How do you motivate staff to ensure they maintain standards?
Ben: You’ve got to have people on the front of house that are not just looking for a job; they’re here for a career and they want to be a front of house person.
Ryan: You’ve got to be there with them at the forefront. Repetition is the only way, you can’t take your eye off the ball for two minutes, especially at the start.
Ben: They have to see you working; if they’re in six days and they see you coming in seven they’re not going to complain.
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Colin: You have to be first in, last out. If you rock up at 12 o’ clock they’ll have no respect for you.
Francisco: When they ask if they can go you say yes because you are still there. Afterwards they will respect you and they will stay with you. I’m not saying every day, but at the beginning, especially during the training period.
Colin: You can also listen to people too. You can learn a lot from a commis or a demi chef, they might have ideas for something you’ve not thought of — especially people from the Middle East who can show you how they tend to do things. It’s just taking what they know, twisting it, and presenting it in a modern way.
Ben: For some reason I had a grilled chicken and because of the metal the grill was made of, the chicken just stuck to it no matter what. We had a Mexican girl, a waitress and she told me to rub the grill with lemon — it just came off. So you’ve just got to listen, you’ve got to be open to it.
I think the days of the shouty chefs are gone. I say I’m like a dog — if you’re nice to me I’ll be nice to you but if you kick me I’ll bite you. With the guys you have in the kitchen you know who you can shout at — you have to know your team inside out. You need to maximise what you’ve got because there’s no home-grown talent.
Darren: The one thing I find quite refreshing is the team. They’re so loyal and motivated to learn. Back in London it’s just a job for them but these guys have got such big agendas. They are sending money back home, grafting hard and I really quite admire that. I’m really energised by the way they are.
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