Find out how to give your guests a great experience from the Principal of Kelley Jones Hospitality.
Give An Ovation is the podcast where we interview restaurant owners, operators, and experts, to get their strategies and tactics so that you can deliver a 5-star guest experience. Available on all major podcasting sites.
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Get ready for a knowledge-packed episode! Kelley Jones is the Principal of Kelley Jones Hospitality and a sought after speaker who has spoken at the world’s largest industry conferences. He also works as the President & COO of Hospitality Alliance, and has developed several other successful restaurant organizations.
Here’s one of our highlights from this episode and Kelley’s answers to some of our questions:
Featured Takeaway: It’s all about the service
“We’re in the hospitality industry. Hospitality, by definition, is warm, personally engaging service. So it’s really about the service. When I was an executive chef, I never would have admitted this, but I’m positive that I can forgive an overcooked steak, I can’t forget rude or inattentive treatment service. You’ve got to have a service culture, you’ve got to have a team that really loves people and wants to serve them.”
What’s the most important aspect of the guest experience nowadays? (15:25)
“Making them feel important. People innately want to feel that they mean something… We do this training drill where I ask, ‘What’s the number one way to make somebody feel important?’ And eventually, we’ll get it: call somebody by their name. As humans, we all want to feel that we are recognized, and there’s a whole bunch of ways to get somebody’s name. The easiest way is to introduce yourself.”
What’s something successful you’ve seen restaurants try lately? (18:38)
“Our food halls are coming back, and it’s funny, because it’s all about communal spaces and great entertainment. And certainly, that went away for COVID in a big way… But I really believe people just have this innate desire to be with other people and break bread.”
Who is someone in the industry that deserves an Ovation? (20:45)
Chef Michael Mina of MINA Group. “You go into any of his restaurants and they just perform on such a high level. Michael has this saying in his company that ‘perfection is expected, but excellence is accepted.’ And I love that because, you know, his feeling is if you strive for perfection, every day, you will achieve a level of excellence. That is just such a great internal mantra that people should always aspire to.”
For more, you can visit kelleyjoneshospitality.com, or find him as @kelleyjoneshospitality on social media.
Thanks for reading! Make sure to check out the whole episode, as well as other interviews with restaurant gurus by checking out “Give an Ovation: A Podcast For Restaurants” on ovationup.com/podcast or your favorite place to listen to podcasts.
