Few hotels spend thousands of dollars on a large oven or freezer without first checking that it fits the kitchen footprint. So why do many front-of-the-house managers spend thousands of dollars on tableware without checking its compatibility with back-of-the-house dishwashers and storage areas? It’s a question that only needs to be asked once at properties that have experienced massive breakage, chipping, and theft by ignoring logistical realities.

“From a basic financial standpoint, the front of the house needs to work with the back of the house. They’re throwing money away if they don’t.”

That comment is one of many from several stewards we polled about the disconnect when it comes to tableware purchases. They view it as a sore spot because they wash, store, and inventory the items. Their complaints have a common theme: The front of the house pays attention only to how the items look—trying to “wow” the guest— without considering the operational consequences.

The stories they tell are embarrassing to the properties, so we’ve kept everyone’s identities hidden—but the lessons learned are on display.

HEART OF GLASS
“Many hotels don’t order through stewarding. The managers do their own ordering, and that creates problems.” At this steward’s property, the problems started when a sports bar opened and management bought 3,000 glasses that “weren’t appropriate for a sports bar. They were beautiful and delicate but weren’t designed for rugged use.” Management also neglected to inquire about appropriate storage space. The result was 3,000 fragile glasses being rotated in and out of a heavy-traffic, makeshift holding area.

“We broke 80 percent of our inventory in two months. You couldn’t push them together, and many broke simply by being stacked too high. We didn’t even have enough room to turn around.” Eventually, the hotel switched to more durable rocks glasses. “That cut down the loss process immediately.”

The steward adds that there was “no consulting of the back of the house whatsoever” before this budget-busting disaster. However, the property did learn from its mistake. “Now we all sit down and talk about the product before we order it.”

CHIP OFF THE OLD PLATE
Management at another property tested samples of an enameled cast-iron cocotte and a glazed square plate in their dishwasher more than 10 times. There was no damage, so they bought four dozen cocottes and 60 dozen plates for use in a new fine-dining outlet. However, no one asked the hotel’s executive steward for his opinion.

“Before buying anything, I’d run it through the dish machine nearly 100 times. But they just bought everything and never told me.”

It didn’t take long for the items to deteriorate once they were put into regular use. When several cocottes were washed, they banged against each other, cracking the enamel. The hex nut on each lid also rusted. As for the square plates, an unglazed base on the bottom scraped the glaze off other plates as they were pulled from the dishwasher and stacked. “The plates were flawed. It wasn’t obvious to the chefs and managers who chose them, but [this issue] would have been spotted by a steward and a few thousand dollars could have been saved.”

The cocottes were returned to the manufacturer, and the glazed plates were either modified or replaced. The hotel’s executive steward says both of these purchases, and all of the hassles involved, could have been avoided if he had been included in the process from the start. “I was never consulted before, but they’ve now put me on the tableware selection committee since this happened a few months ago.”

TO CATCH A THIEF
At another property, the executive steward inherited back-of-the-house chaos due to lack of communication.

“My first two years were terrible. The front of the house didn’t coordinate with the back of the house about anything.” That “anything” usually focused on non-existent storage space. Being a property that regularly hosted functions for several thousand people, tableware was kept in a hallway, which also happened to be the main employee entrance and exit for the building.

“There was a ton of theft. It was in the main hallway where everybody comes and goes. Every time we had a large function, we came up short on inventory.”

This steward didn’t have to beg for a true storage area since customers were frequently in danger of not receiving what they paid for in a banquet experience. “I just told them I needed storage space and the ability to have my stuff locked up every time, plain and simple. The front of the house thinks they’re in charge of everything, but we all work for the same property and the same customers. The back of the house rarely gets credit for knowing what’s going on.”

Excluding back-of-the-house input may still be common at many hotels. But, in the future, well-run F&B departments striving to eliminate hassles and save money will increasingly include both front- and back-of-the-house staff in purchasing decisions.

Michael Costa is industry relations editor for HOTEL F&B.