OHSU’s multicultural training helps employees
better understand their customers, each other
NEWS DIGESTS
(Continued from page 4)
food outlets, catering, patient meals and dietetics for the 450-bed hospital. In addition
to the diverse hospital clientele, the food
outlets draw customers from nearby downtown Portland.
By comprehending cultural differences,
employees also can foster stronger loyalty
from diverse customers, operators and diversity consultants said.
“This is the core of targeted marketing: To sell effectively, you have to understand someone’s need,” said
Gerry Fernandez, president
and founder of the Multicultural Foodservice & Hospitality Alliance, a nonprofit
organization that works to
improve diversity in the
restaurant industry.
Operators lose opportunities when their employees
don’t understand cultural
nuances and how people of
different walks of life view good service, Fernandez said.
“At a time when people are trying to
build traffic and increase check averages
and grab every sale, they can’t have untrained multicultural employees who are on
a different page when it comes to what good
service is,” he said.
Further, management must know how
to engage them, he added.
Research has shown that when minority
groups feel welcomed and accepted at an establishment, they become very loyal to it,
said Riikka Salonen, program manager for
cultural competency for the food and nutrition department at OHSU.
“Especially among Latinos, Asians,
Asian-Americans, African-Americans and
Africans — they are loyal to a service
provider even though a competitor would
provide a lower price,” she said.
“They stay with the service
providers who provide the higher
level of service and respect.”
Salonen and training man-
ager Tatiana Grabowski devel-
oped the program, which is be-
ing taught in an eight-hour class
on Saturdays.
The workforce in the food and
nutrition department at OHSU
is highly diverse. About 30 na-
tionalities are represented
among the 300 employees.
“Our goal is not so much the
‘Golden Rule,’ but what we call
the ‘Platinum Rule’: Treat customers the
way they wish to be served,” Grabowski
said. “The training is giving them the tools
and opportunity to do that.”
Food and nutrition employees learn to
consider what customers want and how customers perceive good service, Salonen said.
“We are looking at more than just economics and ethnic backgrounds,” she said.
“How can we exceed the expectations of customers with disabilities? How can we over-
When minority
groups feel
welcomed and
accepted at an
establishment,
they become
very loyal to it.
come challenges with language barriers,
and not just in the customer base but between multicultural teams?”
Some customers have different perceptions about eye contact and personal space,
and people of different cultures or faiths may
have different food preferences, she said.
“If a customer asks if the food contains
any pork, our employees can recognize that
it’s not just the food, but it might be a faith-related preference,” she said. “So they learn
to ask additional questions. If they offer an
alternative, they might ask if the customer
minds if there is seafood in a dish. We’re
giving the big picture to our employees so
that they can be proactive and wow the
customer.”
Managers already are seeing an improvement in employees’ attitudes and performance, Salonen said.
“Some of our immigrant employees are
saying: ‘The training changed how I view
myself. I have more self-esteem and confidence to solve problems,’” she said.
Nearly finished with training the employees in retail food and catering, the department will move to those employees who
will be involved in the room service program
OHSU plans to roll out next year.
“We had an institutional look at everything we did,” Hiatt said. “As we move into
patient room service, we want to push our
business out there and understand the
needs of our customers.” ■
ONLINE JOB ADS PLUMMET IN DEC., JAN.
NEW YORK — Online job advertisements
declined by 1 million postings, or 23 percent, over the past two months, according to
The Conference Board, a business membership and research organization based here.
In the category of food preparation and
serving, the 55,500 online job postings last
month were down nearly 17 percent from
66,700 job ads in December. The January
figure marked a 33-percent decline from
the 82,500 job ads in food preparation that
were posted the same time a year earlier,
according to The Conference Board’s Help-Wanted Online Data Series.
The study, released in early February,
analyzed data from 1,200 major Internet
job boards and smaller job boards that
serve niche markets.
Overall, online advertised vacancies fell
by 507,000 in December and another
506,000 in January, according to the survey. Labor demand also dropped in all four
regions of the country — the Northeast,
South, Midwest and West — with the most-populous states in all of the regions posting declines.
dberta@nrn.com
Q&A
Williams reflects on 45-year career at Lawry’s
A bum ankle finally put an end to Jennifer Williams’ 45-year career as
a waitress at Lawry’s The Prime Rib in Beverly Hills, Calif. If not for that,
the 71-year-old would continue to wear the server’s white bonnet,
push around the silver carts of roast beef and meet customers from
all over the world. Williams and three other longtime employees were
honored recently for their service at the original Lawry’s. The other
honorees were dining room assistant Julio Sotomayor, 29 years;
prep cook Salvador Castaneda, also 29 years; and captain Hayden
Fleming, 20 years. Williams, who is called “Feathers” by her co-workers, almost didn’t attend the retirement party. She feared she
would get too emotional and cry, which she did. Originally from
Scotland, Williams came to the United States in 1961 to work as au
pair in Cincinnati, but quickly found she was not suited for baby-sitting. She worked as a personal chef, then as a waitress. When she
bought a car, she headed west for Hollywood.
Why did you stay so long at Lawry’s?
It’s like a big family there. Everyone helps
each other; everyone gets along.
FULL-SERVICE MANAGERS BOAST BEST
PAY AMONG FRANCHISE BUSINESSES
ARLINGTON, VA. — Full-service restaurants
have the highest average base pay for executives among franchised companies across
multiple industries, according to a report
released last month by FRANdata, an independent research company based here that
tracks the franchise industry.
The average base pay for upper-level
managers in full-service restaurant concepts run by franchisees was $119,393,
followed by an average of $90,850 for those
in business services franchises. The average
base pay was $83,333 among fast-food
franchisees. The lowest average base pay
was in retail products and services at
$57,700.
The 91-page Franchise Compensation
Report is based on 114 responses from
franchise operators.
What did you like about being a server?
I worked at night and had the whole day
off. And I always had money in my pocket.
And I met all these wonderful people from
all over the world. Only a few weren’t nice.
Jennifer Williams
Did you ever meet anyone famous at Lawry’s?
I met Glenn Ford, Elizabeth Taylor, Doris Day, Rock Hudson, Muhammad
Ali, Uncle Miltie [Milton Berle], Bob Hope, Ricardo Montalbán.
How did you wind up at Lawry’s?
I worked with a girl who used to work at Lawry’s part time. She suggested I work there. I interviewed with the manager for six hours. It was
just a waitressing job, but he was very fussy about it. He wanted to
hire someone who would be compatible with everyone else.
The recession has a lot of people cutting back on dining out. What
advice would you give servers who are seeing their tips dwindle?
You have to smile. Don’t come to the table with a grumpy face. You
have to like people and like getting to know people, and not just go
for the money. And save your money. Don’t spend it all. Declare all of
your tips. I always did. That’s why my Social Security is so good.
— Dina Berta
MONROE COLLEGE NAMES CONSTANTINO
NEW DEAN OF HOSPITALITY SCHOOL
NEW YORK — Chef Frank Constantino was
recently promoted to dean of the School of
Hospitality Management and the Culinary
Arts at Monroe College in the Bronx.
An award-winning culinary educator for
more than 18 years, Constantino came to
Monroe in the fall. He has won gold medals
in American Culinary Federation recipe contests and coached the Art Institute’s team
in the New York State Junior Hot Food
Championship.
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