Detail signals good service

I recall a story by Danny Meyer, owner of several restaurants in NYC noted for good food and excellent service. He told of a signal set by the person who seated a party at their table. If they had been told of the daily specials, the salt and pepper shakers were positioned with the sugar dispenser in one way, if they hadn't been, they were positioned in the other way. A simple device, it depends upon consistency and discipline but can pay big dividends when the next person to the table doesn't have to repeat what has already been said.

At a family wedding, a similar device was used by the serving staff. As they distributed coffee cups to the table, people ask if they wanted coffee and if they wanted regular or decaf. If they wanted coffee, they got a cup and saucer and were then told to keep it upside down until the coffee server came around.

upside down cup indicates decaf coffee

The coffee servers when they came to each table were able to carry one carafe of coffee at a time. Better to serve easily without spilling, and they still saved time as they did not need to ask if the person wanted regular or decaf. That decision was already made and indicated by the position of the cup.

The coffee when it was served was both good and Hot!

What kind of signal can you set for your service delivery to help the delivery process?

It may take some time to work out but should provide you (and your customers) some lasting benefits!


For more on Danny Meyer, consider visiting the wikipedia page which is rich with links to follow

Impossible word problem

The long version:

If she walked off her worries
Planning kindergarten lessons
Reviewing family trials
Daughters challenges, etc.
And he ran through
Thickets of words checking
The syllable count
Would they meet in time
For coffee at Café Dolce?

or the short version (sherku)

Workout the math
She walks worrying
He runs thinking
Will they meet
For coffee

attempts to get at the same point, capture the same instance, the same thought.

How would capture this?


BTW - the long version pays homage to "the impossible word problem" told in Tom Robbins "Even Cowgirls get the Blues"

Don't recall that? Let me help with this:

"If a hen and a half, lay an egg and a half in a day in a half, how long would it take a monkey with a wooden leg to kick all the seeds out of a dill pickle?"

Expand the pin hole!

One of our regular coffee stops is Cafe Dolce in downtown Franklin. They got a new supply of covers for the paper coffee cups and they are defective. Not in a major way but enough to be noticeable and easily corrected.

As you sip your coffee, the liquid covers the hole. There should be an air hole above to allow air to replace the coffee as it enters your mouth. The existing air hole is more like a fine pinhole. What you see above was widened with my house key. This quick and easy fix works well. Without widening the hole, you get a small sip and only that each time you tip the cup.

Now, if this is a safety factor built in to avoid burning your tongue, mouth etc. with hot liquid... that maybe an unintended consequence of the fine pin hole.

Michael Graves Coffeemaker - updated

You may have noticed that Michael Graves has some designer goods at Target. I stopped in for only the second time to look for and pickup a new coffee maker as ours decided to quit.

His coffee maker was in the mid-price range and seemed to have some good features to make it worthwhile. It is manufactured by Hamilton Beach.

The water container comes out and makes it easy to load.
He still uses paper coffee filters so it is not very green on that front. And speaking of green, did you notice the blue oval! It is bright enough to light up the entire kitchen in the dark. You could use the coffee maker for the dual purpose of coffee and night light, that might qualify for a little green savings.





For all the Michael Graves designed items at Target click here or go to Target and search for "Michael Graves".

Updated:

I was pleasantly surprised to find this model rated by Consumer Reports as a best buy. I agree it is priced well for the competition. As we have now been using it for a few weeks, the one significant draw back that it has is that the coffee container doesn't sit easily into its slot. Once removed, it takes a minute or so to find just the right spot for it. Why couldn't it have been designed to only go back in one way?

Maybe the next model will do that!

Michael Graves coffee maker

You may have noticed that Michael Graves has some designer goods at Target. I stopped in for only the second time to look for and pickup a new coffee maker as ours decided to quit.

His coffee maker was in the mid-price range and seemed to have some good features to make it worthwhile. It is manufactured by Hamilton Beach.

The water container comes out and makes it easy to load.
He still uses paper coffee filters so it is not very green on that front. And speaking of green, did you notice the blue oval! It is bright enough to light up the entire kitchen in the dark. You could use the coffee maker for the dual purpose of coffee and night light, that might qualify for a little green savings.





For all the Michael Graves designed items at Target click here or go to Target and search for "Michael Graves".

Franklin: What's up with Aromas Caffe?

Franklin_Aroma Caffe, originally uploaded by shersteve.

On Saturday Sep 29th, Dolores and I saw the sign about their power problem and repairs were going to be made while we did our walk. The sign is still there.

Anyone know when they will re-open? If they will re-open?