Restaurant service for Indians and westerners

I am often asked why I have so many service staff and also how serving Westerners is different from serving Indians. I just finished writing a long email about this to a group of people, so I'm going to post an edited version here:

The service business is all about managing *expectations*. Whether you're rated "good" or "lousy" is a matter of how well you matched the customer's expectations of quality of food and service.

I've never been to USA, but I've talked to a fair few Americans. I've lived in Australia for a few years, and I've grown up around Britons, so I know a bit about what these folks expect by way of service.

Take the American (or most Westerners really), for example. His idea of good service is a courteous waiter, menus presented on time, food brought out and placed on his table in reasonable time, and his glass filled from time to time. The American actually gets annoyed by the "fawning" service offered in so many Indian restaurants, where the waiters (mistakenly) believe that the gora sahib wants to be given extra attention and be waited on hand and foot. He tries his best to provide this service and ends up having exactly the opposite effect - he pisses the Westerner off.

In my training, we teach staff how to handle the Westerners differently - be polite, efficient, and don't serve them food like servants. They prefer to do that themselves. They want to be left alone much of the time.

The Indian, on the other hand, has completely different expectations. We live in a "servant" culture. When my Indian customer walks into a fine dining restaurant, he expects to be waited on hand and foot. To him (risking stereotyping here, but largely true), the waiters are like servants who are there to satisfy his every wish. That's what he's paying for, damn it! This means that he expects to be served when the food gets to the table, and served again when the rice on his plate is running out, and for the waiter to show up by his side the moment he raises his finger. If he has to say "excuse me", it's bad service. I've seen far too many people treat waiters like dirt. This might be why I always get treated like a king at my regular haunts. I treat them like humans and talk to them.

So that was what the Indian customer expects. To match this expectation, a waiter has to be watching the table all the time. But if I had just one waiter per section (usually 3-4 tables), who would watch the table when he goes to check in the kitchen or is at another table taking an order? So each section has two people - a "captain" who is a senior person who recommends dishes, tries to accommodate special requirements, and takes orders. There is also a waiter whose job it is to serve the food, fill up water glasses, and be the "servant" the guests expect.

The cuisine a restaurant serves also has some part in it. In a typical European dinner, the plate you put in front of your customer has everything he needs - the steak, the mashed potatoes, the veggies. He doesn't need a refill on that. In an Indian or Oriental (at least Oriental here in India) meal, you are served a bit of rice and a bit of the chicken curry and a bit of the veggies. When you finish that, you take some more. Hence you need a guy to do this job. If I were runing a true blue Italian joint, for example, I would manage with fewer staff.

Actually, I only have 7 waiters and 4 captains, which given that I have a separate cocktail lounge, isn't too many. Trust me, I've tried to manage with fewer, but service always suffered. It was hell on weekends, and customers got annoyed. Without them, alas, I can't make money.

Thus ends my long-winded explanation. Hope you're still awake.

Actually, wait. I need to narrate a true story to illustrate my point of the Indian diner's expectations.

A few years ago, I was at the Hyatt Regency in Delhi for a buffet lunch. It's a five star hotel. I was standing in line along with other people waiting to fill my plate. I get to the tandoor section where they're making hot kababs. One of the chefs sees me and asks me if I'd like a piece of Tandoori chicken, which I happily accept. As I keep moving on, I hear another gentleman behind me asking the chef in an angry tone, "what is that?" to which the chef replies, "that's tandoori chicken sir." The upset gentleman then loudly asks him, "so why you are not offering it to me?" I turn around and the chef is looking at the gentleman with an expression that says, "Are you fucking kidding me?" The gentleman continues, "You asked him; you should ask me also na!"

I shook my head, winked at the chef, and went back to the table, wondering what culture people like the Shiv Sena are trying to protect. Our "culture" has long left the building.


This has been a MadMan presentation. ;)


PS: I also would like to mention that 80% of guests are unbelievably lousy tippers. The other 20% are the saving grace. When I see a Rs. 19 tip for a bill of Rs. 1581, I feel sad, even though I don't keep a cent for myself. Please be nice... tip in the region of 10% if the service was good. You will be remembered. Keep a cap of Rs. 200 if you want so you don't need to leave Rs. 500 for a bill of Rs. 5000.