In 2014-2015 I had the real pleasure of working at a restaurant called Great Queen Street (GQS). Sure enough the restaurant is found on Great Street in Covent Garden, London. My time at this restaurant taught me a lot. Sure, I learned about food and wine and the Chefs were even good enough to pass on some knife skills and techniques but I learnt more than that. I learnt what I liked about the hospitality industry, I became aware of what I did not like, and the ability to tell the difference between the two.
My experiences at GQS were so rich because of the people that worked there, the people who owned the place, and the type of people that dined there. GQS had, and has, a distinct culture which made it a dream to work in. There was an emphasis on professionalism. There were, twice daily, menu meetings to ensure the floor staff knew, and were familiar with, the food that they were serving. The chefs would leave the kitchen to give these briefings and I believe that these meetings were crucial to our ability to offer a high level of service but also that they served as a strong bonding tool between the front and back of house. This meant, that as a staff member, you had the support of management and gone was the often quoted idea that the "customer is always right". There was a culture of trust and respect.
I found that the type of customers that came into GQS were those people that ate out regularly and thus were very pleasant to serve. These people knew that the key to enjoying themselves was relaxing and letting their waiter do the job. The ethos of the GQS supported both customer and staff in this mentality, and as a result the vast majority of people enjoyed themselves.
In a personal sense, this restaurant was very important to me. It gave me a community and a home in London and to this day some of the people I worked with there are some of my dearest friends. These are a few photos of the people and times we shared. Most of them are from my leaving party. ---
Last photo of the night in the service alley ---
Tif, with the crazy hair (believe there is a bottle of wine in there) ---
Just a few guys ---
Alex, Gianpiero and Gareth ---
Kitchen vignette ---
Paying my dues ---
Gareth entertaining ---
Staff party ---
Service shot ---
Legends, all ---
Cheers ---
Alex, Harry and Matt ---
Farewell shot ---
Please see following link for restaurant website
http://www.greatqueenstreetrestaurant.co.uk/