The Common House brand of hospitality thrives on guest relationships:

Convince guests you are in control and you care about them. This philosophy should drive every interaction you ever have. Each relationship will be different and your approach should be flexible. You should expect guests to be: friendly, helpful, dismissive, rude, disrespectful, appreciative, awkward, and indifferent. No matter what they are like, understand they are like that to every hospitality professional and you have an opportunity to be the best server/concierge/bartender they have yet to encounter. Having good rapport, through careful development of the relationship, will save you if they ever have a disappointing experience.

Tips:

• Remember their names.

• For new guests, look for opportunities to qualify yourself to earn trust.

• For familiar guests, they expect you to become complacent, so always run to them and appear eager.

• Take pride in your work. People will treat you with more respect.

Guest Communication

• Verbiage: “my pleasure”, “are you still enjoying your…” “may I?”. Talk about what we do have, not what we don’t have. 

• When speaking to a guest, square your shoulders, eye contact and smile.

• Don’t talk about yourself too much. You are more like an investigative reporter than an entertainer. You want to get information, not give too much away (unless the guest asks a question about our menu)

• Don’t talk about operations to guests, maintain the illusion

• Don’t yell across the room to each other in front of guests

Internal Communication

• Be ready to give and receive candid communication. Don’t let someone’s feelings interfere with doing our best.

• In the kitchen: concise, direct, no excuses: “yes chef!”, urgency “right NOW Chef!”

• On the radio: concise, direct, wait for confirmation “Joe to chef…”,  no joking

• Purpose: Is your tone of voice designed to get what you are seeking? Don’t speak with emotion uncontrollably. Always be calculated with your words, intentions, and voice.