Greetings from the Restaurant Lab

There is a small cubicle with a half wall in the corner of our student run restaurant that allows us to store supplies needed for service and the pc I am now writing this blog post.  This is truly a great venue from which to observe students doing what they have been educated and trained to do from checking reservations to presenting the check.  I am almost invisible sitting here although I can see the entire lab.

Like just now...back in a moment.

We have a student in the management position today who is behaving more as a hostess than manager.  While typing this post I noticed our server place an entree before a guest af the improper position -- which would not make our chef happy.  I motioned her quietly over to the cubicle and asked her what she thought of the way in which the entree was presented at table 33.  She had no clue what I was asking.  That was when I was able to have Just-In-Time Teaching to discuss plate placement, which she said we had not taught her and a bad answer because we did teach her table service techniques.  Then again, it was a good answer because it means we may not have taught her this properly. 

Once she realized the conversation was aimed at improving her management skills she thought it would be a good idea to go to the back-of-the house to see the photos we have of our menu items for cooks and servers to know how to prepare and present menu items to our guests.  She also thought it would be good to call servers together to make sure they are placing the plates down in their proper position.  I thought that was a good idea, too.  Now she is managing instead of guarding the reception desk!

The bottom line for me is that I am LOVING teaching the lab this semester.  It allows me to see whether or not the way we have taught students to manage the restaurant has been effective or not.  And that is something we know in real time because the students are acting on what we have taught them and some things have stuck and others have not -- which allows for instant coaching.  I do not get the opportunity to see what is going on in the heads of my students in traditional classrooms like this lab and will miss seeing how thinking is being translated into learned service behavior.  Long live the lab!