At your service
In the first of a new series we ask food-pub managers for their tips on giving customers good service.
Chris Peverell, manager, the George & Dragon, Chacombe, Northamptonshire"To provide great service, you have to make sure it's service with a smile and that there's good presentation of both the food and the workplace. You have to make people feel welcome. We're quite a small establishment so our staff training is one-on-one and we try to instill that ethos. In most cases, the customer is right - but I wouldn't say always! I do think food presentation plays a big role. If people get something they don't like, the look of it will put them off. So, yes, we do all that piling the food up and drizzling round the plates."
Alison Ward-Baptiste, owner, the Tollgate Inn, Holt, Wiltshire"Our policy here is to make everything very friendly and informal - although of course not to the point where it seems you don't care. We do serve with flair and the guys who work here all come from country hotels. We've got two red AA rosettes so the service has to reflect that. "We don't hover round the tables all the time, though. We are unobtrusive. "Presentation is everything. The staff all wear uniforms and look very smart and they are encouraged to polish the plates before taking the dishes through, for example. "Everything is cleared properly and professionally and safely, which is also very important. That's what people see, and if they see it being done properly, it makes them feel good. Also, it's quite impressive to see staff walking to the kitchen with six plates balanced up their arms."
