what an opportunity for the restaurant and staff! That Saturday night the general manager met these guests on the restaurant’s lawn, offered each of the four ladies a dozen long stem roses and a glass of Veuve Cliquot. For the gentlemen, 40 year-old single malt scotch. Cheers! Happy Anniversary!

Would you believe another guest called after seeing all this and wondered if Pappas could help them out with a family trip to Disney World, first class, all the way. Do you wonder at all what the answer was to that?

Meanwhile, in Houston, Texas, one of the city’s best-known restaurateurs, Carmelo Mauro, nationally recognized for community service by the National Restaurant Association, takes a decidedly different but equally effective way of building patronage, charm and understated service.

Having worked in Intercontinental Hotels around the world since he was 14 years old, Carmelo settled in Houston and set out to live the American dream by opening a restaurant with two partners. That went bust, but that’s when he discovered the secret to success: Just say yes! He knocked on doors until someone finally loaned him enough money to convert a pool supply business into his second venture, now arguably one of the most successful white tablecloth restaurants in Houston. Here’s how he builds business.

Carmelo and his equally charming daughter, Luisa, not only visit each table to see how things are, but make it a point to get to know the guests, suggesting that they ask personally for one of them the next time they need a lunch or dinner reservation. When they do, their table is set up with special chargers and over-sized Bola Grande wine glasses. One of the two meets the guests with complimentary appetizers and suggests a great bottle of wine to start their meal. Voila! The tone is set for the first of many memorable meals at Carmelo’s. What service! The owners insure the guests truly experience the restaurant.

Like these folks, a great concierge also makes the impossible happen. Hospitality is not simply about taking orders, but rather about taking responsibility to provide extraordinary service. I call it the “Wow Factor! Listen to your guests and remember the secret to great guest experiences: We Can Do That! And More!

Hospitably,

Peter (Langlois)

Bio:

Peter Langlois is founder of www.RestaurantU.com: Tools of the Trade for Business, for School, for Free!, co-editor of Weekly Restaurant Connections (e-Newsletter): www.wrcnewsletter.com, Instructor, The Art Institute of Houston-Culinary, and Management, Marketing and e-business Facilitator at The University of Phoenix (Houston). Langlois is also a Malcolm Baldrige 2004 Examiner. He has a Political Science degree from Michigan State University (Modern International Chinese Relations) and an M.B.A from the University of Houston (Marketing and Business Strategies). A detailed CV outlining his hospitality career is available on both web sites.

Contact information: 832.860.5595 or peter@wt.net