A Good Pair Makes for a Full House

November/December 2006

By McCall Mastroianni

The odds of finding a wine dinner in Atlanta have risen dramatically in recent years, causing dining establishments to reinvent their game plan when it comes to preparing these events. How do restaurants go about winning the jackpot when planning these events? Local Atlanta area restaurateurs share their tips.

THE STARTING HAND IS A SIMPLE PLAN

The first rule of wine dinner planning is to keep it simple when it comes to the amount of courses and wines served. Matt Bradford, the wine director at Canoe, an 11-year-old Atlanta institution located on the banks of the Chattahoochee River, sug­gests having no more than four or five courses paired with wine.

“The first wine served should be fun and exciting and something that pairs nicely with the first course,” says Bradford. “Champagne is good; it’s a social drink that gets things going and usually pairs well with any first course. As the wine dinner progresses, it is important to make sure your wine and food proceed from lighter to richer – with wine, this [typically] means white leading into red,” Bradford adds.

Vajra Stratigos, Beverage Director of Fifth Group Restaurants, agrees: “There are not as many rules as people believe,” he says in reference to plan­ning and deciding what to serve for a wine dinner. “The important thing to remember is the in­tensity of the wine and food, so each can be paired appropriately.”

Stratigos also finds that offering creative themes makes wine events more appealing to guests. For example, comparing different wine regions or different varietals adds an educational, hands-on approach to a wine dinner. Hosting dinners with a regional theme and serving wine and food from that area is another effective way to provide guests with a unique wine and dining package.

Another thing to keep in mind when planning a wine dinner is the season. Time of year often affects the overall success of a wine dinner. “Fall and winter tend to be more successful times of the year,” says Andrew Fotos, Proprietor of Rainwater Restaurant in Alpharetta.

Richard Marmulstein, co-owner of Dick and Harry’s, an upscale, contemporary American restaurant in Roswell, finds that too many of his guests are traveling during the summer for a wine dinner to be successful that time of year. It is important for the schedules of these regulars to be considered as half of his wine dinner guests come to most all of the dinners, whereas the other half are often reached through print coverage or notices sent to the restaurant’s e-mail database.

When planning a wine dinner, Fotos treats it as a dinner party in every aspect – from the seating and ambiance of the room, to the menu to the staff and how they interact with the guests. “You want conversation about the wine, how it paired with the food and discussion about the vineyard to take place, because, in the end, a wine dinner should have an element of education to it,” says Fotos.

A VINEYARD YOU CAN BET ON

Most restaurants make choosing the wine a priority, then design a menu to enhance the wine. Rainwater finds that boutique and higher-end wine brands tend to draw a larger attendance. “There is a direct correlation between the vine­yard and the establishment,” says Fotos. “The most successful wine dinners for us are those with a high-end, well-known vineyard and a charity benefit combination.”

“When selecting the wines, I prefer to show­case not only the wines that the vineyard is known for, but wines that the public may not know that the vineyard produces at all,” says Fotos. “Variety and education should always be the goal.”

Marmulstein likes to “offer a ‘big daddy re­serve’ wine with the main course” as a hook for guests to recognize that the dinner and wines offered are superior. The restaurant recently hosted a Joseph Phelps wine dinner and served the winery’s 2002 Insignia with Bison Tenderloin as the main course.

“We look for a winery that can offer several different varietals, so we can serve several courses for the dinner,” says Marmulstein. “A good selection of wine, whites and reds, within the same family makes pairing easier. I also look for different taste profiles, so that we’re not serving guests similar wines throughout the course of the dinner.”

STEMWARE STRATEGY

Proper stemware helps enhance the flavors and aromas of the wine – and should be used.

Bradford recommends crystal stemware to show the wine best. He prefers stemware made by a company that has different glasses for each varietal, such as Riedel. When pouring wine for each course, Bradford also recommends filling a glass no higher than halfway.

“You can always pour lighter and touch it up as the course goes on,” says Bradford. “By pouring light, you ensure that there isn’t lingering wine in glasses when the next course is up.”

A SWEET SUIT

When it comes to pairing wine with dessert, “The simple rule is the wine needs to be sweeter than the dessert in order for it to pair well,” says Bradford.

Another winning combination to make any wine dinner a more memorable experience is giving guests a souvenir to take home with them after the dessert course. Wine representatives of­ten attend these dinners and bring wine openers. At a wine dinner at Dick and Harry’s, a Beaulieu Vineyard representative presented attendees with trivia questions and gave away a bottle of wine to one lucky guest. For the recent Joseph Phelps wine dinner, Marmulstein worked with a local art gallery to bring Thomas Arvid paintings into the restaurant for guests to view during the wine dinner. These added touches leave a lasting impression on guests.

ONE OF A KIND

As more and more restaurants have begun hosting wine dinners in recent years, Fifth Group Restaurants has branched out in an effort to dis­tinguish itself from competitors.

Sala-Sabor de Mexico, an upscale, authentic Mexican restaurant in the Virginia-Highland neighborhood of Atlanta and one of Fifth Group Restaurants’ seven concepts, offers tequila dinners several times a year featur­ing brands such as Corazon, Patron and Don Julio tequilas.

According to Stuart Fierman, director of Operations for Fifth Group Restaurants, it really helps to feature tequila that has a well-known brand name because that recognizable name will draw people in.

“It’s like having a dinner with Cakebread wines,” he says. “People will think, ‘oh, that’s a high-end product,’ and become interested in attending. Planning a successful tequila dinner comes down to having a great product combined with an enticing menu.”

Having a fun, festive environment is also very important. An extended cocktail hour before guests are seated for dinner encourages them to relax, mingle and get to know one another be­fore dinner. Seating all guests together at a large table(s) will encourage conversation.

Sala-Sabor de Mexico generally has 60 to 95 people at each dinner. During the cocktail hour, the restaurant serves passed appetizers (usually three different items) with margaritas. Following is a three-course-seated meal with each course having a paired drink.

“The key here is to make sure you have the mixed drink and then a plain shot of the tequila it’s made with on the side, so people can try it both ways,” advises Fierman. “Also, like wine, you want to try and look at what you’re serving and pair the flavor and characteristics of the mixed drink with the food. For example, if you’re serving something spicy, you should have a drink that will take the edge off the spices. It’s important to keep in mind the acidity of the drink and/or the dish, so both can be paired accordingly,” he adds.

Like Sala, Ecco, another Fifth Group Restaurants concept, is experimenting with new and exciting drink-oriented parties. The restaurant is hosting a special Modern Spirits vodka tasting that will feature four different themed stations that are decorated to mirror the theme of the vodkas. One particular vodka contains honey, and its station will be decorated with a beehive.

During the tasting, there will be a shot of each of the vodkas and then a cocktail made with the vodkas. Since the shots are plain and served neat, they can be paired with a more complex appetizer. The mixed drinks will be paired with a simpler food.

“Experimentation is everything,” says Stratigos. “What matters is you and your guests enjoy the drinks and experience. Remember that neither the drink nor the food should overpower the other.”

THE PERFECT PAIR

With a full deck of options for wine dinners available around the city, providing stand-out satisfaction for Atlanta’s foodie set comes down to more than just an ideal match-up of grapes and grub. Like a hand of poker, guests never know what they’re going to get, and picking a wine dinner amongst the masses can often be a gamble. Pay off means paying special attention to your customers. Giving them the gift of knowl­edge, even if this means raising the stakes with an inventive twist on the traditional wine event, will better their chances of walking away from your table with a smile.

McCall Mastroianni works for Melissa Libby & Associates, a PR firm with several restaurants among its clients. She can be reached at (404) 816-3068.

November/December 2006

By Hope S. Philbrick

To identify current beverage trends at restaurants across Georgia, Restaurant Forum invited some of the state’s leading restaurant sommeliers and beverage directors to a roundtable discussion on Thursday, September 21 at Point of View, the bar atop the downtown Atlanta Hilton. (Experts residing outside of Atlanta were interviewed by phone.) Our panel of experts (pictured, left to right):

• A.D. Allushi, Sommelier and Assistant General Manager at BluePointe
• Daniel Rudiger, Sommelier of Bacchanalia and Quinones Room at Bacchanalia
• David Dunlap, Manager and Wine Director at The Oceanaire Seafood Room
• Hervé Pennequin, Dining Room Manager and Wine Director at Nikolai’s Roof, Atlanta Hilton
• Chantelle Pabros, Sommelier at The Dining Room, Ritz-Carlton
• Todd Rushing, Partner of Concentrics Hospitality Solutions
• Doug Strickland, Managing Partner and Wine Director at Eno
• Gregg Smith, Sommelier and Bar Manager at Silk
• Tony Labatos, Director of Food and Beverage at Callaway Gardens
• Heath Porter, Sommelier at The Cloister on Sea Island

Hervé Pennequin is Dining Room Manager and Wine Director at Nikolai’s Roof, Atlanta Hilton. A native of Lille, France, he was voted Best Young Sommelier of France at age 23 and has since achieved many awards including 2nd in the Best Sommelier of the U.S. competition in 2002 and 3rd in the Best Sommelier in the World competition in 2004. He has passed the Advanced Exam and is working to become the first “French Master Sommelier” in the U.S.Restaurant Forum: What wine trends have you observed in the last year?Heath: New World Pinot Noir is still very hot. I am seeing a trend toward Spain, Northern Italy and Southern France – I think due to price consciousness. There are some robust and full-bodied alternatives to high-dollar Californian wines. Greece is up-and-coming and so are some states like Virginia.

Tony: We devoted one of our “wine weekends” to the Southern Hemisphere and that’s the one that sold out. I think good marketing and the price/value relationship make Chile, Argentina, New Zealand and South Africa all hot right now. People are discovering Pinotage from South Africa.

Doug: Dollar for dollar, the quality to price ratio is very high for wines from Spain, certain areas of France and Italy. And these wines do go well with food.

Chantelle: With a lot of indigenous grape varieties that are unique to only Spain, it’s kind of this sleeping giant.

Doug: Isn’t that fun? I love to see all of these new indigenous varietals being explored.

A.D.: I think Greece is starting to improve the quality of the wines and do a much better job. There are some really good quality Greek wines right now out on the market and we’re trying to promote them.

Todd: There’s been a shift from Chardonnay to other white varietals. I see Riesling being the one varietal most recently that people are gravitating to.

David: I’ve also noticed that Rieslings are more popular and that guests are not just going for the residual sugar but for the essence of the varietal.

Daniel: Rieslings are a beautiful food wine and the grape is so versatile: You can have a very light delicate Riesling, a full-bodied rich one, a sparkling, icewine, dessert wine – the list just goes on.

Todd: I think the domestic market is realizing that acidity is a valuable part of making wines. California is slowly making a change; Washington and Oregon [winemakers] are ahead of [California] and are already making their wines that way.

Doug: Another trend is biodynamic wines, a greater apprecia­tion for the land and for the grape varietal with wines that have less oak, higher acid and are more food friendly.

Heath: I see people getting more experimental.

Todd: The public is increasingly educated [about wine]. People are more willing to experience new things [whereas] two to three years ago they only wanted to drink what they knew.

Hervé: Nine years ago pretty much half the dining room was full of guests drinking spirits along with their dinner; in the past two years, it’s more wine.

Chantelle: More people are asking for wine pairings than bottles.

Daniel: Wine pairings are an easy way for guests to expe­rience new wines without committing to a whole bottle of a variety or from a region that they’re totally unfamiliar with.

David: Half bottles are another way to introduce and match varietals with different courses. We’ve found it’s a way to help guests find something new – and we’ve had a lot of guests comment on how it’s refreshing to see a larger half-bottle list, especially if they’re dining alone or as a couple.

Chantelle: Two other trends that I’ve seen are a lot of vertical tastings, to get an in-depth view of how Chateaux perform over 20 or so different vintages. Also, I think collectors are starting to become more confident buying at auction, where it is exciting to find a lot of older mature wines that are ready to drink and also some good values.

Chantelle Pabros is Sommelier at The Dining Room, Ritz-Carlton. Now 24, she is the youngest person to have this role in the restaurant’s 22-year history. She won first place in the regional finals for “Best Young Sommelier in America” in January 2005 and will compete again in 2006. She is training for the Court of Master Sommelier.

Restaurant Forum: Any wine varietals or regions on the decline?

Gregg: Merlot.

Daniel: Overly-oaked Chardonnays.

Doug: Big expensive Napa Valley cabs.

Tony: We’ve seen a decrease in Merlot and Sauvignon Blanc taking over for Chardonnay.

Todd: Anything Australian. We struggle with anything Australian. I think part of that is lack of acidity.

Chantelle: Wines that are super high in alcohol and low in acidity.

Doug: We have to carry wines for the general public and not for our own palates. I’m really big on the varietal and terroir-driven wines, but people are still spending $70 on an over-extracted wine, so you have to have it for them.

Todd: I’m not saying we don’t all have those wines. But as we develop our wine programs we taper back on those. Hey, we all start someplace. There was a day when I was drinking Cold Duck at Thanksgiving – I’d never drink it now, but you start someplace.

Chantelle: I feel it’s my job to show those wines that are made for food and classics. Those guardians of tradition, great wines.

Doug: The ultimate thing is to please the guests, obviously. But at the same time we want to educate them and lead them in a direction [to help] their palates grow. It’s a balance. You have to lead them gradually along the way.

David: We didn’t grow up drinking wine in this country. We didn’t grow up learning how wine is meant to be enjoyed with food. I think balance is a great way of looking at it.

Doug: We splash people a lot. If you’re getting them outside of their [comfort zone], give them a [taste].

Todd: That is the education. You’re making friends. That is the goal.

 A.D. Allushi is Sommelier and Assistant General Manager at BluePointe. Originally from the Lake Lugano region of Northern Italy, he is a certified sommelier and is testing to become a Master Sommelier.

Restaurant Forum: How can a restaurant make the most of its wine list?

Daniel: Educate people, including wait staff. Recommend wines with certain foods. Keep a low inventory. Give people what they want. Do a fair markup.

Todd: Because there is so much wine out there, there are some great values. So as a restaurateur you can build a menu and get some great wine values in the $7 to $12 range.

Tony: Diversity. You can be all things to all people. Make sure you don’t have any gaps, feature all price points, all the flavors, all the heftiness from light- to full-bodied. Wine sales are up. We’ve seen increased revenue; it’s substan­tial. We don’t attribute this only to trends but also to action plans we’ve put in place like our expanded wine list.

Todd Rushing is a partner of Concentrics Hospitality Solutions, which includes ONE. midtown kitchen, TWO. urban licks, Piebar and others. He is responsible for creating the wine programs at the restaurants and has received numerous awards and critical recognition for his efforts.

Restaurant Forum: Do you allow guests to bring wine into your restaurants?

Todd: I don’t have a corkage fee in any of my restaurants. Bring in your own bottle if you want. My feeling is that you spent the money to buy this bottle of wine and now you chose to dine with me.

Hervé: Different way to look at that for me. Some restaurants have a few hundred thousand dollars in wine inventory. Why bring your wine? Can’t we supply you with some other great wine to discover?

Todd: I find people will drink something of yours first – maybe a bottle of Champagne or a white to sip until they get to their bottle for their entrée.

Daniel: I’d like them to not bring something that I have on the list. Something more unique or esoteric is perfectly acceptable. It’s even nicer when they purchase a couple glasses or a bottle of wine before they go into theirs.

Todd: I think nine out of ten times you’ll find [what they bring in] is something older or more obscure.

Gregg: What does everybody think about screw caps versus corks? What customer response are you getting?

Todd: I don’t think they care anymore.

Daniel: It serves the purpose of eliminating cork taint.

David Dunlap (left) is Manager and Wine Director at The Oceanaire Seafood Room. Previously, he was Kitchen and Bar Manager for Rare Hospitality Company and has over 20 years of experience working in the restaurant and hospitality industry. Daniel Rudiger (right) is Sommelier of Bacchanalia and Quinones Room at Bacchanalia. A largely self-taught oenophile, he has read extensively about wine and mentored with Yves Durand of The Sommelier Society of America, Inc. He has won bronze, silver and gold medals from the Atlanta International Wine Festival and an Entry Level Master Sommelier Certification.

Restaurant Forum: What obstacles are unique to Georgia?

A.D.: Finding a wine that a customer asks for that’s not dis­tributed here. You always want to give the customer what they want, but sometimes you just can’t get it.

Gregg: When you ask a distributor to bring something [new] in [to Georgia] it takes weeks, sometimes months, to get through the registration process.

Chantelle: While 34 states allow you to take wine home out of a restaurant, Georgia is not one of them.

David: If guests have a beautiful bottle of wine with remnants in it, it is unfortunate that they cannot take it with them.

Todd: Georgia law does hinder our ability to buy from somebody’s cellar. For us to [source] some hard-to-find or exceptional wines that just aren’t around anymore, we can’t go and find them because our hands are tied.

Chantelle: The people who dine in this city dine all over the world – London, Paris, New York, everywhere – where they get to experience great wines. They come here and it’s an obstacle when you have to pay enormously crazy prices for older vintages that come through distributor. Or you have to write endless letters begging people to send their wines to Georgia.

Doug: I was in a small town in Italy. A small producer says, ‘I won’t go to Georgia.’ We’re famous! A lot of producers won’t come into our state because of franchise laws; it does tie our hands in a lot of ways.

On a more pleasant note: Something unique to Georgia are Georgia’s wineries. I have found the quality is getting a bit better. People are more receptive to Georgia wines. People who aren’t from Georgia come here and they’re willing to try Georgia wine. A couple of Georgia wineries are achieving decent acidity and with food these wines work.

Todd: All 50 states produce wine.

Heath Porter is Sommelier at The Cloister on Sea Island. Previously he worked as General Manager and Wine Director for Diamond Head Grill at the W Hotel, Wine Steward at Ruths’ Chris Steakhouse and Wine Director and Assistant General Manager at Sunset Grill, all in Honolulu, HI. He won Best Young Sommelier Hawaii 2004 and holds an Introductory Certificate in the Court of Master Sommeliers 2004.

Restaurant Forum: Not always from grapes….

Todd: And not always good. But I think that leads back to the idea that wine has become more of a focus, a part of life. We can educate consumers. There’s a particular wine from New Mexico that I love to put in front of people.

Chantelle: I tasted something from Shenandoah Valley, Virginia and if I would have tasted it blind I would have had no idea that it was from Virginia. It was a great wine.

Gregg Smith is Sommelier and Bar Manager at Silk. He received top honors in the field of wine and completed Level One of London-based Guild of Master Sommeliers in September 2005; he is currently preparing for Level Two in the winter of 2007 and will continue his studies to complete his Master Sommelier certification.

Restaurant Forum: What advice would you offer to restaurateurs with­out sommeliers?

Heath: Keep prices down to keep the wines rotating. If the chef changes the menu quarterly, keep the wine list chang­ing at the same rate to give people an opportunity to try new things. Everyone can buy the stuff from the “Top 100″ list, but that’s no fun. Make a decision based on what works best with your food and clientele.

Doug: Educate yourself and your staff. Get people from the trade to come in and help train.

David: Be broad with the wine list, [include] half bottles, have something from every major region as well as up-and-coming areas, have labels that are recognizable and some harder-to-find boutique-style wines.

A.D.: If you don’t have a wine professional it is so important to have a skeleton of what wines you really need to carry to support your restaurant concept. It’s not about personal taste; it’s really about whether customers are going to enjoy the wine.

Daniel: The wine should definitely match the food.

Tony: Besides being a sommelier, I’m a businessman. Sommeliers don’t work everywhere, but having one does give you a return on investment. People want to be educated about wine; they’re not intimidated by it anymore.

Doug Strickland (right) is Managing Partner and Wine Director at Eno. A graduate of the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY, he holds a Certificate of Higher Training from the Wine & Spirit Trust in London, England and Basic Level Certification by The Court of Master Sommelier (and is a candidate for Advanced Certification).

Restaurant Forum: How about trends in other beverage areas other than wine?

Daniel: I find specialty cocktails have become more and more popular. Vodka keeps getting stronger.

Gregg: I still see vodka very strong and rum is on the rise. I’m starting to see more Cachaça, a traditional Brazilian [liquor made from sugarcane juice].

Todd: I see more rums available and people are choosing bet­ter rum. Tequila had its run but I think rum is the newest. The trend is more creative, more natural flavorings and natural mix­ers; real fruit juice as opposed to something that’s processed.

Heath: The super big trend has been all the flavored vodkas, and that got into rums and gins. What I’m seeing and am excited about is going back to classics with the highest degree of purity, more natural ingredients.

Tony: There’s a vodka flavor for everything in the world and it’s gone to tequilas. People are going to premiums. What used to be top shelf is pretty much well brand now.

Tony Labatos is Director of Food and Beverage at Callaway Gardens. Previously, he was general manager of Atlanta’s Ambassador Restaurant, owned and operated a chain of full-service restaurants, and was Food and Beverage Director for Georgia’s nine state park resort properties.

Restaurant Forum: Do you think consumers are willing to pay more for cocktails than they were in the past?

Todd: I think there’s still a ceiling. I’ve studied this because I’ve got a new restaurant coming and $14 seems to be the top tolerance here in Atlanta.

There is an education side to make sure that your clients un­derstand Dom Perignon costs what it costs – it’s an ingredient that we work with. A high-end 30-year-old scotch or the top-of-the-line oak-aged rum all have their price.

A.D.: I think people are getting more knowledgeable and re­ally know what quality is. People are calling more for a brand.

Restaurant Forum: What about beer?

Heath: It’s more about purity, there’s more consciousness of type and style. Belgian beers are popular. It’s more about food-friendly beer than sitting back and drinking three to four of them.

A.D.: I’m seeing more high-gravity beers from Europe. People are demanding more good quality beers with their meal.

Tony: People are looking for premiums now – whether it’s a microbrew or “Budweiser Select.” People’s palates have been more refined.

Restaurant Forum: What beverage category is most in­novative?

Chantelle: Bottled waters. There’s water coming from Scotland, Japan, South Africa, all over. It’s crazy. Also non-al­coholic beverage pairings. I get clients that come in who don’t drink and so they’ll try chilled teas, infused waters, infused juices, infused milks.

Restaurant Forum: Which beverages are on the decline?

Todd: Brown spirits: bourbons and scotches.

Daniel: You don’t see single malts as hot as they used to be.

Tony: We don’t see the amber liquors like whiskeys and bourbons really doing well. It’s seasonal in some cases. For us, single malt scotches are still very popular and we’re growing our list there.

Restaurant Forum: Are people changing their drinking habits?

Heath: I think people are getting to the point where they’re maybe not taking the big critics of the world as seriously as they once did. I think people are starting to experiment more and are going off their own tastebuds.

David: As far as having spirits before dinner, it’s generational. It’s interesting. I do see younger people choosing trendy cocktails like mojitos, martinis and reborn classics.

Doug: As we’ve evolved to a wine-friendly society, there’s still that generation that wants their scotch with a splash, and they want it about the time they open their menu. Younger people go to wine.

Hervé: If you start with something high proof, you lose your appetite and we’re out of business. Any wine can please a palate.

Atlanta is probably 10 to 15 years behind New York, but we are working very fast at becoming probably one of the largest – if not the largest after Vegas and New York – cities that is wine driven.

Optimize Its TalentsNovember/December 2006

By Debby Cannon, Ph.D., CHE

They have grown up with cell phones, the Internet, virtual pets and the Spice Girls. They are the millennial generation who now range in age from 12 to 25 – and they are an important part of the hospitality work force, now and for the future. As a demo­graphic group, what are their characteristics as employees; and how can we, in the restaurant and foodservice industry, optimize their talents?

The millennial generation is the most culturally diverse group in history. With this diversity comes the ability, for many of its members, to speak at least two languages. The millennial generation, for their young years, is quite global, having lived or traveled outside of the United States. This generation also brings to the workplace advanced technological abilities. After all, this is the generation that, on average, learns four to five new software programs each year. Millennial individuals rely on the immediacy of technology because that is all they have known. Through tech­nology, this generation will have the capability to advance our industry beyond what we can only dream of today.

The potential of this generation, in adding their creative, global techno-savvy abilities to restaurant and foodservice businesses, is immense. As managers of these up-and-coming stars, we soon realize, however, that they do work differently. One management school of thought, in facing these differences, will respond: “What worked for me (30 years ago) can work for them. They have to pay their dues and fit into our structure. Otherwise, we are not the right company for them.” Another management approach will take a different direction: “If we want to recruit, hire and retain these individuals, our company has to be flexible enough to adapt. It is not minimizing what we stand for or compromising our reputa­tion. It is allowing for differences in how we work to maximize the outcomes.” As we approach predicted labor shortages in the next five years, the second, more flexible management style may be a vital key to survival.

The millennial group (similar to the slightly older Generation X workers who are now 26 to 41 years old) places a high priority on learning and growing. A great training and development pro­gram will be one of your company’s biggest assets in recruiting younger workers. Unlike the baby boomers or mature workers who actually joined companies with thoughts of possibly retiring there, it is very rare to find an employee 35 or younger who plans to stay for more than three to five years with any one company. Your company is, therefore, helping these workers get ready for their next employer. If that means that you have a productive and engaged employee for those three to five years, it may not be a bad trade-off. One study found the average tenure for workers under 35 to be three years, in various types of industries, with one-third in their first year with the current employer.

This desire to learn and grow, among the younger work set, is combined with their expectation to also contribute right away and to have freedom in making decisions. The typical millennial worker wants to know the employer’s expectations in advance, but once those are given, prefers to hit the ground running. This combination can create a challenge in training the newer food­service employees while simultaneously allowing some degree of autonomy so that they can “spread their wings.” Special projects can often offer opportunities to make good use of those millennial talents (technology, language skills, global experiences) that can benefit the restaurant and energize the employee.

In addition, studies have shown that younger workers value consistent and frequent feedback and appreciate an accessible and open “coaching” style in managers. After all, coaches are “develop­ers” taking the “players” to the next level, building on strengths and working to improve the weak areas. In researching why certain companies were considered “employers of choice,” it was found that most often it was because these companies were full of “managers of choice” who possessed strong coaching skills.

What else can be done to attract younger employees and keep them engaged in the restaurant and foodservice industry? One of our biggest assets is sociable and enjoyable working environments. Not every type of business can claim this but, typically, in hospital­ity we can. Positive work places have tremendous recruiting and retention potential. Restaurant websites (a must for recruiting the younger worker) should feature photos of employees – di­verse, smiling, busily engaged – with testimonials of how they are learning by tackling projects and problems and putting their talents to use. After all, we are not just recruiting for today. We are planting seeds of interest in the younger millennial set who are just about to enter their teen years. We will soon need them as an essential ingredient to our industry’s success.

Debby Cannon, Ph.D., CHE, is director of the Cecil B. Day School of Hospitality, Robinson College of Business, Georgia State University.