Scotland Diary

The Daily Diary of a Wandering Restaurateur
Work, Work, Work ...

The Glenmorangie Distillery had just re-opened for tours after being closed for several months for construction and maintenance. After being in Scottish hands since its inception, it was recently sold to Moet Hennessey of France. Time will tell if that will have any negative effects on the product, but it certainly does bring a lot more expansion capital to bear. The recent renovations added about 40% to the production capacity of the distillery.

We were the first tour in six months for Catherine (the Great), our delightful tour guide. I love the Scottish sense of humor when they are feeling playful and we laughed and joked our way through the place. It was the first time she had seen some of the expanded facilities as well so it was fun to share that experience with her even as she shared it with us. Our companions on this voyage of discovery were from north of Brisbane, Australia and were also good company.

The employees knew that the owners were trying to sell the distillery but their secret hope was that the buyer would be the US firm of Brown Foreman. This actually made some sense since Scotch whisky is aged in used bourbon barrels and BF is big into bourbon. But, alas, it was the French who prevailed. The first casualty was the clothing in the gift shop. They didn't have any of those cool black Glenmorangie sweaters in my size but I did find a great fleece pullover that is perfect for the chill and damp of Scotland ... and, most likely, Seattle!

Do you get excited when you see this first sign? When I saw it on the street outside Brooklyn's Restaurant, what struck me was that their "exciting new menu" ... wasn't ... at least to anyone but themselves. It seems to me that when you have to make a sales pitch to have others think that something is exciting, you have failed to address their needs. In contrast, when others get excited about what you have done ... THEN you have nailed it and there isn't much more that needs be said.

Things are tough all over for restaurants and Inverness is no exception. I get the impression that many of the pubs and restaurants are barely holding on right now. Of course, the tourist season is just starting so perhaps I am only seeing the tail end of the winter lull, but it seems deeper than that.

The Tea Room at Dunrobin was typical of what we have seen at the various historical sites -- a small cafeteria-like line with soup and sandwiches, some baked goods, snacks and soft drinks. As you would expect, you can always get tea in a tea room.

For dinner we just opted for a quick pizza at Bella Italia in Inverness -- not our best choice of the trip but it was just too blustery to walk across the bridge to a better Italian operation on the other side of the river. They were reasonably busy but totally in the weeds. I was not surprised when the food seemed equally uninspired. Interesting that those two seem to go hand in hand ...

So what made it onto my little list of lapses? Here are just a few of the highlights ... or lowlights:

Greet people at the door with a smile within 30 seconds of arrival. In this case it took several minutes before anyone even acknowledged that we were there, then another five minutes of allegedly attempting to find someone who could determine if there was, indeed, an available table among the many sitting empty, then another five minutes to actually make that determination, all the while being told to "sit there and wait" while pointing to a straight chair that was right up against one of the entrance doors where arriving guest would literally step on your toes when they walked in.

Ask for the drink order before you bring water ... and bring the drinks quickly. It will improve the odds of selling a refill. After our order was taken, it was ten minutes before my beer arrived. I would easily have been ready for a second when she brought the pizza but I was lucky that it even got there before the food arrived.

Check back frequently or at least look for guests trying to make eye contact. When I was ready for the second beer, I couldn't find anyone to ask for it. The waitress never returned and despite the fact that we were sitting by the bar, the bartender avoided eye contact as well.

Along that line, everyone in the place should work as a team to make sure the guests are happy. On those occasions when I asked someone other than our waitress (I think she was also the manager on duty) for something, I got a shrug and a "You'll have to ask her" sort of non-response. Very frustrating.

There's more, but I won't bore you with it right now. Keep an eye on the EHC e-letter.

[Itinerary Page]