Chapter 11 – Pre-Production and Pre-Service

Ready. Set. Flow.

– Pauline Milwood

Chapter Warm-Up

Prechapter Reading Materials

• “The Pop-Up Checklist” (Baras 2015)

Prechapter Exercises

• Review the completed preproduction support guide for missing or outstanding tasks.

Readings and Resources

• “The Pop-Up Checklist” (Baras 2015)

Chapter Outline

• How the Hospitality Manager Prepares for Production
• How the Hospitality Manager Prepares for Service
• Crisis Management, Marketing, and the Media

How the hospitality manager prepares for production

As the date for the pop-up restaurant event approaches, the focus of the hospitality manager and team should be to take a holistic view of the overall plan for the night and identify and address any gaps, weaknesses, or anticipated management issues. To prepare for production, it is highly recommended that a checklist of task items related to various aspects of preproduction be created and used to facilitate anticipative or responsive action. Anticipative action reflects the hospitality manager’s ability to create and execute future problem-solution scenarios in production (BOH) and service (FOH) flows where issues that affect guests and employees alike may be addressed. Responsive action reflects the hospitality manager’s ability to create and execute problem-solution behaviors immediately following BOH and FOH issues.

In some cases, there may be general preprescribed solutions for common issues (e.g., guest complains that steak entrée was not the desired doneness) normally documented in a standard operating procedure (SOP) manual or management guide. In this instance, returning the dish to the kitchen and offering a replacement could be an appropriate, preprescribed remedy for handling the guest’s complaint. However, given the temporary nature of pop-ups, it may not always be the case that an SOP has been established or that a particular response to guest complaints is common knowledge across the management team. In such scenarios, it is important for the hospitality management team to establish values and philosophies or a guiding mantra at the start of the planning and development phases. This way, members of the management team are able to coalesce around a common understanding of the service experience promised to diners and the range of responses available to ensure that guest service expectations are met and exceeded. The range of responses may be included in a preproduction management checklist of possible responses and persons responsible for this decision-making on the night of the pop-up.

The preproduction management checklist contains a detailed collection of item tasks and provides direction for management attention between three and five days of the event. Items on the checklist cover the following areas of preproduction:

1. Venue—availability, accessibility, cleanliness, signage, storage, maintenance, and operations
2. Menu—food and beverage ingredient management, kitchen equipment, and prepreparation
3. Administration—liability, insurance, permits, licenses, and approvals from local and nonlocal regulators
4. Management—planning and organizing tasks related to finance/budget controls, marketing, human resources, and leadership/motivation

How the hospitality manager prepares for service

When properly completed, the all-encompassing checklists allow management to review and respond to day-of-operation issues before they arrive and for team members to be on the “same page” before the big day. Perhaps the greatest task for management will be leadership and motivation. Because happy and motivated employees and team members are more likely to provide high-quality service experiences to guests, leaders should exemplify positive work culture and high ethical standards for employee respect and well-being.

Leadership and motivation are two essential roles for management once the pop-up restaurant goes “live.” The hospitality manager should remain visible and accessible to both guests and team members. Often, key personnel are tasked with playing secondary roles in a pop-up restaurant in addition to their primary assignments (e.g., the dining room manager may be responsible for collecting cash pulls from the front door). In this case, team communication remains a priority, and management personnel must be called to temporarily fill a primary position for a brief duration while the secondary task is being completed.

Keeping the team energized and motivated is a key role in preparing for and executing a successful pop-up restaurant experience. Strategies for team motivation include supporting team members’ focus on goal-oriented behaviors; providing friendly and corrective guidance to team members and volunteers; displaying, in real time, team values and principles; and supportively addressing issues in the moment.

crisis management, MArketing, and the media

In the past decade, hospitality and in particular commercial food-service establishments have been forced to grapple with the impact and fallout of global crises such as terrorism, SARS, and natural disturbances. An important role of the hospitality manager is preparing for and managing disasters and threats, generally referred to as crisis management and response. Prior to the risk and crisis stage, however, the hospitality manager should be knowledgeable of the types of risks a food-service enterprise may face and the appropriate response. Key considerations for a safe facility and operating environment should be made during the planning and development stages, when searching for a pop-up venue (see chapter 9). Selecting a venue with the following characteristics helps mitigate against certain emergencies and crises:

1. Food-safe flooring, wall, and ceiling surfaces
2. Sound plumbing and electrical systems
3. Safe and accessible entrance and exit ways
4. Appropriately mounted and fully functional kitchen equipment with preventive maintenance service histories
5. Secure and pest-free garbage disposal areas

Even with the best preventive maintenance (much of which is outside the control of the hospitality manager or popupreneur), emergencies and crises may occur. These include utility disruptions, malfunctioning equipment, threats from man-made or natural sources, and food-related emergencies. A well-thought-out crisis plan can help reassure guests, team members, and members of the public and help operations return to normal. Elements of a crisis management plan, according to Barton (1994), might give consideration to the following:

1. Evacuation and notification of guests
2. Evacuation and notification of employees
3. Emergency medical and transport needs for guests
4. Contingency sites
5. Media relations

If deemed necessary, press teams, press locations, and press kits should be created as part of the media relations response. The primary objective of media relations following a crisis is to work with traditional and social media for an honest and complete representation of the situation without casting unnecessary speculation on matters outside of the scope of the establishment’s purview. A critical part of this strategy involves duplicating the media relations response seamlessly and in a timely manner on the restaurant’s primary website and across all social media platforms on which the restaurant engages members of the public. A designated member of the hospitality team, and only that member, should be authorized to speak with the public.

Historically, some argue that the best crisis management plan involves the use of extensive marketing strategies that embrace joint-response actions with peer businesses and governing agencies, advertising aimed at positive repositioning, marketing and promoting new products and services, extending capacity, and marketing to new segments. The joint-response approach is important when facing a global threat like COVID-19. In the wake of this threat, restaurants partnered with local DMOs and public health and government agencies to provide guidance in reopening.

KEY WORDS

• Anticipative management
• Checklists
• Responsive management

REVIEW Questions

1. How does anticipative management differ from responsive management?
2. Why should the hospitality manager or management team discuss and agree on how issues that arise on the night of the event be addressed prior to the night of the event?
3. Why are checklists important in running a pop-up restaurant event?

Review Activity