Training in the stewarding department is very vital to the success of any hospitality establishment or restaurant. This is why training and planning is important to the facilitation and efficiency of workflow.

The primary responsibilities of the Departmental Trainers in the stewarding department are as follows:

1. To help in the identification of the department’s training needs.

If the training department sees any inefficiency in the system of workflow, then they are obligated to help out anyway they can to come up with new training material to address the malfunction in the system.

2. To plan the training activities to satisfy these training needs.

The inefficient system in the workflow should then be addressed via training activities that will help in correcting the old system and supplanting it with a new and better one.

3. To spend at least two hours per week preparing for and conducting training.

Two hours per week is the best time to spend. Two hours is a burst of time that is efficient for employees and will not exhaust them to carry out their duties afterwards.

4. To carry out their department’s orientation training for new employees.

Orientation is really important. Since you are dealing with new employees, your task is to correct any bad habits that the incoming crew may have. Your lectures will be invaluable to the proper workflow and system of the new employees.

5. To meet with the head of departments every month to:

a. Discuss training progress in that month

b. Outline and plan future training activities for the following month.

This activity is to facilitate the inter-departmental workings of the establishment. Agreement should always be reached between the head of the departments and the training department.

6. To monitor the standards within their department and give corrective training to the employees if the standards fall below the agreed level.

The agreed level of standard is the highest one that should be upheld at all times. If the stewarding department falls behind the standard, it is the training department that should be tasked to correct them via training programs.

Why so strict?

The training and development of the stewarding department is very important. Since you are the backbone of the food and beverage department, there is no way for you to lag behind in the standards, especially the cleanliness standards.

Inter-departmental cooperation is necessary for everyone’s success. Everyone should request assistance, support or feedback from the head of Department or training department whenever needed.

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As a hospitality worker and a consummate professional, you are expected to always be on top of your game when it comes to dealing with the customer and your coworkers. The best reminder to put to heart is the golden rule of service: Treat anyone as you would like yourself to be treated.

This adage does not only apply to customers and guests, it also applies to your coworkers and your superiors.

Listed below is the general attitude that you should take when dealing with coworkers and superiors.

1. Respect your supervisors and managers and they will respect you in turn.

This is a derivation of the golden rule of service. This adage is really the rule of thumb to live by if you are a hospitality worker. The law of reciprocity applies even to people not in the hospitality business.

2. If you disagree with a management proposal, do the job first, discuss it later.

Management give orders to the betterment of the establishment. If you somehow disagree with any decision, you are still responsible for implementing the tasks at hand. You are notcensored or prevented from voicing your opinions, however.

3. The guest comes first – therefore personal considerations take second place at all times during the rostered duty.

This is another rule of thumb for hospitality workers. Customer comes first before any of your own needs. If you are thirsty, you still need to serve the guest his or her own water before you can drink your own.

4. If you have a suggestion on improvement of the department – channel them through your supervisor.

Suggestions for improvement are always welcome by your establishment. You can always give suggestions to your supervisor and he or she will relay the suggestion to the proper channels.

Why emphasize the general attitude?

Service is all about attitude. If your smile look fake and your service leaves much to be desired, you are no better than some dingy hostel in the heart of nowhere. Professionalism is all about great attitude towards the guest and your fellow workers as well.

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As the backbone of the food and beverage department, it is fine if the stewarding personnel are invisible. In fact, the more invisible you are, the better it is. However, there are times when even the stewarding personnel can’t avoid interacting with guests.

Keep in mind that the golden rule is to treat anyone as you would like yourself to be treated. The customer is always to focal point for any establishment. Serve the guest well and your reputation, as well as your establishment’s reputation, will surely soar.

Here are four courses of actions that you should do when interacting with guests.

FRIENDLINESS

A warm and sincere smile is worth more than you think. A friendly staff member who genuinely likes to serve people is very valuable to the reputation of your establishment. A warm and friendly smile will make you look very approachable to the customer.

Friendliness is not only for the customers, it also must be applied to your co-workers as well.

EFFICIENCY

Being on top of your game should be the one of the first impression that the guests and management should see you as. As a top steward personnel, you are expected to be professional and effective in every task that you do. Efficiency will impress the guests as well as the management.

TEAM WORK

Team work also comes hand in hand with efficiency and friendliness. When you are friendly, team work almost comes natural and of course, the efficiency of the team will also be highlighted.

The common aim is to have all departments be at full efficiency to serve needs of the guests as much as possible.

SPEECH & MANNER

A good Food and Beverage team worker is a rare combination of many diverse talents. You can act as the charming host, psychologist, diplomat, hard worker, and a salesperson.

Your speech and manner should be consistent no matter who the guests are. You are expected to deal with the guests in the most polite and respectful manner possible. Remember that the lifeblood of the hospitality industry are the guests.

THE CUSTOMER

Why act accordingly?

Whatever the customer’s personal habits may be, you can be sure of this – the customer is really keen on cleanliness in the restaurant or hotel. When food is concerned, the customer demands the strictest sanitation measures.

The customer wants their meals handled and served by the neatest of people and in sparkling clean dishes. If the customer detects signs of carelessness like dirty fingernails, cracked dishes, you will not see the customer again.

You have the customer now, but you must prove again and again that he or she has made a wise choice in selecting your dining facility over others. You must also convince the customer repeatedly that being in your establishment is a desirable thing in the first place. Remember that the customer can eat at home. You must provide something extra in food and service – something vastly superior to entice a customer away from his or her own table, and draw them to your establishment’s table.

You must provide a very good reason for the customer to eat out.

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It is always great to know more about your job. As a top steward in your department you will be tasked to clean a lot of things in your establishment. Some of these things are stationary machines. These are not the most complicated things to clean up, but here are some tips and tricks to help you clean these machines easily and properly.

1. Unplug equipment; make sure hands are dry.

This is the most basic safety measure that you can do. Avoid electrocution always when using stationary equipment. Make sure that you have it unplugged by turning it on first and checking the power cords.

Always remember to dry your hand when dealing with electrical equipment.

2. Disassemble the machine.

After you unplug the machine, you have to disassemble it in order to clean it better. You can clean it better if you wipe off every individual part that you can disassemble. It will also save you time than struggling with bigger parts of the machine.

3. Wash removable parts in dish machine, or three-compartment sink.

After you have disassembled the machine, put individual parts that are machine washable in a dish washing machine. Be sure to read the operational manual to know which parts are machine washable and which are not suitable for machine washing.

4. Wash and rinse stationary parts.

You can use water and detergent to wash the stationary part. Be sure that you have protective gear on before you attempt to clean the machine. You also have to rinse thoroughly after you wash the machine with detergent. Rinsing thoroughly will make sure that no debris is left behind. Debris is not just dirt and lint, but also food debris.

5. Sanitize food contact surfaces with sanitizer.

In the operational manual, let me point out that the sanitizer is used to clean machine parts where food comes in contact with constantly. Detergent is great for other cleaning purposes, but you have to extra sanitize parts where food comes in contact with.

6. Air dry before reassembling, without touching food contact surfaces.

After washing and rinsing the machine, be sure to air dry it. As much as possible, protect the food contact surfaces from exposure to dirt and other contaminants. You can put clean, clear plastic on the food contact surfaces to help protect it.

Why must we clean the machines?

Machines are becoming more and more a part of the kitchen. If we take good care of it, the establishment we work for will get a return of their investments faster because machines are expensive to repair and replace. Taking care of the machine is the only way that you can cut the budget.

This is why it is so important to clean the machines properly.

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