Hosting 101

The history of the host is pretty fancy.

The present life of a restaurant host is pretty ... unfancy.

Hosts and servers in America are looked down upon even more than the grocery store cashier/food clerk (I know, I worked as one for three years). They are poorly trainned (if at all) and paid low wages to do a few very important tasks. The least of which is to bring you food. Both servers and grocery clerks handle your food. Logic dictates that you ought not mess with these sorts of people. But logic is apparently something we Americans are short on. I blame Capitalism. And a lack of literature. And eating meat.

Anyway.

I have been discussing with my general manager for a few weeks now a transfer from serving to hosting, and I have various reasons for doing so which include the stress upon my body, my time constraints, a desire for the experience, and a slight discord between myself and the server's manager. In some restaurants, this is a demontion. In ours, it is simply a shifting of titles with no promotion/demotion attached to it. In the past, to be a host (or matre'd) was THE premier job. These individuals had the best experience, the most training, and were VERY nicely paid. And for good reason. The host is the first and last person a guest sees in your restaurant. The host is the person who sets the tone for the guests and ensures their proper and expedient seating. The host should have more experience under their belt than the standard 'here's your podium, you'll figure it out'. Should, but often does not. Since America brought over the restaurnt business from Europe, servers and hosts have gone from the top of the barrel to that sixteen year old kid who needs cash for his high label sneakers.

That builds your confidence, doesn't it?

I have spent a lot of my time as a server, when finding a lull in my duties, standing at the hosts' stand talking to them. I am probably closer to the hosts than I am the servers. During this, I picked up the generalities and basic duties of a host. At the same time, when I walked into work last night and suddenly found myself in the position of host I was unprepared. While I knew the general idea and had even performed a few tasks when the host was away from the podium, I was still untrainned. Last night was yet another exercise in learning on my feet. I took names for the first half and sat guests for the second, once the busy period had slowed down and there was a better opportunity for me to get a hold of the practice. I think I am serving tonight and hosting again Saturday morning. Should be fun.

And it will look really good on a resume for a back of house position. How many chefs do you know that also know how to work the front of house?

Vedgehead

Fancy Smancy (but you're in a bloody chain restaurant)

What is with the sudden influx of people refering to water with lemon as 'lemon water'? In some strange attempt to sound sophisticated, my guests at the restaurant I serve at have been recently asking for 'lemon water' in place of simply asking for water or water with a lemon. Don't get me wrong, it is a cute way and pretty darned effective, but I'm not lying with I say more than one person has been confused about what people were refering to when they made the request.

I work in a middle-class type of restaurant. Sadly, there is probably only one other restaurant in the entire town (although the state calls it a city) I live in that is fancier than ours, but it is none the less a middle-class restaurant. It is also a chained restaurant. There are literally hundreds if not thousands of these things all over the country. We are a casual, family type restaurant.

You are not fooling anybody by asking for Lemon Water. If you want to sound fancy, ask for Pelligrino Lemon Water instead.