Remember the time when you were out for a special occasion dinner in a charming restaurant where the food was all it was promised to be? And then the entire mealtime was ruined because the waiter was in a bad mood and you left the restaurant feeling that you wasted hard-earned money and your celebration went sour? The memory you carried away with you was a bad service. The exceptional food memory was nearly forgotten. That incident shows you the importance of food service skills in your community. No matter how superb the food is, if the service is lacking, the meal is nearly worthless.
When you listen to the residents in your community, you learn the importance of the mealtime experience to them. It’s part of their social plan for the day. They anticipate mealtimes by attending to their appearance and readying themselves for discussions and sharing the latest news. It is vital that your residents’ anticipation be fulfilled. Skilled food servers will sincerely greet all diners with a smile, recognition of their name, words of welcome, knowledge of the day’s menu, and be prepared to offer suggestions if they are asked for them.
If the company has not provided good training and practice sessions, your food serving team may be performing far below par. They are the company’s best assets . . . or greatest liabilities. Not everyone is born with the skills desired for food serving kindness. Learning these skills will also change negative attitudes to positive ones. With the self-assurance of doing an excellent job at work, comes the confidence to take individual initiative, to carry team spirit, to feel self-respect, and extend that respect to others. You can even add love to that list. It comes from a feeling of self-worth and a desire to share it.
Kind Dining♥ training was designed to assist you in honing the skills of all your employees, in building communication between coworkers, residents, and management, using cross-training exercises. These training sessions, now available online/on-demand, focus on working smarter. They are enjoyable and build the confidence necessary for success. This success changes negative attitudes to employees loving to go to work, sharing responsibilities with their coworkers, and extending kindness to all persons. This success creates a casual chit-chat with residents that they find comforting and reassuring. This success includes the confidence to respond to the emotional situations that may arise with residents. Take a long look at staff serving meals (from all departments) in your community and realize how important your food serving teams are to your residents and the success of your company.
B♥ Kind Tip: You have the power to make a big difference to everyone’s satisfaction!