Caffeinated Book Dragon reviewed Raise the Bar by Jon Taffer
Jon Taffer doesn't disappoint--a digestible insider's view of customer service, bars, & restaurants
4 stars
I picked this up today because I'm trying to get beyond my fast-food job and into more service and customer-oriented positions elsewhere. I am glad that I read it because it answered some questions about best practices in the industry and pointed out some of the things that have bothered me about service in America... namely that it has fallen by the wayside in a bunch of ways.
This book is not some etiquette guide, but rather an overarching basic primer for keeping the different aspects of managing a brick-and-mortar, customer-facing food/beverage business in balance and why some concepts work and some do not when it comes to getting folks in the door and keeping them coming back. I'm not a manager and you don't have to be to get the gist... it's got plenty to give any worker in the industry some food for thought about how they perform …
I picked this up today because I'm trying to get beyond my fast-food job and into more service and customer-oriented positions elsewhere. I am glad that I read it because it answered some questions about best practices in the industry and pointed out some of the things that have bothered me about service in America... namely that it has fallen by the wayside in a bunch of ways.
This book is not some etiquette guide, but rather an overarching basic primer for keeping the different aspects of managing a brick-and-mortar, customer-facing food/beverage business in balance and why some concepts work and some do not when it comes to getting folks in the door and keeping them coming back. I'm not a manager and you don't have to be to get the gist... it's got plenty to give any worker in the industry some food for thought about how they perform the job or how they've seen others do it (and how to improve or decide to make their moves elsewhere).
Yes, there are plenty of references to Bar Rescue episodes, but if you haven't seen the show, he describes the issues that he had to explain or figure out so that you have enough context to get his point. And there are plenty of other little examples from restaurants/bars that he never ran or rescued, and mistakes he made at ones he participated in. It doesn't drown us in statistics; there are plenty of studies and examples to illustrate his points and observations. I was eager to learn and read it cover to cover in a couple of hours. I'm hanging onto it for reference.