OPEN LINES OF COMMUNICATION ARE IMPORTANT . YOU WANT TO MAKE SURE YOU ’ RE NOT THROWING TOO MUCH AT ANYONE , AND YOU WANT TO MAKE SURE PEOPLE FEEL COMFORTABLE .
F & B
SAFE and STRONG
HYGIENE HAS BECOME A TOP PRIORITY , BUT DON ’ T FORGET ABOUT THE KITCHEN STAFF ON THE FRONT LINES .
Contributed BY JEANETTE HURT
Within F & B departments at hotels around the world , it ’ s safety first — and that means not only keeping the physical spaces clean but keeping the employees who make that possible safe , productive and engaged in keeping it that way .
The Birkenhead House in Hermanus , South Africa , is working with 40 % of its usual staff amid the COVID-19 pandemic , so General Manager Shane Brummer and senior sous chef Daniel Marais have divided kitchen employees into two teams . “ One team ( is ) working one week , and then being off while the other team works ,” Brummer says . This not only gets more staff back to work , it also offers a strong safety benefit . “ If one person on a team is exposed , then we can quarantine the whole of team one and then just bring team two on .”
The Hotel Adlon Kempinski in Berlin also reduced staff levels , but Michéle Muller , head chef at Quarré restaurant , has taken the opposite approach : Members of different teams started working together . “ I would mix and match the team members ,” Muller says . “ To be honest , the morale went up a lot during this time because we worked closer with each other , and we got to know each other better . If someone worked only in the evening and another person worked only in the day , they didn ’ t know each other .”
STAGGERED SCHEDULES Staff deployment also helps keep social distancing within the kitchens themselves . At the Kimpton Hotel Palomar in Phoenix , Arizona , F & B Director Simon Dolinky examined all the tasks that needed to be done in a given day and deployed staff in a staggered schedule to do them . “ Scheduling is another component of safety ,” he says . “ Do you really need to have this employee here at the same time ? If not , you have them come in a bit earlier , and they have the kitchen to themselves .”
Dolinky says tasks like prep work , baking and pasta making can be done earlier in the day , especially if a restaurant hasn ’ t yet re-opened for lunch . “ Sometimes , three people in a small space offers the same productivity as two people with more space , because with three people there ’ s more waiting for things like getting into ovens ,” he says .
At Bluehound Kitchen and Cocktails at the Palomar , work stations are marked off in 6-foot increments so staff is more aware of social distancing . “ It ’ s just a reminder to mark off your work station and to stay within it ,” Dolinky says .
OPEN LINES OF COMMUNICATION ARE IMPORTANT . YOU WANT TO MAKE SURE YOU ’ RE NOT THROWING TOO MUCH AT ANYONE , AND YOU WANT TO MAKE SURE PEOPLE FEEL COMFORTABLE .
SIMON DOLINKY , F & B DIRECTOR , KIMPTON HOTEL PALOMAR
44 hotelsmag . com November / December 2020