Dessert Du Jour

One of the most interesting aspects about the hospitality industry is how psychology factors into it. Restaurant management, in particular, has to adjust to the various personality types that they come in contact with - both the employees and customers. As a result of the different dynamics that occur within restaurants, waiters and waitresses especially encounter many different types of personalities on a daily basis. Waiters and waitresses frequently bear the brunt of complaints from customers who are not happy with some aspect of the restaurant they visited. In order to rectify this, there is a need to create happiness and fun in the lives of the waiters and waitresses. This will be in the form of a dessert word game known as Dessert du jour.

Game Rules & Setup

The game is centered on every known dessert available. This game can be played individually or with a group. The important aspect of it is to use one's memory to do it. The waiter/waitress' memory will be tested and they will be rewarded if they can provide the ingredients for a particular dessert that the customer orders. In essence, the customer will order for example cheesecake and the waiter/waitress will need to name the ingredients required to successfully make a cheesecake.

The waiter/waitress will not be informed that they are playing Dessert du jour until the end of the meal. The waiter/waitress will then be informed that the customer wants to play a game with them. The customer will inform them that they get $1 per each ingredient they can name in the dessert that the customer orders. The waiter/waitress can obtain a significant amount of tips if there is more than one person in the group. Speaking of which, if there is more than one individual in the group, the waiter/waitress is only responsible for remembering the ingredients of one dessert. This will keep confusion to a minimum and the game entertaining. It is essential to note that certain people make desserts certain ways (i.e. leaving an ingredient, adding extra). This may complicate matters as far as the amount of ingredients that the waiter/waitress names and is responsible for per the customer's knowledge of what the dessert obtains. At this point in the game, the discretion is up to the customer as to how many subtle recipe alterations can be made by the waiter/waitress in their naming of the ingredients.

The waiter/waitress should find satisfaction in the game especially if there is a large party eating at the restaurant. Furthermore, it will engender emotional wellbeing in the waiter/waitress. The rationale here is that the waiter/waitress will enjoy coming to work and potentially encountering a customer or group of customers who want to play Dessert du jour. While the proverbial cat will be out of the bag once the game is played with a waiter/waitress at a restaurant, it will hopefully put other waiters/waitresses at that restaurant on pins and needles with the hopes of playing Dessert du jour with the customer(s).

Scoring

Given that the waiter/waitress receives $1 per ingredient named, there will also need to be a way of verifying what is in the dessert given the varying amount of ways that individuals prepare the dessert. As such, a chef will need to verify the ingredients in the dessert if the waiter or waitress names something that does not sound right. There will be no deduction for a wrong answer, only the waiter/waitress will not get credit if the ingredient is wrong. For example, if the customer orders a chocolate cake and asks the waiter/waitress to name the ingredients and the waiter/waitress says that coffee is an ingredient in the cake, the chef would need to be available to answer that question since some people use coffee in their chocolate cakes and other do not. The game can get rather complex and intricate, but is also very rewarding especially in the chocolate cake example because the ingredients in the frosting also count. The customer will have a scorecard to keep track of the amount of ingredients and money that the waiter/waitress will receive as a tip.

Conclusion

There is reason to believe that Dessert du jour will assist in the emotional wellbeing of the waiter/waitress as well as allow the customers to have fun with the waiter/waitress. Moreover, the brain of the waiter/waitress will also be exercised as they will have to recall what ingredients go in the dessert that the customer or customers happen to order.

(Scorecard table omitted for preview. Available via download)

Note: Sugar, Butter and Vanilla Extract are tallied as four because the waiter, John Smith gets credit for naming them in the cake itself and the frosting that goes on the cake.

As a result of playing Dessert du jour, John Smith will receive $22.