The Art of Great Service Dissected

No, not originally my title, though I have written about service before. It comes from the current edition of Scottish Licensed Trade News. At a recent event entitled Art of Service, a Q & A session had been set up involving three experts from different parts of the licensed trade spectrum.

First there was award winning mixologist Mal Spence. (For the benefit of my older readers, a mixologist is someone who makes cocktails. They are usually young, cool and trendy.) Second up was Lynsey Reid, who holds the post of Customer Experience Director for Heineken UK. (Before you snort, we have for decades been banging on about staff training. While the title may sound a little clunky, the service we receive in any hotel, bar or restaurant is, I would argue, the most important part.) Finally, the only one known to me, Shaun McCarron. You will probably be more familiar with his wife Roberta Hall, chef extraordinaire. They are co-owners of restaurants The Little Chartroom, Eleanore and Ardfern in Edinburgh.

I admired Mal Spence's insight. When I was behind a cocktail bar, it was very ego-driven, he said. Certainly matches my own (limited) experience of such places. Having moved to a hotel in Arran, he had a Damascene moment. He suddenly realised, it's not my drink, it's not my bar, it's the guest's drink, it's the guest's bar. That may seem simple and it may seem obvious, but it's the principle behind great service in almost any sector.

Working for a huge organisation, Lynsey's job is obviously different. She has to rely on customer surveys when planning training and improvements. Analysing things she said, it's never the big thing you think it is. It's the small, we call them tiny, noticeable moments. Amen to that.

Working as he does in the restaurant field, Shaun was probably of most interest to Tom's Food! He spoke of running proposed new dishes past all staff and asking for feedback. A corollary to this is training all front of house staff about the contents of every dish. Firstly, that speeds things up when dealing with customers with allergies. Secondly, for the curious diner, it's great to get an insight on where a certain flavour comes from or what particular ingredient might be involved.

A second article from the same discussion (excellent - we hate waste) was entitled The changing face of customer service. Unsurprisingly, Shaun had words to say about tasting menus versus a la carte, a subject dear to our hearts here. There was an interesting discussion on the subject of interaction with customers, in particular the balance of friendliness and professionalism. I think this is without doubt the hardest thing to get right. Give me immaculate 100% professional service with no interaction, and I'll score it 4/5. To get that perfect mark, for me there must be some human input. If not, let the robots take over. BUT, and it's a big but, overdo it and the score can plummet. That applies to owners as well as to new waiters. Very difficult.

Shaun McCarron and Roberta Hall

But let me conclude with an example of the best service ever, from Shaun and Roberta in the early days of The Little Chartroom. It was then on Leith Walk, 14 covers and a tiny menu. From memory, 3 starters and 3 mains. I'd given notice of L's cream allergy. Shaun greeted us. The seafood pate has cream in it - don't worry, we'll have something else - but Roberta's made a wee batch without, just in case you fancy it. So beautiful we almost shed a tear.*

*I see I included that same anecdote in my article from 2019. Just shows how great customer experience moments can stay with you for ever.