Well HC was actually in a fairly good mood tonight which is surprising seeing as he has just come back from a week off to the chaos that currently is the Hotel. We had a quite good night, not too busy and things all went pretty smoothly. I got to spend most of the night faffing about making summer puddings, filling profiteroles...that sort of thing. A nice, calming evening after the last 10 days of mild and uncomplicated stress. I know things could have gone a lot worse whilst HC was away and I am sure I did a good job of keeping things together in his absence but it is nice to have him back and for me to regain my role as no#2!
Tomorrow we will see what tomorrow brings. We are doing a deal mon-sat, 12-6 every day, whereby we offer one course carvery for only £3.50. This is in competition with a small pub down the road that has been doing tremendous business. The offer has been running now for over a week and I think we have stolen some of our competitor's customers! Today, at least, whilst I was not there, we did a phenomenal amount of customers compared to our recent trade. It kind of helped that our competition were shut until 2!! Most of the people who would've gone to them, came to us instead. The only problem is that at £3.50 a head, we are not taking a lot of money even on drinks but the owners believe that more bums through the door at discount prices is better than fewer bums through the door at a higher price. They may have a point and we do have to drum up trade somehow in these difficult times but there is a real sense in the Kitchen of us working our arses off for little income or benefit. The good thing is that because the bill is less, more people are allegedly leaving tips. Whether this makes much of a difference, we will see at the end of the month.
And the owners have another little idea up their sleeve that begins next friday- I'll keep that close to my chest for now but will tell you more at a later date...
Oh and thank-you Dawn for your comment- it was read, acknowledged and taken on board and made a lot of sense. I too know I should look at the bigger picture (and it was a busy night!) and think about the customers who walked away happy and not the one who complained but one disappointed customer in my business is enough to ruin your night. It's not just me- I think it's a chef thing. But the more I think about it, the more I remember mistakes HC has made and some of the few times when customers have been unhappy with the food HE has produced which just goes to show that none of us are perfect and even my esteemed leader has his off-days. And that perhaps I shouldn't judge myself so harshly over one bad meal I might have served up out of all the other satisfying ones that day!
God, this is turning into a right introspective post isn't it! Time to call it a night methinks...
Sparky signing out......ciao bella!
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