4 minute read
Mise en Place
Mise en Place
MASS STREET FISH HOUSE’S LAURA KLEIN GIVES GRADE-A HOSPITALITY INSIGHT
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By Kate Frick
Laura Klein holds a stem of daylilies as she looks out the small restaurant storefront at pedestrians on Massachusetts Street in downtown Lawrence. As owner-operator of the LFK seafood institution, Mass St. Fish House, she has elegance and a sense of ease about her while she arranges fresh bouquets to adorn tables. Her composure and grace support the ethos that makes the restaurant and bar a comfortable, hospitable environment for guests and employees alike.
The Pitch: When you’re self-reliant and working in hospitality, is it easy to delegate?
Laura Klein: When I first started, in order to prove myself, I never called in sick, I didn’t request off, I worked every holiday, and I don’t know if this is everyone’s experience, but especially being a woman in this industry, I felt I had to be perfect.
How do we break expectations of perfection?
You know, when you get into a position of power, you’re really worried about putting too much on someone else’s plate; that’s a thing I think about a lot. This should be a better working environment for my peers. But, I’m sometimes still not extending that to myself. One person really can’t create a really magical experience, you need a high-functioning team.
Let’s talk martyrdom in the industry. Do you feel guilty for time away?
Oh, my God. Absolutely. When I’m away and tempted to feel really guilty, my husband Dan says, “Do you not trust your staff?” And I’m like, “Oh, yeah, I trust my staff.” I feel like it’s a little jab, and he puts it into terms I can process.
Do you cook at home?
I love cooking at home. I’ll get obsessive about one recipe and try to get it right. Earlier this year, I was making Caesar salads for myself at home, trying to get my recipe perfect. I grew up next to this Greek Orthodox Church in Wichita, and they’d have Lebanese dinners as a fundraiser, and I looked forward to it all year. I had a single working mom, putting herself through grad school. She didn’t complain. I feel like a lot of my preparation for this industry was watching my mom, who is, to this day, well into her 60s, working 12-hour days at the hospital. She would definitely tell you that working hard for others is her self-care.
Do you know your family’s heritage? How does it play into your daily work experience?
Yes. I am mostly German Mennonite. I love the history of German Mennonites because they’re a bunch of hippies that were like, “Martin Luther didn’t go far enough. You know?” I really think that there is a shared cultural value: the needs of the community over the needs of the individual.
At some point, I would love to just be way more of a realist instead of, like, oppressively optimistic. My chef calls me aggressively optimistic all the time. Maybe that’s what it takes to make it in the service industry. I remember the time we hand-wrote tickets all night because there was a power surge, and it fried our router. At the end of the day, when you have your worst defeats, you can just be like, “You know what? We’re serving food. No one died.” We come back the next day and be a better version. When we’re tempted to put all that pressure on ourselves, it’s like, “Hey, this is a pleasure experience.” It is nourishment, but it’s for pleasure, ya know? These are little luxuries that all human beings are seeking. Everybody wants to feel like “I got to treat myself, or I got to treat someone else. I got to have an experience outside of my regular day.” And really, that’s the foundation of it. If I’m riding myself too hard, or riding my staff too hard, then I’m forgetting that a big part of this job is that it should be fun. And when I was young, my mom went back and got an MBA, and I remember her telling me that one of the biggest contributors to customer satisfaction is employee satisfaction. With customer-facing industries, if you have a team that’s emotionally exhausted, or it’s chaotic, or a toxic environment, that’s going to translate to the guest experience. It’s a lot easier to be loving, welcoming, and generous with your patrons, you know—if you’re feeling love and respect.
