Evening capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1888-1893, 1889-04-25
RESTAURANT SECRETS.
A Business Where Men of Ideas Can Make
Themselves Valuable.

A business Where Men of Ideas Can Make
Themselves Valuable.
ga man OF ideas is valuable anywhere. -
announced well-known restaurateur to a
Chicago Journal representative, "but no.
where is he more so than in a place like
mine. You may think it requires no brains
to manage restaurant, but if you do you're
decidedly mistaken. What about the pur-
chasinga What about disciplining and
keeping in regular order as regards their
work an army or more or less stupid and
often insubordinate waitersa What about
designing noveltiesl All, yes, that's where
good deal of the brain work comes in. It's
the cooks business to oversee the prepare
ton of the food for the table and to post
himself on any new attractive dishes that
may be introduced; but q discerning and
conscientious manager will often invent
some novel way Of setting up dish that
makes it doubly attractive to the customer
and in consequence increases the revenue of
the house. Tact in this direction works
both ways. A customer who has sampled
the managers new invention and likes it
comes in, we'll say, and orders a dish of 1t
without looking at the bill of fare. While
he is eating it, some other fellow, who is
quite ignorant Of the blessings in store for
him, comes in and takes a seat at the same
table. He doesn't know what the other fel-
low is eating, but he knows that it oolks
mighty good and straightway orders dish
for himself. The majority of my customers
haven't the remotest idea what they are 60
ing to eat for luncheon until after they've
seated themselves, and not few of them
take look around at what the other fellows
are sampling before they make their selec-
ton. This is where the manager with
genius for devlsing dishes that look appetz-
ing gets in his deadly work. Sect"
II RENE mber," added the restaurant man
with retrospective stroke of his whiskers,
''an instance that will illustrate my mean
ing. just about two years ago engaged a
young fellow as waiter. He was an Irish
man, just over, and as bright and smart
and obliging as you please. 1t didn't take
me long to see that he was too good man
Tor the mere transportation of provender
to and fro, so l made him head waiter and
gave him entire charge of the help. Later
on sent him to market and asked him to
help me now and then with a suggestion or
two as to the general running of the place
His first i'd ca went right to the mark 1t
was summer time then, and he came to me
one day and said that he couldn't under
stand why patron who asked for water
melon should be given twice as much as he |
could eat, and enough rind with it to feed a |
sty of pigs. 'Well what do you suggestr |
said /. For answer, he went to the kitchen, |
selected big melon, cut off the ends and |
sliced it into six or seven slabs about two
inches thick. He then cut off the rind and
sprinkled little chopped ice over each
slice. There said he, 'one of those is
enough wathermllin for any dacent man,
an 1t looks queer, too 1t certainly did
look queer, for after that I sold more
orders of waterm elon than ] had done
before in any three seasons, in addition to
which each melon went twice as far as it
had formerly done. Look about you when
come into season again, and
you'll see that every frst-class restaurant
n the city tixes up the dish in the manner
by my little lrishman. Where
8 he now! Bless your heart, he was too
mart for this business. Last heard of
lin he was out on the road selling boots
md shoes and making $500 and $4OO month
It it. He can have all the watermelon he
wants here by asking for itn