Working In The Hospitality Industry
Working int he hospitality industry is a job that demands a special kind of person. A person who understands the endless scale of this vocation, who is a good leader and a great organiser, socially intelligent, adaptable and persistent. One has to be born for this profession while at the same time having an incredible amount of know-how to work successfully.
Excellent Leaders and Organisers
Even though working in a restaurant requires teamwork, restaurant managers must be great leaders who can be role models for others. The way an owner, chef or manager acts towards his or her employees mirrors the way they will act back. Skills can be learned, character cannot. Many decide to run a restaurant because they love to cook and work with people but they soon realise that they also need many other skills and a good business plan. They must be able to organise people and delegate work, take care of financial aspects, accounting as well as have a good overview of what is going on in the kitchen.
Social IQ
To put it simply, it’s about people skills. Good owners, chefs, waiters or any other hospitality workers are friendly and know how to work with people, whether these are guests (about whom they must remember plenty of details), or employees who need guidance through thick and thin. They truly must love what they do. They listen more and talk less, know how to be constructive even if they have to criticise other people’s work. They have to know how to express their opinion, lead, calm tensions, react, give praise. Having empathy is also a big part of the job, as well as building good and long lasting relationships. Many think that their guests are much happier if they are welcomed by the owner personally so hospitality is a key attribute. They cannot afford having a bad day at work.
Adaptability
Tradition is one thing but adapting to the modern times is something completely different. This was also shown during the last pandemic crisis to which restaurants reacted in different ways; delivery and take away was in full swing even though we still don’t know how restaurants will have to adapt from now on. Sometimes they have to change more than just offering take away because the concept of a restaurant simply doesn’t work sometimes even if it was so well thought out. A good restaurant manager will see this and react accordingly. However, this doesn’t mean that the concept of restaurants has to be adapted to each and every trend! Rome wasn’t built in a day and a good restaurant needs time to spread the word and lure guests even though every person would want to have their restaurant full from day one.
Persistence
People who work in hospitality are hardcore, persistent people. They are prepared to work hard day in and day out, at night even, sacrificing most of their time and privacy for their restaurant to work as it should. They have to coordinate many fields and people, they have to be the last ones to check everything, make decisions and accept responsibility. It is important for them to understand the tight schedule and prevent their employees and themselves from burning out. It’s no wonder that they say working in the hospitality industry is such a difficult job. But at the same time, it is also one of the most beautiful ones.
Photo: Yourpassport
