Anette Svingstedt

Restaurant practices – time, planning, knowledge and dreams

ABSTRACT This paper contributes to research on restaurant work, which plays an important role in culinary arts research. The aim of this study was to make visible and elucidate the daily work practices in eight small restaurants in a seasonal tourist destination on the Southeast coast of Sweden. The central methods used were observations and participant observations and interviews, along with an e-mail questionnaire and examination of published information concerning all the restaurants. By means of practice theory, three central elements were used to identify and understand the configuration of the activities involved in daily work in small seasonal restaurants. These three elements, knowledge/competence, technologies/materiality and creation of meaning, formed four practices. The practices identified in this study were managing time and seasons; planning, strategising and controlling; knowing and having skills; and dreams and lifestyle. The conclusion of the study indicates that small restaurant practices may be conflicting, as they involve an extremely time-consuming workload, vague planning and lingering knowledge growth in contrast to the ideas of creativity and development that are a part of the restaurant owners’ dreams and lifestyle.

“Just trained to be a chef, not a leader”: A study of head chef practices

ABSTRACT Hierarchical manners and taxing work complicate the picture of the restaurant industry, a sector in great need of personnel. There is little scientific research on daily work in restaurants. Through interviews and observations in restaurant kitchens, three head chef practices were detected: “Master the materiality” is a stipulation for leading kitchens, but does not imply leadership aspirations; “show and guide” is teambuilding through which standards are reinforced by the presence of leaders while allowing coworkers some freedom; and “overview and foresight” involves nonhierarchical supervision by head chefs during service. These practices make sense to head chefs as they enhance product quality and their reputations as professionals. The study points to a horizontal leadership in the restaurant industry and a possible new order for growth and development.

The Practice of Service Encounters in a District Court, a Home for the Elderly, and a Hotel

The service management literature evidences a considerable interest in the service encounter, partly because it is viewed as a key event involving the simultaneous production, consumption, and marketing of the operation’s services. Service encounters are important because they are an essential competitive factor that can, if handled correctly, influence the success of a service operation. Despite this considerable interest in the service encounter, there is a certain one-sidedness to the discussions characterized by an overly general conception of the service encounter, overlooking the operational context and service logic of the organization. Consequently, there is a meliorist emphasis in this field, with knowledge contributions pertaining how service operations should best structure the service encounter in order to optimize it. However, the spectrum of service operations is broad and characterized by entirely different service encounters and settings such as a hospital, a university or a hotel. Despite the acknowledgement of service operations being so diverse, service scholars have tried to find a universal service logic – a service-dominant logic – which would be fundamental and standard for all kinds of service operations. However, like the idea of an optimal service encounter, the idea of a service-dominant logic is equally problematic, and both concepts demand further development. There is a need for further knowledge to provide a more nuanced picture of, and leave more room for, differences between service encounters and service logics. The differences between different service processes can be clearly seen in the practice of service encounters; for example, in employees’ ways of speaking and moving, in how material artifacts are used and arranged, and in how different operations structure their routines.

We are service people, and we stay until the job is done : enactments of professionalism in restaurants

ABSTRACT In response to calls for increased professionalism in the restaurant industry, this paper aims to show how it is constituted in the daily practices in the industry, and to clarify ideas of professionalism held by the practitioners in the industry. Micro practices of daily activities performed by restaurant practitioners were identified in 13 small restaurants: 8 in a tourist destination and 5 in cities. The sayings and doings in kitchens and dining rooms noted in transcripts of interviews and observations were sorted with an insider’s interpretation. The findings were then analysed by means of components of practice theory: knowledge and learning, communication, corporeality, and time use. Among the restaurant practitioners, professionalism is conceived to be a combination of craftsmanship, a customer orientation involving observant management, and loyal perseverance. This conceptualisation is important to understand in discussions about how hospitality and culinary arts education can develop.

When lock-ins impede value co-creation in service

Purpose: This paper aims to demonstrate the relevance of identifying lock-ins that characterise a service, showing how lock-ins or impediments reinforce the status quo and prevent change. It provides an understanding of the factors hindering the development of value co-creation in this service. Design/methodology/approach: The study is based on 19 semi-structured interviews with representatives of the Swedish waste management industry. It focusses on the difficulties that waste management companies encounter when they try to collaborate with their industrial customers to develop waste prevention services. Findings: Four lock-ins that impede collaborative ways of working are identified: a business model based on short-term transactions rather than long-term relationships, a low level of self-confidence among waste managers regarding their competence to offer waste prevention services, non-supportive legal and economic institutional factors and existing waste processing infrastructures. Research limitations/implications: Based on a case of waste services and to provide a better understanding of the rationale of value co-creation, this paper points to the generic relevance of investigating situations in which value co-creation encounters difficulties. Practical implications: The authors identify the fact that lock-ins impeding value co-creation can act as a roadmap for the development of new services. Originality/value: By focusing on a case of unsuccessful value co-creation, the paper offers a counterpoint to cases of successful value co-creation. (Less)