Case study - Good communication is vital

The Ledbury

Sarah Cooper, now restaurant manager at the Ledbury Restaurant in west London, was named the British Hospitality Association’s Young Waiter of the Year in 2009.

She says, “The Ledbury is one of the best places for customer service I’ve worked at. Nothing is too much trouble. We even made Christmas presents – eucalyptus chocolates and Christmas puddings – for customers to take away with them.

“The style here is quite informal – not the sort of place where waiters are topping up your water after every sip. We want people to feel relaxed and have a good time.”

According to Sarah, the most important qualities in front-of-house staff are passion and a drive to make customers happy. “It helps if their CV looks good – for example, experience in a Michelin-starred restaurant – but ultimately I’d prefer to go for someone with the right attitude and train them up rather than someone who thinks they know it all.”

Staff training includes extensive familiarisation with every dish on the menu. “The first thing we do when we give customers the menu is to ask whether they have any allergies or special dietary requirements,” says Sarah. “We offer gluten-free bread and dairy-free butter, and we spend a lot of time making sure our staff know what’s in every dish. Our chef Brett Graham will give us new or unusual ingredients to taste so that we can explain them to customers .

“Good communication between the kitchen and front of house is vital. If all the customers arrive at once, we have to space the orders out while letting the chef know what’s happening. Similarly, if the kitchen is running short of certain dishes, we need to know before we take orders. It works both ways.”