All hail the server

Through a license agreement with the Small Tourism Enterprise Project (STEP) and the American Hotel and Lodging Association (AHLA), those in the tourism industry have been given a slice of what works and what doesn’t in the "Skills for Success Series."

This has been adapted and is being delivered throughout the Caribbean region to ensure that Caribbean hospitality personnel are trained to meet international standards.

Through the "Skills for Success Series", bartenders, reservationists, kitchen stewards, guest room attendants, banquet servers, space attendants and restaurant servers (waiters) can obtain certification that is recognized worldwide.

The areas of most demand are restaurant servers, front office representative and bartender.

The series has so far been introduced in several Caribbean countries including Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica and recently in Tobago Tobago through a Tourism Industrial Development Company (TIDCO) organized workshop.

"The day of the Chef/Manager is over, it is now the day of the server,"declared world reknowned trainer, keynote speaker and guest lecturer at Florida International University, Ian Maksik.

"Let us respect the job of the server for they are the ones, without fail, who can make or break a sale."

Maksik, whose prestigious clientele include the Disney World Epcot Center, Sheraton, Hilton and Hyatt hotel chains, facilitated the two-day workshop at the Tobago Hilton where participants were taught the A to Z’s of Professional Service based on the principles health, safety and logic.

According to Maksik, the latest worldwide statistics showed that 73% of the public return to businesses because of the service, 12% return for what was actually being sold,10% because of comfort and 5% for miscelleaneous reasons.

TIDCO has embraced the STEP philosophy wholeheartedly and, according to its STEP Co-ordinator Celestine David, plans are afoot to form an Association of Servers of Trinidad and Tobago in the very near future to lobby for more professional training opportunities for the fraternity.

STEP is eagerly looking forward to a time when all hotels, restaurants and other organizations within the hospitality industry will adopt the "Skills for Success Series" in their quests to improve the quality and standards of visitor service.