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All Players in the Scene

By Sylvia Jansen, DipWSET, CSW, Sommelier

A while ago, a cartoon appeared in our local newspaper showing a masked server introducing themselves to the table as the server, bartender, chef, prep cook, busser, dishwasher, and cashier. Another pandemic fallout, I thought. Not two days later, a winemaker friend of mine in France said her daughter’s restaurant had just lost a key server. The winemaker, who was crazy busy in her ownwork at the time, was planning to spend her weekend being server, Sommelier, busser, and cashier—well, the similarity was chilling.

Ask anyone in hospitality: the entire industry has been turned on its head. Staff returning to school, moving home, leaving the industry altogether—these are only some of the changes we have seen. But why this is happening is perhaps not as critical a question as how the rest of us should respond.

Lovers of the dining experience endured shutdowns, restricted seating, and sudden cancellations. Now we enter restaurants where the setting might be familiar, and even some of the people, but we might well be greeted, or fed, or served, by someone who is doing a double shift, new to the work, or unfamiliar with the place. Many wine lists have been refined and slimmed as restaurants have modified or reassessed their wine programs completely. It all might be a challenge for those of us who would like to snap our fingers and recreate that special meal we had at the same place a couple of years ago. It might be downright annoying to discover that the take-out we have come to love from our favourite place is no longer offered because there is not enough staff power to produce it.

So how ought we to behave? Well, in essence, dining out is like attending live theatre, with the added element that the guest experiences a feast for the palate as well as for the eyes and ears. And like the audience, the guest is a player in that performance. A good audience shows up on time, pays attention, and responds at the curtain appropriately. In a restaurant, we receive hospitality but we are also players in the experience. When both parties come to this two-way relationship in good spirits, the experience is better for everyone.

Doug Stephen of WOW Hospitality sums up the tenor of the industry: “We were thankful to keep our all our restaurants going (during the many shutdowns). We just hope people will continue to be part of the team. We try to look after our guests, and we hope that our guests will continue to be part of our hospitality family.”

A FEW SIMPLE ENCOURAGEMENTS FOR BEING A GOOD GUEST.

Be understanding: Things have changed. Theremight be a lot of staff or supply challengesbehind the scenes.

Be polite: If you make a reservation, please keepit or let them know—a few unclaimed tables canspell trouble for a restaurant.

Be fair: Restaurant wine prices includemanagement of inventory, purchases that mightmean months or years of investment, staff time indeveloping and training, and glassware. (Addedto that is the fact that in our beloved province,restaurants do not enjoy liquor discounts—theypay what we pay off the shelf.)

Be kind, which is a guest’s way of appreciatingthe performance. I will stop at suggesting thatyou tip well because that is ultimately subjective.