Have you ever wondered why Kentucky Fried Chicken does not server hamburgers? Or why a ride at Disney can only accomomdate up to 6 people at a time? KFC made a decision about their operations and what they do best while Disney probably made a decision based on the engineering aspects of the ride and followed a design that it determined could safely handle a maximum number of people. Every business wants to drive revenue by developing a business plan that will maximize profits. What does this have to do with us?
Small business and especially restaurants have to make decisions about how to operate based on the experience of their operations. How many people can we serve with the staffing that is working is a more important decision than simple filling tables until there are no longer any tables. How many people can it serve and the staffing thatat works best for their operations based on staffing and preferences.
Our experience is that the larger the number of people at a table, the more attention and service they require. Almost every member of our staff would rather serve two tables of 6 people rather than a single table of 12 people.
In making a decision about how to operate, we considered our experience and the best approach to offer the best service to the most customers.
What we have experienced is that people at a table of 12 are much likely to be loud and move around than tables of 6 or less. The greater number of people the more disruptive they can be to the tables around them. Accordingly, we addressed this issue by putting the 5 tables of 12 people away from other tables and only allow larger groups at these tables.
Large tables tend to order food separately because there is a bit more caous and people tend to individually order food. Because we use QR codes for ordering, instead of a single order for a table we often get 6 to 12 orders for a single table and this occurs much more frequently that orders from tables of 6 people or less. People at large gatherings also tend to order wine individually rather than checking to see if anyone else at the table wants to order at the same time. Smaller groups tend to communicate better and place fewer orders per person.
When a Chef recieveds orders he prepares each ticket as they arrive. Multiple tickets from the same table are not always ready at the same time. People get frustrated because they are notified that their food is ready for pickup but they expect to pick up all of the food for the entire table. Because of the large volumn of tickets being received orders place separately are sometimes ready 20 minutes apart. No matter how many times we request large tables to order together, the request is very infrequently followed.
but In our kitchen, different items are prepared by different Chefs so a Chef could be completelly unaware of the multiple ticket situationWhen a member
Prior to the pandemic, we would have over 3000 people on the property during the fall and the crowds were massive
Fewer people, great social distancing between tables, almost contact free service, relaxed countryside setting, friendly staff and a better overall experience are our goals. Only time will tell if our vision is appealing to enough to visitors to allow us to grow and prosper. We have changed but change and evolution is what being an entrepreneur is all about, a vision and execution. We appreciate that there will be people that are concerned about our new approach and may decide not to visit but we hope that they will give us the opportunity to try our new approach and let us know their comments and recommendations. Nothing is perfect and we are always interested in trying new things and modifying our approach. Please continue reading the next section about food and beverage operations.
Food & Non-alcoholic Beverages – The Vintner Knoll.
As we are operating as a restaurant, we do not allow people to bring in outside food or soft drinks which was a requirement imposed during the pandemic and which we have elected to retain since we now offer food everyday at the tables outside of the winery that is prepared by our restaurant. Food served is available everyday from 11 am until 4 pm.
There is absolutely no need to purchase food and you can simply order a glass of wine or beer from your table. We continue to add more retail food items in our retail shop such as chips, salas, nuts, cheeses, breads, crackers and other snack foods that can be purchased and enjoyed on site.
Alcoholic Beverages – The Vintner Knoll.
In the past, we allowed people to purchase alcoholic beverages in the retail shop for on site consumption. We have changed this policy to better manage on site consumption in compliance with state and local regulations and to offer wine by the glass and by flights in addition to wine by the bottle. The prices for wine or beer delivered to your table are exactly the same price of wine sold at retail. We believe this is a much more responsible approach to on-site consumption while also presenting our customer with wine by the glass or flights. A “flight” of wines offers 5 different wines (5/8 of an ounce each) that are served to you so that you can taste and enjoy a wide variety of the wines produced at Nashoba Valley.
Born in Concord, Raised in Bolton. A place like no other
Get the right information – Email us at support@nashobawinery.com
