Written by Scott Thompson and Jason England
With February being the celebrated month of romance and Valentine’s Day just around the corner, my mind is drawn to the ‘concept of love’ for our chosen profession.
During a recent discussion with a customer about Odyssey’s progress since opening, the realisation that we have been operating for three months was suddenly a reality.
Our customer finished with a final question “Are you enjoying it?”.
This led me to reflect on our industry and why we do what we do.
Something that is personal to myself and many of my colleagues in the hospitality industry is the reason behind the career choice.
For some, hospitality is a job they stumbled into and for others, like the team at Odyssey, hospitality was a choice.
For each of us, something about this industry drew us in and inspired us to dedicate time and focus to our chosen passion.
To answer the question posed by our customer, I would honestly say there is a genuine love for what we do and how we do it.
We love working with our farmers and hearing their stories about what they value and love about their produce.
The food we create is carefully considered and served with the same level of passion we share with each of our suppliers.
From a service perspective one of the most exciting things about our job is being the one who bring the whole experience together.
We dedicate a big part of our time before service to understanding the food, tasting new wines, and ensuring the bistro is ready for our customers to walk through the door.
Ultimately, the icing on the cake is hearing diners’ feedback at the conclusion of their dining.
We are always humbled by the gratitude expressed by our customers and to us this is the most rewarding part of our job.