More recently, the Benvenuti hospitality training program and the principles outlined in Will Guidara’s Unreasonable Hospitality have transformed and invigorated this approach. As a company, we’re taking a proactive approach to anticipating guests’ needs, while looking for opportunities to improve people’s days.
Among countless examples of teams nationwide embracing these principles, these four Bon Appétit accounts have embarked on ways to dial up the surprise and delight for our guests.
Carleton College, Northfield, MN
When the client at Carleton asked General Manager Charlie Schwandt to make meals available outside of regular dining hours to promote accessibility, he and the team developed a creative solution. Starting with a pilot location in Carleton’s Recreation Center, the team partnered with their client to introduce a new series of vending machines (in photo, above), stocked with food prepared in-house, across campus. “The school wanted the food to be prepared by us,” says Charlie. “They know we’re receptive to student needs and can provide a great variety of vegan and vegetarian options.”
The vending machines offer a rotating mix of sandwiches, salads, elevated retail items, and specialty beverages, ensuring that community members have a variety of options. “The sandwiches are our best-sellers,” says Charlie. “But we’re also using the machines as an incubator for retail items that later pop up in our retail cafés.” The machines have now extended to the college’s science building, where students spend late nights studying, as well as the campus center, which is open 24/7. Beyond delighting students with a convenient fresh food option at any hour of the day, Charlie notes that faculty and staff like it, too.
The Clubhouse at Torrey Heights, San Diego, CA
When Bon Appétit took over the operations at the Clubhouse at Torrey Heights, a public restaurant in San Diego, Executive Chef Gavin Mills saw an opportunity to bring our waste commitments to life. “This is a really sustainability-minded community and Farm to Fork has always been important to how I cook,” Gavin remarks. “And the previous food program provider never used the composting system.”
As the Bon Appétit team got up and running, Gavin set to work creating a back-of-house system to enable kitchen scrap diversion, taking advantage of Torrey Heights’ industrial composting processors. “It was an expectation that I set with the team early on,” Gavin says, “and we made it a part of our workflow from the start.”
The team now diverts all of their kitchen waste to the composting system, producing 20 to 30 gallons of finished compost every week, which is then bagged up and given freely to guests and a local gardening club. “Guests love it,” says Gavin. “The people who come in and get compost love that it’s a closed loop system.”
Global Semiconductor Firm, Santa Clara, CA
During a recent period of major growth in his client’s business, Senior Executive Chef Joe DeBono and his team revived a take-home dinner program that had been popular pre-pandemic to provide meal options for busy employees and their families.
Joe and the team created a menu replicating the high-quality, seasonal fare they offer in their cafés in a reheatable to-go format. A full-time chef leads a four-person team to craft a wide variety of take-home meals, from elevated entrees to kid-friendly and convenient family meals like full-size pizzas and sliders. It’s been a resounding success, with the team averaging 300 or more orders per day. But while volume has increased, the guest experience remains paramount for Joe and the team. “How we aesthetically present the meals is key,” says Joe. “We’ve brought efficiency to the take-home experience, but we want the food to look and taste as if they’re dining with us in person.”
National Financial Services Firm, Austin, TX
After reading Unreasonable Hospitality recently, this front-of-house team met to brainstorm ideas for involving chefs more directly in the guest experience. They came up with a new pop-up program dubbed “Surprise and Delight,” designed to showcase their chefs’ culinary creativity through featured bite-sized dishes. Each week, a chef prepares a special bite using in-house ingredients, and during times of peak service, front-of-house team members offer the bites to guests as a fun and unexpected treat.
“For our chefs, it’s become a creative outlet,” General Manager Dana Andrae notes. “And for our guests, it transforms a routine wait into a moment of delight and connection with our culinary team.” The program has been a hit across the board, showing that a small gesture can have a big impact. The team plans to continue to offer it as a way to strengthen the guest experience.
