Service

Britain was ranked 14th in the world for its hospitality welcome recently, prompting the industry to take a hard look at its service standards, and whether it's doing enough to attract talent into front of house careers.

Fat Duck sommelier named Young Sommelier of the Year 2011

25-Mar-2011 By Lorraine Heller

Sommeliers at that The Duck in Bray have scooped up the top three awards in the Chaîne des Rôtisseurs’ National Young Sommelier of the Year competition, held this week.

Bad restaurant service results in eat-and-run, finds survey

23-Mar-2011 By Lorraine Heller

Bad service in restaurants remains the biggest gripe for UK diners, but a new survey has revealed that it also leads many consumers to eat and run.

Service standards: How to raise the profile of front-of-house

21-Mar-2011 By Lorraine Heller

Michel Roux’s Service TV programme has put front-of-house on the map, but how can the hospitality sector sustain this momentum? BigHospitality takes a look at steps that can be taken to help raise the profile of a career in service.

ASK THE EXPERTS

How to best measure customer service

21-Mar-2011

Jules Murray, of sales and customer service consultants Spider on the Wall tells BigHospitality how restaurants, pubs and hotels can measure customer service in the most cost-effective and beneficial way.

Savoy Educational Trust pumps funds into hospitality training

15-Mar-2011 By Lorraine Heller

The Savoy Educational Trust has pumped almost £60k into education and training initiatives in the UK hospitality sector with the aim of boosting college efforts in the face of university budget cuts.

Service standards: A day at Galvin at Windows

14-Mar-2011 By Stefan Chomka

Restaurant magazine’s Stefan Chomka joins the front-of-house team at Galvin at Windows for a glimpse into the service secrets of the Michelin-starred restaurant.

Special feature: Service standards

04-Mar-2011 By Lorraine Heller

March is BigHospitality’s Service feature month. Every Monday we’ll be looking at front of house service in the UK. What constitutes good service, and how can the industry help attract more young talent into front of house careers?

Top restaurant operators reveal their service secrets

04-Mar-2011 By Becky Paskin

Diners are becoming ever more scrutinizing when it comes to service, and less inclined to let a bad restaurant experience slide.

Quarter of operators fail to upsell wines

14-Feb-2011 By Becky Paskin

A quarter of hospitality operators are missing out on potential revenue by failing to encourage their staff to upsell wines, research has found.

Pearls of Wisdom: Ronan Sayburn

11-Feb-2011 By Becky Paskin

The Master Sommelier has been Hotel du Vin’s director of wine for 15 months, and previously oversaw the wine offer at Gordon Ramsay Holdings for eight years. He recently appeared on Michel Roux’s Service programme for BBC2, and is now concentrating on...

Raymond Blanc’s service secrets

09-Feb-2011 By Becky Paskin

Raymond Blanc has set the benchmark for the UK hospitality sector for decades, with many chefs and waiters benefiting from his Oxfordshire hotel and restaurant Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons’ inspirational development and training practices.

AFWS training scheme follows Michel Roux TV show

04-Feb-2011 By Lorraine Heller

The Academy of Food and Wine Service has launched a training framework that it hopes will continue the momentum created by the BBC2 series Michel Roux's Service, which aimed to raise the profile of front-of-house careers.

Pearls of Wisdom: Michel Roux Jr

14-Jan-2011 By Becky Paskin

The celebrity chef and owner of Le Gavroche recently opened Roux at the Landau with father Albert, following the launch of Roux at Parliament Square earlier this year. He made his TV mark on BBC’s Masterchef: The Professionals in 2008, but is now fronting...

Michel Roux Jr promotes service careers in new TV show

06-Jan-2011 By Becky Paskin

Michel Roux Jr has taken a break from promoting chef careers on Masterchef: The Professionals to present a new TV show aiming to raise the profile of front-of-house careers instead.

Olympics customer service training programme gathers support

06-Jan-2011 By Lorraine Heller

UK sporting venues such as Twickenham Stadium and Royal Ascot have signed up for a customer service programme introduced last year by People 1st to train hospitality staff ahead of the Olympics.