Reflective Placement Diary: Learning in Restaurant Management

This report reflects on a student's four-week placement at Umami, an Indian restaurant in Birmingham, focusing on the skills and learning acquired during the experience. The student worked as an assistant manager, initially learning the restaurant's rules, procedures, and strategies for resource management. The second week emphasized customer service practices and leadership skills, including motivating staff and handling challenges. Week three centered on multitasking and task management, with the student learning to divide work among employees based on their skills. The final week focused on developing communication and teamwork skills through interactions with subordinates and customers. The report concludes that the hospitality industry provides valuable skills such as time management, customer relations, and communication, which are beneficial in both personal and professional life. Desklib provides similar past papers and solved assignments for students.

Placement Diary
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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Week 1....................................................................................................................................3
Week 2....................................................................................................................................3
Week 3....................................................................................................................................4
Week 4....................................................................................................................................4
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6
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INTRODUCTION
This report revolves around the reflection on the work that is demonstrated while
working in a restaurant. It covers an analysis on the work done in four weeks and how that piece
of work has helped in terms of learning (Alananzeh and et. al., 2019). In this report, Umami
restaurant is considered which is a Birmingham based restaurant offering a variety of Indian
cuisine. The USP of Umami restaurant is Mandeep Bajwa who is their head chef and ensures
new taste sensations in the food. This restaurant is listed under the top 10 list of Indian restaurant
in Birmingham.
MAIN BODY
Week 1
I was working in Umami restaurant as an assistant manager where my work was to manage
the dine in and kitchen facilities. During my work I established the sense of rules and procedures
that needs to be applied in the work. This was my first week at the job where on the very first
day I was handed with a job profile book. The job profile book consisted of my roles and
responsibilities that I am required to fulfil during my tenure at Umami restaurant. I learnt the new
set of strategies that can be applied in my working in the restaurant as an assistant manager
(Choa and et. al., 2019). I learnt the variety of skills that can applied in well managing the
resources and activities of restaurants. I learnt from my senior manager that a positive approach
towards the work plays an important role in the hospitality industry. I must interact with the
customers in a very polite and positive manner in order to serve the customers in a best manner.
Further I learnt the ways in which I can track my performance and analyse the areas in which I
lack during my working in the restaurant. The performance was tracked by a charge sheet where
I mentioned the day to day working along with the schedule and timing.
Week 2
This week was more focused on actual work as compared to my introductory week, in this
week I learnt the customer service practices. Customer services play an important and promising
role in the hospitality industry as they drive a sense of affection in the restaurants. I learnt that
customer service is one of the prime responsibility of the restaurant where they treat the
customers with utmost priority. I learnt that leadership skills are important for managing people
in the restaurants as they help in driving productivity in the work. I learned the ways in which I
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can motivate people working under me to perform with best efficiency. Through this I can
motivate chefs and people working under me so that they can dedicate their best services in the
restaurant. I attended several learning sessions in the restaurant which were focused on dealing
with different set of issues that arises during the working in restaurant. These learning sessions
were helpful in implementing my learnings in the different challenging scenarios that are faced
by an assistant manager.
Week 3
This week I learnt the way in which I can perform and manage several tasks at a time.
Multitasking is one of the most essential thing which help in terms of time management and
performing a list of tasks at the same point of time. While working at Umami restaurant, I learnt
the different ways in which I can multitask and perform all the necessary tasks such as managing
the staff along with managing the customer relations. I learnt the ways in which I can divide the
work among the employees and maximize the productivity in the restaurant. I need to assign
every employee a specialised work on the basis of their qualification and skills. A person who is
good at communication will be assigned a duty of greeting the customers who are coming in the
restaurant. A person who is good at organising and designing will be assigned a duty of handling
the sitting facilities and other such areas of the organisation. This week was full of learning as
my major roles and responsibilities of the job profile was properly assigned during this week.
This week I added my expertise of learning in the area of interest and developed good sense of
understanding in the way in which an assistant manager drives profitability in the restaurant.
Week 4
I developed communication skills during my working at Umami restaurant, as an assistant
manager I was exposed to interactions with subordinates and customers. As my interactions with
people increased, I learnt the skill of communicating in a best effective manner. Learning
communication skills was helpful for me as it will further help me in my personal and
professional life. I also developed the skill of team working during my working as assistant
manager in the company. Team working is one of the most essential skill as it helped me in
managing the work with my co-workers and subordinates. This skill was developed during
establishment of work with the co-workers as it helped in terms of effectively coordinating with
each other. I learnt that an effective coordination in Umami restaurant is necessary as it will help
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in offering best quality of services to the customers. The arrangement of resources on time is
essential in the restaurants so that expectations of customers can be met.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it can be concluded that a degree of skills can be learnt from working
at a restaurant. Hospitality industry offers a range of learning options for the people working in
this particular industry. This industry offers a range of benefits and skills to the employee such as
time management skills, customer relations skills, multitasking, communication skills etc. which
are highly helpful in personal and professional lives of people. These skills helped me in deriving
efficiency and productivity in the work which is further delivered to customers in a best manner.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Alananzeh, O., Jawabreh, O., Alhalabi, R., Syam, H. and Keswani, F., 2019. The association
among employees' communication skills, image formation and tourist behaviour:
perceptions of hospitality management students in Jordan. International Journal of
Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research.
Cho, M., Bonn, M.A., Giunipero, L. and Divers, J., 2019. Restaurant purchasing skills and the
impacts upon strategic purchasing and performance: The roles of supplier
integration. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 78, pp.293-303.
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