Issue link: http://osercommunicationsgroup.uberflip.com/i/679170
R e s t a u r a n t D a i l y N e w s 3 7 S a t u r d a y, M a y 2 1 , 2 0 1 6 HEADS UP MEANS TIPS UP By Demitri Pallis The best way to an empty tip jar is to ignore your customers. When I was in the weeds as a bartender, I would dread the next drink order. I quickly realized that eye contact and a quick "I'll be right with you" was immensely powerful. As I'm sure we can all attest, nothing's more annoying than standing at a bar and being ignored by the bartenders. A little eye contact goes a long way. Still too busy to take an order? Drop off a glass of water and you just bought yourself more time. For customers that were seated at a table, I could buy even more time by dropping off a menu or silverware. Whatever I did, I made sure my customers knew I was doing my best to take care of them. Most of the time I was in the weeds for a reason – not because I was a slow bartender, but because I didn't 'allow' myself the possibility to perform at a high level. The most critical of which is prepa- ration – making sure I had plenty of gar- nishes, a fully-loaded ice well, pre- opened bottles of wine and of course, lots of squeaky-clean and lipstick-free glass- ware. Another habit that ended up helping me tremendously was maintaining my "mise en place," or putting everything back in its place after every drink. This was hard at first, because I felt that cus- tomers would become agitated by watch- ing me clean instead of making their drink but this turned out to be pure paranoia. As long as I wasn't doing a deep clean in the middle of my shift, people know the bar staff has more to do than to just put liquid into a cup. Cleaning when I was slammed was counter-intuitive at first, but once my workstation got clut- tered I instantly found myself in the tall grass and looking like a rookie. Having a clean workstation is also the best way to respect other bartenders that have to cover for you "when nature calls." When I worked busy bars with hun- dreds of customers all clamoring for drinks, I didn't necessarily pour my next drink for who was "next," but rather, for whoever was ready to order. If it turned out that in fact the person still wasn't ready to order, I'd let them know that I would make them a drink after I quickly took care of another customer. When I'm a customer and I walk up to a crowded bar, I love it when I can catch the bartender's eyes above the crowd, searching for whoever's ready to place an order. Those are often the kinds of bartenders that can also read lips, a critical skill for work- ing in loud bars. Those are the kinds of bar- tenders that know how to take care of their customers and their tip jar. Pay attention on the front end, and you'll never get burned on the back end – and whatever you do, never, ever ignore a customer. For more information, stop by booths #3192 and #11548, call 800.MARY.MIX or stop by www.thebestbloodymary.com. GENETIC ID AND CERT ID OFFER GLUTEN-FREE VERIFICATION PROGRAM Genetic ID NA, Inc., in conjunction with CERT ID, announce the addition of gluten-free verification services to their portfolio of food safety and food quality testing and certification services. Gluten- free is one of the fastest-growing cate- gories in the food and beverage market. The gluten-free verification services are based on the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) final ruling on the use of a gluten-free claim and are intended for products sold in North America. Services are risk-based and supported by a validated sampling and testing regimen. "We continue to identify value-added opportunities for our cus- tomers, and this program was specifical- ly designed to provide the flexibility that the market demands," said Dr. Heather Secrist, Chief Executive Officer of Genetic ID. "Companies can choose an individual service, such as testing, or adopt a comprehensive gluten-free certi- fication and testing program where the CERT ID Gluten-free Trustmark can be applied to a product." "Our Gluten-free Product Certification Program is designed as an addendum to recognized system certifi- cations such as organic, Non-GMO Project, and Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI), said Rhonda Wellik, Chief Executive Officer of CERT ID. "This effectively allows companies to realize efficiencies and cost-savings when seeking product certification." The gluten-free verification services provide a third-party approach regarding label claims, and communicate a compa- ny's commitment to producing safe, gluten-free products for consumers. The new services included in the Gluten-free Certification Program incorporate the rigor and reliability that Genetic ID and CERT ID's customers have come to rely on. For more information about Genetic ID and CERT ID, visit www.genetic-id.com and www.cert-id.com.