The experience industry is being described as the fourth industry after the service industry. When you customise a good for someone you turn it into a service. But when you customise that service, you turn it into an experience.

This is demonstrated every single day in the hospitality industry. When you go for a meal you are participating in an experience and the staff serving put on a performance for you every night. It was once described that work is theatre and every business is a stage. The performance by the waiters has to be fine tuned and everything has to be perfect.

The setting is crucial to the experience. You can’t imagine a play that is people sitting round a dinner table having a conversation but the backdrop is rolling hills and wildlife. It would ruin the whole feel of the play. In a restaurant the tables have to be set with the appropriate cutlery. If you order soup you expect a soup spoon and if you order steak you would expect a steak knife. The staff must be immaculately dressed and their manner is very important as well.

You may feel that the waiters are reading from a script. Well sometimes this is true. They might have been told what to ask and when to ask it in order to give the customer the best experience. But a skill of both an actor and a waiter is the ability to adlib. They must be able to stray from the script if things go wrong, yet seem in control and be able to put it back together if needed.

There are many different ways to provide an experience. It can be in the form of open kitchens and chef’s tables. Chef’s love showing off their work and are very proud of what they do. And the customers love watching them. It is a novelty to actually see into the kitchen and watch their dishes being created, whereas before it was all done in secret and a few minutes later the dish would arrive.

Carverys are a good way to provide an experience too. And if the restaurant has their own sommelier then they put on a performance all by themselves. They are knowledgeable in what they serve and like showing off what they know. They then make a show of opening the bottle at the table, letting the guest taste it and the pouring it out. It is simple, yet effective and provides more of an experience than having a bottle plonked down in front of you with a screw cap which you open and serve yourself.

Heston Blumenthal probably puts on the best experience in his restaurant. He provides dishes that no one has ever tried before and not many people go there for a proper meal, they go there to experience his cuisine. In a recent TV series he created and hosted a selection of banquets from the past. He researched and attempted to create some very unusual dishes that have not been tried before. Amongst those was a platter of fruit that was actually made of meat. That was a very strange experience for the guests. They might not have enjoyed it but they will certainly remember it. 

Creating memorable experiences is what is going to drive the hospitality industry forward. It is not just about providing good customer service, it is about exceeding their expectations and ensuring they remember that experience. The best form of marketing is word of mouth and if that guest tells one of his friends and he tells 2 of his, the word is going to be out about what that restaurant can do.

The key to success is consistency and that takes practise and preparation. Practise isn’t always viable in hospitality, but training is. All new staff should be provided with the knowledge they need and the correct script such as all actors are when they first start a play. The more they do it the better they will become.

 So next time you go out for a meal, think about the waiters as actors and what sort of a performance they are putting on for you.