General Manager of Restaurant August Pays Gives Students Advice on How to Give Outstanding Service

Last week a new group of students transitioned from life skills class to the café. It was a perfect time for Jeff Gulotta to pay us a visit. Mr. Gulotta is the General Manager of Restaurant August, John Besh’s flagship restaurant, and he spoke with the students about how to provide outstanding service in a fine dining restaurant.

Mr. Gulotta started his presentation by focusing on interactions with customers. In particular, he highlighted the importance of focus and enthusiasm. In a fast-paced restaurant, a waiter must constantly anticipate the needs of the customers. Lack of focus makes it impossible to provide excellent service. Enthusiasm with customers is also important because it can be contagious. If you show customers that you are excited to have them dining with you, they will be more likely to enjoy their experience. If diners have a good time they will leave bigger tips and be more likely to return. Learning these facts about fine dining service intimidated the students at first, but Mr. Gulotta assured them that anyone can provide excellent service. It just takes practice.

The second part of the presentation covered serving and bussing. Mr. Gulotta set a table to show students the typical place setting at August, and how to use the different dishes and flatware. He then showed students the proper way to serve and remove dishes teaching them tricks such as “tucking your thumb” so you don’t touch the top of a patron’s plate. He also suggested using the largest plate on the table to stack all the other dishes on so you can remove all dishes from a table at once.

Having worked his own way up through the restaurant industry, Mr. Gulotta concluded by assuring the students that if they work hard and focus any of them could work at a restaurant like August. Thank you, Jeff Gulotta, for your support of Café Reconcile! Our students really enjoyed your visit and now believe that they can be successful in a fine dining restaurant.