Stephen Jardine: Let’s take care to serve our sector

WE have come a long way. In a generation, Scotland’s food and drink has moved from a national embarrassment to an international success story.

For the hospitality industry that has been great news, heralding expansion and increasing numbers of tourists who now expect good things to eat here.

In a country with a mature tourism economy, they also quite rightly expect service to match. But do they get it? We’ve all had terrible service experiences in the hospitality sector in Scotland. The stories range from being ripped off, to the downright weird. I had a waiter threatening to take away my room service breakfast unless I paid the £5 tray charge in cash on the spot. And all because the receptionist had forgotten to take my credit card details the night before.

By choice, I haven’t stayed there since. But I have stayed several times in the Glasgow hotel which found me a room during last winter’s snowstorms. Trudging up the hill, wet, hungry and miserable, I was met by a doorman who took my bag, dried my coat and treated me like a long-lost friend. In a few minutes he’d created a loyal customer.

So why don’t we have more of them? Shirley Spear and her husband have owned the legendary Three Chimneys on Skye for more than 25 years and watched staff come and go.

Shirley believes the focus on chefs in recent years has been at the expense of those who actually present the food to the public and the hospitality industry has suffered as result.

“A top waiter is the star of every good restaurant’s performance. He or she is the person delivering hospitality in the truest sense of the word. A good waiter becomes an ambassador for his or her restaurant or hotel, its location and above, all an ambassador for Scotland,” she says.

Of course Shirley is right.

Our great food and drink revolution will be wasted unless the people explaining the dishes and taking them to the customers are seen as important. Education and training must play a big part in this. In France, Italy and Spain being a waiter or waitress is a proper career choice. In Scotland, it is pin money for backpackers or a stop-gap for locals until something better comes along.

Earlier this week the Hospitality Industry Trust held a conference in Glasgow to promote excellence in the industry. At it I met some of the brightest youngsters in the business, who were collecting scholarships to travel the world and see hospitality and service at it’s very best. When they return to Scotland, the challenge will be keeping them here.

The renaissance in our food culture has been a great journey, but to go all the way we need to concentrate not just on those who cook, but also on those who care for the customers.