Here's another hypothetical question for you.
You are approached by a local dignitary who wants to take over your 150-seat restaurant for an entire evening for a large private party. All his guests will be other local people of note. This is a great opportunity for you to showcase the wonderful cuisine and the fabulous service you offer - to an influential clientele.
You negotiate the cost, discuss the ideal menu and your proposal is accepted. You get together with your client to finalize the details. Just as you're about to shake hands, he says "Oh, by the way, I'll be in charge of the cooking, the restaurant and the servers and so on. Here's the menu I want ..."
You are startled of course. You are happy to look at his menu and listen to his ideas, but you are the expert, after all. That's why he came to you in the first place. You look at his menu and it's preposterous. He continues telling you his ideas. Your mind wanders ...
You know that your chef is magnificent and has a fabulous reputation far and wide. Your staff is incredibly well-trained and operates like a well-oiled machine. Your service is impeccable. You have spent years perfecting your craft; you have been in this business for a long time and now your client is telling you that he wants to run everything. He wants to add his own ideas, methods, menus and ways of doing things. And those 150 guests will think that they have sampled your restaurant and your cuisine, when in fact, they won't; it will be your client's way and not yours.
Maybe it's not so bad, after all. Hesitantly, you ask:
"Ah, so you have restaurant experience?"
"Well, it depends what you mean".
"You have experience of restaurant catering; catering to 150 people?"
Your client explains "No, but I eat out from time to time and I know what I like".
You are tempted to tell your client that you read books quite often, but that does not give you the ability to be an award-winning author. You feel like telling him that you drive to work every day, but that doesn't mean that you could win the Indy 500. You could even mention to him that you surf internet daily but that doesn't mean you can build a website. You might be tempted to let him know that your wife is Latin but that doesn't mean that you could translate the Aeneid. The list goes on really, doesn't it?
On the other hand you might feel like being extremely rude and blowing the whole deal by saying "You are a very presumptuous person. You know nothing about food service other than you eat out from time to time and you know what you like. I have been in this business for fifteen years and I am an expert at what I do. My staff are carefully chosen and trained. My chef is a genius. My restaurant manager can cope with anything. But you eat out from time to time and that makes you an expert. That over-rides the experience of my staff and myself, does it? How dare you think that you are capable ...."
But of course, he has left by now and the deal is shattered.
How would you deal with that person? I'd really like to know ...
Nice
Posted by: Amateur Cook | June 14, 2011 at 05:13 AM