The business of Hospitality: Every Detail Counts
Thursday day was about the business of Hospitality but before visited the Drake Hotel we went to the Water Tower located in Michigan. We discovered a big building in which we could find inside shopping stores as macy’s or restaurants. We started our day with lunch at Foodease. It was a kind of restaurant where they purposed several dishes as vegetables, Chinese food or hamburger.
We met the Chef Janet Kirker who is the Executive chef at Foodease. She told us her culinary experience and her background. At the beginning of her career she had a mentor to help her and to give her some advices and now that her turn to mentoring people. She also talked about the importance of networking to create good relationships. She also mentioned the fact that it is important to not be afraid to hire people who know more than you because it is a value for you and your business.
We continued our day by visiting the fabulous Drake Hotel. We were welcoming by Shaun Rajah who is Senior Catering Sales manager at the Drake Hotel. He showed us several important rooms of this hotel such as the restrooms for ladies or the golden room. During the visit he explained us the special relationship between the hotel and his customers. As a luxury hotel they must pay attention of each need of their customers and help them to feel comfortable. That why in this case attention to details are extremely important. The hotel allowed us to visit the kitchen managed by the French Chef Herve Cuyeu. He gave us some advices about networking and for example as an American citizen now he explained us the importance to speak more than one language at the US because it helps to create new relationships especially international relationships. He also talked about “innovation”. To keep a leadership even if we work in a business food we must innovate or offer new things.
To finish the day and the last week of our excursions we visited the famous Belgian Bakery own by Renaud and Dominique. They are from Belgium and came in the US with the idea to create an European bakery which offer product such as European bread and pastry. Once arrived in the US they realized the importance of adaptation. European and American people do not have the same way of life so they had to adapt their first business plan to match with the American needs. That important to be focus on because if you don’ take care of your customers you won’t succeed and create good relationships with them. Customers need to feel special no matter the business so be able to adapt of their way of life is a key of success.
We ended this incredible day by eating delicious “pain au chocolat”. These 2 weeks were very interesting so I would like to thanks all our guest speakers and our Professor Ms Beck and Ms McCarthy.
http://www.shopwatertower.com/
http://foodeasechicago.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/pub/janet-kirker/a3/291/142
http://www.thedrakehotel.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/pub/shaun-rajah/7/630/638
https://www.linkedin.com/pub/herve-cuyeu/46/88/a03
http://hendrickxbakery.com/
Vanessa, you made excellent points about how hospitality and customer service involve innovation, leadership, and adaptation, and how networking is a constant theme in American business.
ReplyDeleteThink about how Chef Janet and Foodease/Foodlife inside Water Tower Place exemplify hospitality by offering around 15 different restaurants, so that there's something for every taste.
I'm glad you enjoyed our 2-week Paris Chicago Safari!