They say, “don’t sweat the small stuff.” Yes, that’s true, but in the moment, the small stuff can feel like the world’s largest problem.
Have you ever been in a situation where you think to yourself, WTF do I do? How did this happen? How can I fix this? How do I put out this fire? (And when it comes to restaurant talk, that’s a real pun intended!!!) Big, small, significant or not, when you realize something went wrong, either panic, anxiety, anger or fear sets in. And I had one of those moments this past week.
Now, for the sake of this article, the actual problem isn’t really relevant, but the message behind it sure is. And as I’m an over sharer (who you, Julie?!), I did share with a few people this past week about my situation. And, as it always seems to happen for me, this situation sparked conversations and, of course, lessons in hospitality.
I’m going to veer for a moment here because my panic brought me back to a past conversation with my friend Alayna Sullivan from Olo. When Alayna and I first got to know each other, she shared a story with me I’ll never forget. In her previous job working for Darden and Olive Garden, Alayna told me about a moment when she was in full panic mode. Something had gone wrong, it felt HUGE, and her boss at the time looked at her and simply said, “It’s just pasta. It’ll be OK.” Not only did that bring her back down to earth in that moment, but now it’s a phrase that lives rent free in my head.
So, back to my moment of panic. I literally said out loud, “It’s just pasta.” Then I made a pivot. Fast forward a bit…and everything worked out. Problem solved. And, even better, the last-minute pivot actually turned out to be better than the original plan. (Gotta love when that happens!!!)
Ok Julie, you messed up, you solved it, you like pasta, but what’s your point?
Restaurants live in “it’s just pasta” moments every single day. A server calls out. A delivery doesn’t show up. The POS goes down. Someone burns something. A reservation gets screwed up. A table has been waiting too long. You run out of the special that everyone suddenly decided they wanted that night. A guest is unhappy. The kitchen is backed up. Someone drops an entire tray of drinks in the middle of the dining room. There are a million tiny fires happening behind the scenes, and sometimes some pretty big ones too. But let’s not forget, hospitality isn’t about making sure nothing ever goes wrong. That’s impossible. It’s about how you react when it does. (Insert: “Right on top of that, Rose!”)
The guest sitting at table 12 doesn’t need to know the kitchen is in chaos. The couple celebrating their anniversary doesn’t need to know two people called out. And the family with young cranky kids waiting for their entrees doesn’t need to feel the stress radiating from the server who is simultaneously trying to fix three other problems. The magic of hospitality is often making the chaos invisible. Smile, communicate, pivot, solve the problem and keep moving. Sometimes the best recovery is so seamless that the guest never even realizes there was something to recover from in the first place.
And that’s my point (both inside and outside of restaurants) ladies and gentleman! It’s not whether you fall. It’s how quickly you get back up. It’s not whether something goes wrong. Something will go wrong. It’s whether you panic and let the problem become bigger than it needs to be, or take a second, figure out the next best move and pivot. Sometimes Plan B ends up being better than Plan A anyway.
So the next time something goes wrong, the kitchen is backed up, the plan falls apart, or you find yourself staring at a problem thinking, WTF do I do now? Remember the very wise words that Alayna’s boss passed along to her, that she passed along to me, and that I’m now passing along to all of you:
It’s just pasta. It’ll be OK.
And if it’s actually the pasta that’s the problem? Make another batch, and don’t forget to salt the water.
