Le Méridien: passion and commitment
Further to the letter from Le Méridien's former management (Caterer, 8 May) I am writing as part of the new Le Méridien to express my passion for and commitment to our future.
The quality of our portfolio and geographical distribution remains unchallenged, while the size of our investment programme in London is unparalleled - and clearly happening at the right time.
The new management team is committed to maintain an open and honest dialogue and regularly updates us on issues. Our only policy in this difficult environment is to be focused and flexible and concentrate on influencing those things that we can, such as delivering the best possible experience for our team and guests alike.
Since joining Le Méridien some 18 months ago I am continually uplifted and heartened by the consummate professionalism of the people in my hotel, my colleagues around the world and in the corporate office.
We live in challenging times, but there are more opportunities than ever before to hone our skills and build the calibre of the organisation to deliver our objectives and work towards an even better future.
I for one am proud to put my name to it.
Amanda Scott, General Manager, Le Méridian Waldorf, London
Question of communication
Kit Chapman was right to speak out about the lack of communication and co-operation between chefs and front-of-house staff at the Chef Conference (Caterer, 24 April). But how many people know why these challenges occur?
Rapport is the relationship between two people or two groups of people, and is achieved when two parties are like each other and "get on". Herein lies the problem with the relationship between front and back of house in restaurants.
On the whole - and I am generalising - chefs speak quicker and louder than their front-of-house counterparts. In order to get "into rapport", both parties need to speed up or quieten down to match one another's patterns. Also - and this is stating the obvious - both parties must want to get on in the first place.
So, it may be that there's some basic education to be done. I and our trainers see many examples of what we call a "pride of the divide". There needs to be a concerted effort to change if rapport is to exist.
Tim Browne, Director of Coaching & Learning, Learnpurple, London
I couldn't agree more with Forbes Mutch's comment, "Food deserves better service" (Caterer, 24 April).
For the last five years I have been helping to run a contract catering business. Ensuring waiting and kitchen staff communicate with one another and understand what is being served to the customer is so important in our operations that, in many cases, those who cook the food also help to serve it.
We give our teams freedom to buy locally sourced, high-quality produce. We also train them to understand what good service involves. In my experience it is better to recruit for personality in service staff and train in the service skills. Long live food tastings and well-informed front-of-house teams giving good service to customers.
Tim Price, Director, Pride Catering Partnership, by e-mail
Future of the hospitality industry is technology
Despite the events of 11 September and the war in Iraq, people will continue to travel, need hotel accommodation and eat in restaurants. It is therefore vital that hotel and catering businesses continue to improve their competitiveness.
Hoteliers agree that the future of the hospitality industry is technology, the adoption of which is being made even more pertinent as the UK Government attempts to e-enable many of its internal processes by 2005.
By combining a range of technologies that include document capture, indexing, archiving and retrieval with workflow management, groupware and printing on demand, electronic document management systems (EDMS) will allow organisations to not only meet this requirement but will save space, reduce storage/retrieval costs and minimise printing and distribution spend.
Although the Government has made significant progress towards its goal, it has singularly failed to recognise and sponsor the opportunity presented by the adoption of EDMS by UK businesses or to proactively endorse its uptake. It now needs to publish a standard and positively encourage the move to electronic document management.
There is no excuse for letting the UK slip behind on the adoption of technology to improve business competitiveness, particularly given this Government's stated objective of making the UK a leading knowledge economy in the world.
Alex Ventura, Business Development Manager, Hospitality, Touchstone, London
There's life - and skills - in the old dogs yet
Michael Bell complains about age discrimination in the industry (Caterer, 24 April). In our experience, many companies in the industry are happy to employ older workers as they often have excellent core skills, lower rates of absence and great maturity when dealing with customers.
Our London office runs a project placing the long-term unemployed into jobs in the industry. Since the project started more than two years ago, 15% of those successfully placed have been aged over 40.
They have found employment with a range of businesses including the Dorchester, Quadrant Catering and Thistle Hotels.
We wish Mr Bell luck with his search, and would be happy to offer assistance.
Gareth Edwards, Operations Director, Springboard Charitable Trust, London
Don't tar all youngsters with the same brush
Sue and Ken Dyson ("Youth and enthusiasm are a rare mix nowadays", Caterer, 8 May) categorised all youngsters as stubborn and disloyal, but I disagree.
I am 16, and have recently left school. I hope to work, eventually, as a pastry chef. My employers are willing to help me achieve this aim.
I am not the only young person working in the kitchen, and each one of us has a different ambition and, therefore, we are each treated individually. Mr and Mrs Dyson should take note of this, because they would find their young staff more enthusiastic and willing to work, rather than treating them all the same and demanding that they co-operate and be loyal.
If their staff have ambitions, they as employers should help them gain their ambitions and should not criticise too readily.
Owen Lord, The Crinan Hotel, Crinan, Lochgilphead, Argyllshire