Pizza Today - June 2018 - 66

Mike's Monthly Tip
MIKE BAUSCH

and all deserve respect. BOH morning
crews need to set the night up for success
since they have more time on their hands.
BOH night crew needs to ensure a great
experience and close strong to set up for a
good morning.
Communication, understanding,
standard setting and empathy for the
other shift - along with total refusal to
let your kitchen be divided - are the only
ways that the shifts won't have antipathy
toward each other.
ROUND 3: EMPLOYEE VS. MANAGER

TRIBE MENTALITY

Don't let common restaurant divisions destroy morale
I was at a Raiders game as a kid, and
no matter what call the referees made -
even when the call was as plain as day that
our team was in the wrong - the crowd
went ballistic. If it wasn't in favor of the
Silver & Black, the Oakland crowd wasn't
having it. This emotional response is 100
percent natural and human nature. We all
want to belong, and sometimes belonging means deriding those not in our tribe.
While it's harmless fun when it comes to
sports teams, this mentality can destroy a
healthy restaurant.
It's natural to unify against a common
enemy. As a country, we're better than
that country; as a college, we're better
than that college. It often goes all the
way down to town, team, race, gender,
generation, etc. This can't be us inside our
business. Competition is great; civil war
is peril.
So here's a breakdown of the most
common tribe mentalities to avoid and
fight against inside your pizzeria:
ROUND 1: SERVERS (FRONT OF HOUSE)
VS. COOKS (BACK OF HOUSE)

Both sections are equally important. It's
6 6 / P I Z Z AT O D AY. C O M / J U N E 2 0 1 8

the chicken and the egg. Great food gets
customers; great service keeps customers
and creates new customers. The customer
is gold, so the front lines are incredibly
important during the rush, but dedicated
BOH makes it all possible.
Servers need to be aware they can make
more than a BOH employee for using
their brain and not always their sweat
equity. Helping out at the dish phase,
making all ticket instructions clear and
concise, along with being polite and courteous to BOH is a great way to keep good
morale and motivation high.
BOH needs to understand the mental
agility it takes to anticipate the needs
of several tables while not appearing
flustered (and at the same time being
charming and knowledgeable). Their job is
not to deliver food, but rather to enhance
the customer's experience. If service is
being done right it will appear easier than
it actually is.

Employees will view managers as weak
and having the easy life. The reality is that
all responsibility falls on management,
especially GMs. It might sound weird,
but a successful GM is the one not doing
anything other than observing because
that means all systems are a go and functioning properly. However, if anything
goes wrong (a customer is too drunk, AC
goes down, an accident occurs outside -
and everything else that could possibly go
wrong), it falls at their feet to resolve as
the leader of the site.
ROUND 4: OUR RESTAURANT VS. THE
CUSTOMER

CUSTOMERS PAY THE BILLS
- SHUT IT DOWN. "But they don't
know, they don't understand." They're not
paid to ... WE ARE ... so SHUT IT
DOWN. If someone stupidly and naively
has antipathy towards the customer,
SHUT IT DOWN. That means being
angry at the customer who shows up five
minutes before close is a fireable offense.
ROUND 5: OUR RESTAURANT VS. EVERY
OTHER RESTAURANT

ROUND 2: DAY CREW VS. NIGHT CREW

It's our job to be the best. It's not our
job to say anything negative about others
to prove we're the best. Leave that to
customers and the Internet. ■

For FOH you have two completely
separate customer groups. A quickservice, lower tipping group vs. longer
tables and more demands - all are hard,

MIKE BAUSCH is the owner of Andolini's
Pizzeria in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He is a
frequent speaker at the International Pizza
Expo family of tradeshows.

RICK DAUGHERTY
http://www.PIZZATODAY.COM
Pizza Today - June 2018

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