Harborne Tandoori Placement Diary: Assistant Manager Experience

This placement diary reflects on a student's four-week experience as an assistant manager at Harborne Tandoori, an Indian restaurant in Birmingham. The diary details the student's initial orientation, job responsibilities, and observations regarding the hospitality industry. It covers managing the kitchen department, understanding food hygiene, and the importance of teamwork. The student researched Indian restaurants in the UK and explored how social media can expand a restaurant's reach. The diary also highlights the importance of employee recruitment, management, and engagement in creating a positive work environment and achieving better operational efficiency. The experience provided valuable insights into restaurant culture, Indian cuisine, and the significance of customer satisfaction.

Placement Diary

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Week 1....................................................................................................................................1
Week 2....................................................................................................................................1
Week 3....................................................................................................................................2
Week 4....................................................................................................................................2
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................3
References:.......................................................................................................................................4
Books and Journals.................................................................................................................4

INTRODUCTION
This placement journal is a reflection on my experience working as an assistant manager in
an Indian restaurant. I worked for 4 weeks at an Indian restaurant called Harbone Tandoori at 10
South Street Harborne, Birmingham B17 0DB England (Harborne Tandoori
Restaurant / Birmingham, 2022). This restaurant is known for serving elegant cuisine from
different parts of India. The restaurant offers a variety of vegetarian, vegan and non-vegetarian
food. The restaurant has indoor and outdoor seating areas and also includes a bar. This report is a
placement journal and will reflect my 4 weeks of experience and learning as an assistant
manager in the respective restaurant.
Week 1
In the first week after being selected as Assistant Manager at the Indian restaurant "Harborne
Tandoori Restaurant", I was first informed of my main job roles and responsibilities in the
restaurant. Then there was a new employee orientation program and I was introduced to
department heads in different areas of the restaurant. Then, during the meeting, I learned about
the current state of the hospitality industry and its trends in order to stay abreast of what's new in
the industry. After seeing the hierarchy at the restaurant, I was very obligated. During my first
week of experience at Harbrone Tandoori Restaurant, I developed a strong interest in
comprehensive activities that help businesses create a positive work environment to achieve their
intended business goals. Therefore, by observing the work environment in the restaurant for a
week, I was able to determine that good communication and effective teamwork are essential
skills that I must have on the job as an assistant manager (Mathayomchan and Taecharungroj,
2020). After all the experience and learning in the first week, I am very excited to learn another
week and to turn the restaurant into a productive and profitable business through future learning.
Week 2
Over the next week, I was asked to manage the restaurant's kitchen department, with
different employees with different job responsibilities, all directed and supervised by the chef.
During the meeting, I asked the kitchen staff about food hygiene and safety in order to maintain
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and improve customer service and provide customers with healthy and safe food. While working
at an Indian restaurant like Harbrone Tandoori, I realized that Indian flavors are very spicy,
authentic and full of flavor and have to fit with the Birmingham crowd without wasting any
clothes. In this week I observed that in the kitchen department and got to experience and learn
about the chef skills, Michelin dish, and speed to develop the food in order to serve the
customers orders timely with less waiting hours. As the assistant manager in this week I realized
how important management skills are important in order to manage the time and task effectively.
Week 3
During this corresponding week, as an assistant manager, I researched the Indian restaurants
in the UK that are known for serving best Indian food. During this research, I learned that there
are thousands of Indian restaurants in London, UK. To increase Harbrone Tandoori Restuarnt
presences among UK customers who love to eat and try Indian dishes such as seek kabab,
chicken tandoori, onion bhaji, and vegetable samosa and much more. Companies must use social
media handles to expand the reach through their marketing and promotional activities. Harbrone
Tandoori Restuarnt chefs play a huge role in the restaurant's kitchen in order to provide
customers with the best variety and flavours of Indian culture. But Harbrone Tandoori Restuarnt
chefs are not only responsible for supervising other chefs, but also preparing menus and ensuring
the proper presentation of dishes that reflect the royal flavours of Indian culture and spices.
Therefore, I understand that as a manager, I want to make sure that all employees in different
functional areas must collaborate with each other so that the hotel can function better.
Week 4
During my fourth week in the restaurant, I realized that the two most important areas of
restaurant management are team recruitment and employee management (Roy, 2021). As an
Assistant Manager, I believe that in order to build a successful restaurant, it is very important to
recruit talented staff or teams and manage the staff with an appropriate management style to
align them with the restaurant's goals. At Harbrone Tandoori restaurant, I learned that the
company has effective employee recruitment and employee management policies to integrate a
friendly working environment. During this week, I was able to understand and learn effective
management skills to manage employees and build teamwork to improve operational efficiency
and achieve better performance in restaurants. One of the more important terms I learned in week
4 is employee engagement to thrive restaurants through productivity and new innovations. In
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Harbrone Tandoori restaurant to initiate the healthy and positive employee engagement the
restaurant organize the fun event for the employees as this increase the open communication
during activity and by doing this flexibility is improved in the organization. The arrangement of
such programmer is done by me as an assault manager and also this helps the employees of the
Harbrone Tandoori restaurant to invest their own money.
CONCLUSION
The conclusion from the above research is that for me, gaining experience in the hospitality
industry by working in an Indian restaurant in Birmingham is a lifetime experience. As an
Assistant Manager, I had the opportunity to learn and develop my knowledge of restaurant
culture and how Indian restaurant staff work as a team. The discussion helped me analyze my
main roles and responsibilities as an assistant restaurant manager. During this discussion, I
gained experience about the function of the kitchen department and its employees, the value of
teamwork and, most importantly, the importance of customer satisfaction. Thus, the overall
journey of four weeks as an assistant manager in the restaurant has taught me so much about the
Indian culture, its authentic food, spices, flavors etc.
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References:
Books and Journals
Mathayomchan, B. and Taecharungroj, V., 2020. “How was your meal?” Examining customer
experience using Google maps reviews. International Journal of Hospitality
Management, 90, p.102641.
Roy, P., 2021. Food in the South Asian diaspora. In Routledge Handbook of Asian Diaspora and
Development (pp. 315-333). Routledge.
Harborne Tandoori Restaurant / Birmingham, 2022. [online], Available through:
< https://www.dineclub.co.uk/restaurant/birmingham/harborne-tandoori-restaurant>
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