in the 90s, I worked in sales and marketing at the Hotel Sari Pan Pacific Jakarta. Our beautiful dining room was named Jayakarta Grill and for many years he had been one of the most popular restaurants in town. But times change. Due to increasing competition from independent restaurants and construction of more hotels around the city, the Jayakarta Grill was allowed to and revenues fell each week. The general manager Chris Brown came to my office one day, I was given a detailed briefing on the situation and asked to prepare an exit stimulus. "F *** ed Jayakarta" he said. "Do something about it."
If I were in the same job today, I immediately turned to for inspiration, but back in the dark ages, I could my brain. I finally came up with a rough idea, but I needed a second opinion, so tonight I went to see my good friend and executive chef of the hotel, Françoise.
Françoise was the Basque region and it was crazy. As leader, he broke all the rules and broke all stereotypes. As a person, he lived dangerously close to the edge and fell on a regular basis. He was flamboyant and very generous and he spent all his money on wine, women and song (and as he liked to say, "Ze rest I waste.").
We huddled on a bottle of wine in his office and I pointed my idea. We went over the pros and cons, we discussed the logistics and challenges and we drank and we drank. in 21 hours, we were in the "good things" and the plan became grandiose to the extreme. We met for breakfast the next morning for an examination and then at 8am, through the haze of my hangover, I presented a Plan widely downgraded to Chris Brown.
Chris also shattered stereotypes, but it was much more responsible and organized than Francoise. he had a very critical eye for detail and he will tell in terms clear, if he did not like something without any regard for personal feelings. I held out the one-page proposal that I had prepared and sitting in front of his office pending the verdict.
"How p *** ed you were when you arrived at that?" He asked, looking at me over the top of his glasses.
"Enough," I said, knowing too well to deny.
"Let me guess," he continued, "dancing and the lights were your idea, roses etc. Françoise came from. "Again, there. I just nodded." It's crazy, "he said. "No general manager in his right mind would allow this in a beautiful dining room." Then his stern face snapped into a grin. "I like that. Go for it. "
I closed the restaurant for a month and brought in a choreographer to design dance routines for staff to match the beautiful Basque piano music provided by Françoise. I had the engineering fit dimmers on all lights and had to create a single check box next to the Master station D '. I did it for each table centers which held six candles, and Françoise came with a new menu.
for the opening night, we invited the who's who of society Jakarta, including ministers and all the best fashionable of the time. We have served cocktails without music and the guests took in complete silence. I told the staff to speak only in whispers and to move through the restaurant quietly, moving chairs carefully and the people sit down in a calm and quiet atmosphere. They had to light the candles when the table was fully occupied. The plan worked and our guests also talked to each other in very low tones, each trying to guess what was going to happen.
At exactly 19:30, I killed the lights and hit music. The kitchen door opened and Françoise appeared in his white hat and white of the head carrying an armful of red roses, behind a procession of waiters and waitresses who move in time with the music. He gave each lady present a rose and a kiss on the hand as he made his way into the restaurant in the flickering candlelight, while the wait staff placed a plate of selected inputs on each table. Finally, the staff lined the back of the restaurant with Francoise in front and I lowered the music.
I switched on the light spot directly above the head of Francoise and the music died, he announced, "Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, my name is Françoise and I am your leader tonight. Prepare yourself for an unforgettable culinary experience! "
Then he took a bow to the applause and disappeared into the kitchen followed by the staff waiting for applause. Every hour on the hour, the staff stopped serving and achieve another light candle dance. Françoise appears again when it rained.
A month later, we had a waiting list every night from Thursday to Sunday.