Double seating Why I hate the shift system for guests in Michelin-starred restaurants
I like eating in Michelin-starred restaurants. Nowadays, however, more and more restaurants are limiting the time I can sit at a table as a guest. This may generate more revenue, but above all it causes stress and resentment.
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- If you visit Zurich and fancy a good meal, you will increasingly have to prepare yourself for double seating.
- With double seating, guests are divided into two shifts.
- At the Bauernschänke restaurant in Zurich's Neumarkt district, the first shift starts at 6.30 pm and the second at 9 pm.
- The only problem is that in a restaurant like the "Bauernschänke", which is rated 16 points by Gault&Millau, the shifts are too tightly timed.
"There is still a lot of talent in the 'Bauernschänke', but it has not yet fully developed." The last sentence in Gault&Millau about Nenad Mlinarevic and Diem Valentin's restaurant in Zurich's Niederdorf district could have given us pause for thought.
Instead, we were seduced by a sentence on tsüri.ch: "Fun fine dining in a traditional pub ... In addition, the surprise menu offers the opportunity to experience the full range of cuisine".
Because my friends and I like to eat well, we didn't want to miss out on this surprise. After all, we had something to celebrate: my birthday.
It's a shame when the shifts are too tightly scheduled
But I'd better start at the beginning: If you visit Zurich and fancy a good meal, you have to be prepared more and more often for the so-called double seating.
With double seating, guests are divided into two shifts in the evening. At the "Bauernschänke", which is rated 16 points by Gault&Millau, the first shift starts at 6.30 pm and the second at 9 pm.
Why are restaurants increasingly opting for double seating these days? It can increase capacity utilization. With clever planning, it is mathematically possible to serve 100 percent more guests and thus double turnover.
It's just a shame if the restaurant schedules the shifts too tightly and the waiters have a bad day:
At the "Bauernschänke" that evening, we were supposed to shovel in the five-course surprise menu plus the milk roll served at the beginning within two hours. What exactly this had to do with fun fine dining remained a mystery to me.
Waiter brings the bill before the coffee
For some people, two hours for a dinner with six courses might sound like plenty of time. Unfortunately, however, at 8 p.m., an hour before the shift change, the main course of the surprise menu had not yet been served.
And so it happened as it had to: the waiter put the bill on our table before the espresso and grappa (we didn't order either).
Of course, I also know that ingredients and staff cost money - and all this with rising rents and ever stricter regulations.
But as a guest, I don't go to a restaurant to make sure it's as busy as possible. And anyway, if I only go out to eat because I'm hungry, I can also get something from a takeaway or make my own sandwich.
"We don't take a 1000 note on principle"
If I also visit a restaurant that explicitly promises me fun fine dining, like the Bauernschänke, then I want to experience a special, but above all stress-free evening.
In other words, a meal where I can enjoy, talk and laugh with my friends - and I don't have to keep checking my watch.
Oh yes, and now comes the icing on the cake at the end of our visit to the "Bauernschänke":
After the friend who invited us all for dinner that evening wanted to settle the bill for 961.50 francs with a 1000 note, the waiter came back shortly afterwards and slammed the bill on the table: "We won't take that."
When asked why not, he said with a smug smile: "Not on principle".
