Lunched at Zum on Friday having previously read and heard much about the re-birth of this established restaurant, and having formed absolutely no preconceptions about it at all, I promise.
It was "interesting"- a much-used euphemism for many things, but I really do mean that it was interesting.
The decor was as you would expect - the usual polished concrete floors, tables, chairs, flowers etc. Nothing out of the ordinary.
The staff - young, varying degrees of interest/helpfulness etc, but all seem to have been selected with a few definite criteria, ie they must be graduates of either private schools or modelling academies. They interested me greatly, so I spent most of my time there watching and observing.
My profile for this blog site required me to "explain" myself, so I admitted to a huge interest in my fellow human beings, and with that comes an interest in their motivations etc. And that's exactly what I was interested in at Zums.
I mentally gave them my own private names as I watched them bustling about their work. There was "Fahan girl", a girl who swept regally and majestically round the restaurant, adding little touches to things generally, but not contributing at all to the overall efficiency of the business. (Question to business owner - is your business doing that well that you can support an "extra" like that, or should you value-add and get another staff member to incorporate those duties in their job description?). Now she could well have been the maitre d' but as hard and long as I observed, no one really deferred to her for anything at all, thus causing me to draw the conclusion that she was as she appeared - just a very well & expensively dressed young lady who looked good and appropriate in that setting.
Then there was an extraordinarily pretty young man. I sound like my granny there, but I'm trying hard to find the right words to describe this person. I didn't see him as handsome, but he was most definitely exceedingly striking. Beautiful cheekbones, eyes, figure. But the coldest fish I have ever come across! How scary. But - he was damned efficient and spoke confidently and knowledgeably about the wine. Impressed my wine-connoisseur companion.
There were a few other similar girls to "Fahan girl" but none with her amount of flair and elan for providing the appearance of busy-ness and glamour.
I'm not actually criticising anything about my experience there. It was just another meal in another restaurant. Not good, but not bad. I ate the Salt and Pepper Squid. It was OK - what can I say?
My time there did cause me to think about exactly what it is that restaurant owners want out of their business. Is it the perceived glamour or status of owning a glitzy, funky (Salamanca?) restaurant? Is it for the money? Is it a tax dodge? Is it somewhere they've invested in to take their business clients to impress? Or is it because they actually love the hospitality business and see themselves as having something valuable to add to Hobarts industry?
I have known many restaurant owners and I would love to be able to say most of them came into my final category.
Sunday 11 February 2007
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12 comments:
Ho Hum.
Yes the strategic, the corperate & the well planned approach all minimise, reduce & workshop any risks involved in the success of a restaurant.
But riddle me this Batman, do they add any personality, sponteneity & frission to the gastronomic landscape?
Short answer.....No
Do I gather from that convoluted Batman-speak that you are agreeing with me Gobbler?
No, they don't add those things gobbler, but they probably have a better chance of longevity in the market - personality, sponteniety and frisson could equally read flakiness, inconsistency and early burn-out..
As opposed to late burn-out, Kitty.
It's a real buzz phrase that burn-out.
Tell a coal miner or a steelworker about burn-out Kitty.
What a joke.
I totally disagree Kitty.
Having these safeguards does not insure any restaurant or cafe from going under.
The example you give in your response seemed primarily about staffing. People. They are not programmable machines. They can be flaky, they can be inconsistent & they can burn out.
No amount of spreadsheets, round table, power-point, flow charts & the like ever recognise let alone concede that this is a business based around people.
It is a very bitter pill to swallow for these corporates as they bemoan & bitch about their 'human resource issues', without whom, ironiccally, there would be no business.
In fact for many places this culture of playing it safe has left it clearly marginalised not only in kudos, but also in profit.
They are anxious to rely on a huge panel of experts to minimise any negative effects, downturns or adverse situations into a formulaec, paint by numbers, any-monkey-can-do-it approach.
To their long term detriment.
Spend your money at the Grand Chancellor, Federal Group or a number of other corporates lately & you'll see exactly what we are on about.
A good restaurant or cafe will always make a living for its operators. There should always be a bit of the mystery, the magic & the personality-
Just like your fave, Vanidols.
It's true, I like places with an owner hands-on (or is that another bloody buzz-phrase).
I don't necessarily mean reading the paper at the front table though- Rita I agree about the curious number of staff at Zum's - did the same staff member ever come to your table more than once?
Some of it is too hands on though in the wrong way.
Four of us went to the old Mr Wooby's and the owner was a really nice bloke.
But it got tiresome when he stood at our table for an age ragailing us with tales of his travels.
He was entertaining, for sure, but we wanted to disappear into our own little world of friends together with food and drink and catching up to do.
It's a fine line...
Kitty - in answer to your question about the staffing at Zums, it seemed like they didn't allocate the tables to a particular waiter. Different staff came and went, fulfilling whatever function was required of them at that time over the course of the period we were there.
I agree with the "human" perspective that is the focal point for whether or not you return to a restaurant or not. There really isn't that much incentive to go back to, say, HGC or Wrest Point, whereas I'll go along to Thai Gardens to be well looked after by Jasmine any day.
Its quite a Blokey, big end of town, power-coffee venue right? It's obvious Tommy Boy wants some nice young female eye candy for the MAAAATE! crowd & some mono-browed, iron jawed himbos for the ladied who lunch or coffee.
Oh Anon, Mr Wooby's is the classic example of "back off Jack" - the owner treated us like children who had never read a menu before - couldn't get out of there fast enough - and to this day can't remember what we did eat..
Well I see the last post to this one was on the 13th of Feb, but I don't care cause I'm playing catch up on Rita!
The service around Hobart can be very blase to say the least. But I dined out in Hawaii on Valentine's day with my beautiful wife and the service was terrible. The food was spectacular, but I couldn't get a drink refreshed at all, I had two drinks in 2 hours! To top it off i HAD TO TIP 10%! At elast we only tip if it's exceptional service here, or am I behind the times? Our waitress was a fly in College holidayer who had no idea about resteraunt service at all, just needed spending money!
I have seen many a Fahan Girl around the traps, and I think it is the eye candy situation! I think probably the best service I ever had was at Mamaluca's, but I may have been part of the MAAATEY! crowd as I knew the Chef that night!
I have to say I'd ratehr eat at a small locally owned "joint" anyday over the bigger seat 'em, feed 'em, F*#k 'em off style places!
Hmmm, it's a sad day when hospitality staff are slated for being attractive, fit, well-groomed, well spoken and knowledgable about product. I would personally prefer the above attributes to someone unkempt, over-weight and uneducated, but maybe I'm being too traditional. Tasmania has so far to go in the resaurant stakes, but is slowly getting there, the likes of Ethos and Garagistes paving the way. Zum is not pretending to be something it isn't: somewhere to get a reasonable lunch and coffee during work, maybe a Tasmanian wine after the markets. If you would prefer the owner's 17 year old daughter to serve you, large arse clad in K-mart jeans, dropping the odd "done" instead of "did", whilst pouring a glass of Rosemount sauv blanc, I suggest you scout Glenorchy for your next dining experience. And for the record, I've rarely heard of a private-school education being used as a slight.
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