Quick Quotes from Hospitality Pros

Get the tea on how to be a better bartender, why customers hate service charges. and why letting training lapse is a bad idea.

Sometimes the best quotes stand alone. Here are a few from hospitality professionals we interviewed that didn’t make it into recent stories but have stuck with us—and are too good to stay on the cutting-room floor.

On doing the most…“I have always been a big proponent keep it simple, stupid. We got to the point where every cocktail had six to eight ingredients and it’s too much. I think it’s still a problem, but people are starting to realize they can do three to four ingredients really well.”—Chad Michael George, consultant and co-founder, Proof Productions

On Danny Meyer’s service charge experiment…“It didn’t work because…for consumers it’s still seen as a non-compliance based situation. Customers were furious when they had the service charge and lousy service.”—Matt Vannini, president and CEO, Restaurant Account Services, Inc. 

On feedback behind the bar…“You should be tasting your drink with your entire bar staff. Get their opinions. You are one palate, one person. When you’re the one coming up with a drink, of course you think it’s good.”—Chad Michael George

On what happens in restaurants when things get tough…“Training is the first thing that goes in hospitality when things get tight. It’s an effort to stay afloat so it’s not unexpected, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have downstream consequences.”—David Corsun, associate professor and director of Fritz Knoebel School of Hospitality Management at University of Denver.

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