What does it mean to be professional? Several recent visits to area restaurants have given me the privilege of watching for signs of professional behavior in the appearance of the building, staff and management. If I were looking at this simply from my "middle age" point of view, I would quickly say that there are few truly professional restaurants in our city. A case in point is during a visit to a local steak house: A man came up to our table while we were eating, wearing a baseball cap and no name tag. He asked us if we were enjoying our meal. Of course we replied that we were, but I had no idea who that man was! I realized he must have been a manager, but was really surprised that although their college-aged staff were casual in their appearance, a manager surely would be more appropriately attired and labeled!
But the key word there is "appropriately"...what is appropriate for this customer may not be necessary for another. So how do we find a "standard" for what is professional if the rules are always changing?
In analyzing my experience at two other restaurants, I think I have an idea of what professionalism could mean. The first is a "normal" steak house variety restaurant, where you are greeted at the door and shown to the table. During our meal, we were greeted by a manager (a woman), who wore a name tag and was dressed "appropriately" for the setting. While she did not linger long at our table, I did notice her with another group of customers (all women), taking time to chat with them and having obvious interaction with her guests. To me, that is a good mark of a manager.
The waiter at this particular establishment, however, was less than professional. His appearance was not neat, as his shirt was partially untucked and not pressed. A common faulty trait I find in most servers is their inability to deal with customers who either don't hear well or have accents (my husband fits both categories). For me, a mark of a quality server, is one who can look their customer in the eye and listen in order to establish a line of communication. No one wants to be overlooked, and a professional will always seek to focus on the customer and give him value.
In contrast to this "fancy" restaurant, we also went to one of our favorite hangouts that is run by a friend of ours who hales from another country. It is not, perhaps, up-to-date in modern decor, but it is welcoming to all who enter in. One of the recent improvements to the establishment is new plastic table cloths that the owner brought back with him from his home country. They are colorful and attractive -- and of course, enable the tables to be easily cleaned after use. What I find professional in this place is the owner, who greets each person as they enter (sometimes by name, if he knows them). He also can remember what they like to eat and drink. He carries on a conversation with each person and after they begin their meal, he'll go to their table to make sure everything is alright. This "personal" touch has won him more than one local award for favorite restaurant in his category.
Professional? Maybe not in the classic sense, but right on target for someone who is meeting his customer's needs AND expectations. I would much rather have less on the "appearance" side of professionalism and win big on the "expectation" side of professionalism. After all -- it's all about the customer!
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