Out of the Mouths of Babes
I recently had dinner at a restaurant a friend had highly recommended. The restaurant was small; it had no sign outside advertising its existence; the food was outstanding and the experience was wonderful. When his duties as chef ended for the evening, the owner went from table to table thanking folks for being there. When someone at our table asked him about his odyssey, he told us that he had come from Italy a few years prior to work at Disney World. When his stint ended he returned to Italy, but he soon realized he wanted to be back in the United States. With his mother’s encouragement, he returned to America and to Disney. He shortly thereafter was offered a job as a chef consultant with a major grocery chain. While there, an executive of the firm took Giuseppe under his wing and taught him how about money, how to make it and how to use it to his advantage, as a complement to his culinary skills. Thus the restaurant came to pass. It had been open seven months when we dined there. He told us about his cooking lessons for single people only. He invites in for the evening eight men and eight women and the result is a different, fun night for everyone. While describing some other innovations that were successful as well, he began talking about how his clientele had begun to change just a few short months after opening. Whereas the initial diners had been rather demanding, his more recent customers were much more accommodating. When we asked him why, he said that he thought it had a lot to do with his attitude. “You know,” he said, “the better I treat my customers, the better customers I get.” That simple line blew me away. He was simply stating what everyone intuitively knows but most fail to capitalize on: superior service does indeed make one stand out. Be great!