Dinner is at 2000. It is 1745, the crew are polishing, and everyone has a slightly different idea of what is about to happen. The fifteen minutes you spend now briefing them properly is the difference between a service that runs and a service that is rescued.
The service brief
Brief every service, even a simple one, and brief it standing in the room where it will happen.
- The guests: how many, who is host, who is the guest of honour, the service order, anything relevant about mood or occasion.
- The menu: every course, in order, and what each crew member needs to be able to say about each dish.
- Allergens and preferences: who cannot eat what, what the alternative is, who is carrying that plate. Say it out loud, by seat number.
- The service style and the timings: plate or silver, target time per course, what triggers the next course.
- The zones: who has which guests, who runs the pass, who watches the room.
- The wines: the flight, the pour, who pours.
- Questions. Finish by asking, and wait long enough for someone to actually ask.
Keep it under ten minutes. A brief that becomes a lecture stops being listened to.
The walkthrough
Before guests arrive, walk the space as a guest, not as crew.
- Sit in a guest's chair. Look at the table from their eye height, in the actual lighting.
- Check: covers aligned, glassware spotless against the light, linen unmarked, flowers fresh, candles lit and stable, temperature and music level right.
- Check the approach: passageways clear, no crew clutter, no cleaning kit in sight, no galley noise.
- Check the exits and the safety kit: nothing blocking an escape route, extinguishers accessible, decks dry.
- Fix what you find yourself; do not note it for later. Later has arrived.
Service recovery at senior level
Things go wrong. What defines the senior steward is what happens in the next sixty seconds.
| Step | Action |
|---|---|
| Own it | Acknowledge immediately, to the guest, without blaming the galley or a junior |
| Apologise once | Sincerely, briefly. Repeated apologising makes the guest manage your feelings |
| Fix it | Offer a concrete remedy and a timeframe, and deliver it |
| Protect the crew | Never dress down a crew member in front of guests. Ever |
| Escalate | Tell the chief stew, and the captain if it is serious, before the guest does |
| Record it | So it is fixed as a system, not just as an incident |
For an allergen error or a suspected food-safety incident, stop the service of that item immediately, retain the food, and escalate at once. That is not a recovery conversation, it is an incident.
The debrief
- Hold it after service, briefly, the same evening while it is fresh, or first thing the next morning.
- Ask: what went well, what broke, what will we change tomorrow.
- Be specific and blameless. Debriefs that become blame sessions stop producing information.
- Write down the changes and actually change them, or the crew learns that debriefs are theatre.
Onboard Notes
- Write the brief on a card and leave it at the pass. Somebody will forget the service order, and it should not cost you a course.
- The walkthrough is where you find the smeared glass. If you skip it, the guest finds it instead.
- A guest who complains is giving you a chance to fix it. The guest who says nothing and never charters again is the expensive one.