Service at BRGR
[documented & written by Lisa Otto & Tracy Potter]
Tracy and I (and fellow MDes student Calvin) ate dinner at BRGR and paid attention to our service experience to see what insights we could gather.
Our interaction with our server involved many unspoken, undirected culturally learned practices. There are many codified expectations of behavior that could be confusing for those unfamiliar. When the waiter arrives at our table, he asks “Are you alright with water?” but we know that he is ready to take our order and that is not strange or rude for us to respond with requests for additional items. He asks us, after we complete our order, if we want to add sides (“fries, perhaps”)and we know that these will come with an upcharge, an additional fee, even though it is not mentioned in his question to us. Even (relatively) newer practices have become codified — like the splitting of a bill between diners. When we leave the credit cards in the check billfold, he nonchalantly confirms that we do in fact want to split the check three ways.
Again, as expect, our server was polite and incredibly attentive in all of our interactions. This was particularly notable because I misordered, requesting something I could not eat but did not notice until the food arrived. When I asked that the meal be changed, though it was entirely my fault, he took the plate back to the kitchen without any renegotiation (that I might have had with my friend had she request I cook her a meal and then told me to re-cook it). This was all done at no cost at all to me — though I am sure my mistake incurred a cost to the kitchen.
Though it was nearing the end of the night and tables were clearing out, tables were reset with placemats and silverware and condiments. When you arrived at the table all that was left to be added was menus and water in the glass. I wondered, if no one sat at these tables, would they be cleared again at the end of the night? At this point was the laying out of the tables to prepare them for new diners or to create the presentation of readiness for those existing diners?
Perhaps as expected, much of the ‘backstage’ work was hidden from us. The kitchen was behind a doorway that was blocked by the host’s table. The table was clearly positioned to hide the doorway because it was so out of the way of the line of sight for diners entering the restaurant. When you entered the restaurant, it was difficult to tell if you should walk forward to find the table or wait at the doorway for the host to find you! (And we had a little struggle being sure this was the main entrance to the restaurant because the valet parking sign out front advertised parking for two restaurants). Where we sat we were doubly blocked — there was a wall of decoration hiding us not only from the kitchen but also from the bar (perhaps implying that the bar crowd is more interested? willing? to see the inner workings of the restaurant). This partition wall also blocked the waitstaff view of our table, which made us unable to signal to them if we needed to get their attention at all.
