The situation is desperate. Servers as well as their Supervisors and Owners cannot properly lay even a simple table-setting especially if they’re asked to set in anything more complicated than a knife & fork and even those settings are set haphazardly. I travel this country and others training Servers in The Service Arts and I’ve become extremely disappointed with the table-service basic knowledge of my students. I test them in “Setting-the-Table” immediately after their entrance-exam, which is a Tray-carrying Test, used as their admission to the seminar. Both of these initial tests help me to determine my attendee’s level of training.
I thought I’d be teaching The Service Arts somewhere between the High-school and College level and never thought I have to start at the Kindergarten level, even for management. It seems to be Grandma’s and Mom’s fault for not teaching their off-spring the basics of Table Manners, which should include the proper identification and use of flatware, china and glassware. Owners, Management and Servers alike don’t seem to know a Dessert-spoon from a Teaspoon or a Salad-knife from a B & B Spreader. When asking for a “B & B”, I’ve been offered Benedictine & Brandy instead of a Bread & Butter Plate and forget about being able to recognize a Fish-fork or Fish-knife! Even on the equipment needed for my set-up when I’ve asked for a Tray-jack I’ve been told, “there’s no one named ‘Jack’ working in this department” and when I requested some Goosenecks I’ve been told, “the Chef can only supply you with some ‘Chicken Necks’ or I received a small Teapot instead of a Gooseneck (gravy or sauce boat) . This really happened and it’s not funny, it’s very sad.
Many Servers do not know in which direction to face the sharp edge of a knife or which side of the Couvert (Place-setting) to place the various pieces of Flatware, China or Glassware. They’re totally confused when it comes to condiment placement especially Salt & Pepper. I thought that just about everyone has seen the scene from the Movie “Pretty Women” in which the Hotel Manager instructs our Lady of the Streets on the use of common pieces of flatware and how to eat (from the outside in) but I guess I was wrong!
My attendee’s admission to the Seminar Room (even if they’re an Owner of a Hospitality Facility or the Director of Tourism of the Country in which I’m presenting) is usually “Tray-lifting 101”. I ask all attendees to lift a tray of ten covers and rate them on their lifting style which ranges from “2HF & 1HF to FC or DC” (2-Hands Forward, 1-Hand Forward, Feminine Carry or Dead Center). Tray-lifting is the first impression a guest has of a Server’s Professionalism. I’ve found few who really know how to lift. When Owners and Chefs refuse to lift I tell them if they don’t make the attempt I won’t admit them. That usually embarrasses them into making the attempt, in front of their own Associates, especially since my microphone is on and the other attendees are privy to their response.
After introductions, explanations of the various lifting styles and instruction in Tray-lifting I proceed with two contests. In the first contest I flash a typical Holiday Prix Fixe menu on the screen. The menu is apropos to both Banquet and A la Carte personnel. Each table (of five to seven students) has enough tabletop equipment to set just two exact settings based on the flashed menu. The Contestants are given five-minutes, working as a team, to view the menu and set their two settings. In the last twenty plus seminars this year, including those performed in nine Caribbean countries, not one single team has been able to set two exact settings according to the posted menu.
As the acid test and in order to make this learning experience interesting and amusing I go to each table in the room and have the students at that table eat the menu from the outside in using the flatware as they’ve erroneously place it. They wind up having to eat the Fruit Cup with a knife, the Salad with a spoon and stirring the Coffee with their fingers. The results are both funny and very sad. Not only is the flatware improperly set but both settings are never exactly the same (duplicated to a fraction of an inch) they way a setting should be set. I challenge our readers to take a ruler into their dining rooms and see if their table-settings, even at a deuce, are exactly the same. I bet not. I’ll bet that Salt & Pepper Shakers are not in an exact position on each table. I’ll bet that even in Casual operations “Roll-ups” are not positioned in exactly the same position at each setting and that no two tables in the dining room are set exactly the same. Shame on you!
I call this SOP, Standardization, Organization & Professionalism. SOP lends an immediate feeling of calm and comfort to the entering guests. Again, like tray carrying it’s all about first impressions. If I enter a dining establishment and notice settings haphazardly set with either salt or pepper missing, dirty and/or un-capped ketchup & mustard bottles or just one knife set with the sharp side out towards the right I turn to my wife and say, “let’s get out of here” for I’ve immediately lost respect for the establishment. Every time the tables are not set in a standardized fashion, exercising SOP, I’ve found that the restrooms are dirty and Service will probably “Stink” for no one has been properly trained.
But let’s get back to my second test. I ask for two volunteers to race to re-set a four-seater using a simple place-setting, as commonly used in a neighborhood Italian restaurant. I have previously set a mock Server’s Station with: 8- pre-folded Linen Napkins, 8- Water Goblets, 8- B & B’s, 8-Dinner Forks, 8-Salad Forks and 8-Pasta Spoons (Entremets Spoons or Oval Tablespoons), 2-Large Dinner Plates lined with white napkins pre-folded into large envelopes. Whoever finishes first with four exact and correctly set place-settings is the winner.
“On your mark…Get set… Go!”, as I blow my whistle! I give the two contestants a head start of about 30-seconds and then I lift a pre-set STP (Service Transport Plate) topped with 4- napkins and 4 –B&B’s. I hold 4- Water Goblets between my fingers under the STP. I approach a third four-seater and set the table in less than 2-minutes with four settings that are exactly the same to a fraction of an inch.
By this time the Contestants are usually making their third trip to their tables, failing to properly use the STP’s that have been provided. Finally, somewhere between five and ten minutes later, one of the Contestants will indicate that they’ve finished and we end the contest.
We gather the attendees around the Contestant’s tables pointing out that no two settings are exactly the same and are usually set improperly with some and/or all of the flatware and glassware in the wrong positions.
After pointing out the errors, without embarrassing the Contestants, I ask my students to assemble around the table that I had set in two-minutes because I was prepped. I ask them all to raise their hands and extend their fingers asking the question, “Can you guarantee that you have equal space between your fingers?” The reply in unison is “No”. I now request they all make a fist and repeat the question. The Answer must be “Yes” because there isn’t any space between the fingers. I explain that if one’s fingers represent flatware then the secret of instantly standardizing a table-setting is “Touch, Touch, Touch” for it eliminates any need to measure, especially if the napkin is placed in first as a template between the forks (touching the left side of the napkin) and the knives and spoons (touching the right side of the napkin). An upside-down plate may also be used as the template in lieu of the napkin. During the re-set or pre-set the Water Goblet is placed in touching the tip of the Dinner-knife as the Guide-glass without exception. B& B’s may be placed into any of three positions depending on space. It either touches the left edge of the outside fork or touches the tip of the Dinner-fork or may also be placed directly above and centered on the entire cover.
After explaining the Touch, Touch, Touch system of standardization we demonstrate how to prepare an STP for a typical A la Carte table of four with the flatware enclosed in a sanitary envelope-folded napkin atop a large dinner plate with four pre-folded napkins and four B & B’s set-in over the encased flatware. As we consult with restaurants nationwide and train their staffs we find that setting up the STP’s winds up being a daily side-job of either the Busser or Server.
I suggest that management of all food facilities test their staff at least four times a year by holding contests in Setting Tables from various posted menus and hold re-set contests as a learning experience in order to fine-tune the Change-over with speed and precision.
But in order to approach this challenge for the long run we need to train our children in the basics of table manners to include setting the table and the proper use of flatware. If we continue to eliminate the family dining together we’ll wind up with adults who have never learned to use a knife and fork for they’ve only learned to eat Burgers, Fries, Chicken and Pizza with their hands.
The acid-test in Human Resources today is to take job candidates out to lunch and dinner and closely observe their table manners and how that affects attitude and self-respect. Recently I trained 75 Hotel Sales Managers in a course entitled “Manners for Management” for the Hotel Chain was losing conventions and conferences at the dinner table because their sales personnel were eating improperly and lacked basic skills in courtesy and etiquette.
It’s hard to believe how unsophisticated our Server applicants have become in the basics of table –etiquette. My Mom had me setting tables like and expert at six years old and her Mom, my Grandma, started teaching my Mom at age four. Table-setting is becoming a lost art and its getting worse not better as more and more of our family is being forced to work and we’re dining together less and less. Grandma’s and Mom’s job may have to be replaced by management if we wish our Associates to become as knowledgeable with the use and placing of tabletop equipment as they should be with the menu they’re required to sell and serve.
As a Restaurateur and Caterer I would run weekly lessons and contests in tabletop nomenclature. We started the program by touring the kitchen and storerooms and just pointing and naming. Then my Service Staff were required to identify the tabletop equipment by placing name-tags in various glasses or atop pieces of flatware, china and hollowware that were set out specifically for identification by testing. We rewarded those with the best scores.
Only through training can we advance our server’s dining sophistication. Maybe someday America’s Servers will be able to set tables quickly and efficiently in precise accordance to any menu with which they are presented.
Ian Maksik, "Professor of Service", is America’s "Service Guru". Ian trains staff in the art & science of table service and helps turn a staff’s service sins into service solutions. Ian is the owner and dean of America's only School for the Service Arts. He is the author of the hit selling video/manual training program "The A to Z's of Professional Table Service" and the soon-to-be released "Service Stinks". Ian can be contacted at ian@usawaiter.com or online at usawaiter.com.