I had a very satisfying dinner yesterday at Jumbo. Our usual haunt at East Coast. Knowing that crowd will form by dinner, we arrived early, before the sunsets and got an Al-fresco table, with the sea breeze kissing our body.
Our usual order of Chilli crab and Tiger beer, and adding splashes of side dishes – this time – sambal kangkong and sambal mussels. All the spicy hot dishes.
I have always like the operation of Jumbo Seafood. A well-oiled machine in itself. From seating to ordering to replacing our dirty plates to serving. The crew is so familiar with the SOPs that they do not need prompting. All self initiating! The management of Jumbo Seafood must have done something every right that:
(1) Ordering and serving crews are familiar faces I see everytime I was there. This means the turnover in manpower was kept at minimal. I only see a couple of foreign workers as servers compared to other establishments that are majorly dependent on foreign workers.
(2) The crew primarily comprises elderly workers, which comes with them experience and familiarity with customers. They even know the customers by names!!
(3) Investments in technology. Seeing elderly crew holding PDAs to place our orders and their ear piece to communicate so as to seat the customers, really make me believe that Jumbo Seafood had put in efforts in training. Who says one can’t teach the old dogs new tricks?
With a smooth running operating system, acceptable customer service and good food, the prices are also reasonable. This is a winning formula!!
Smooth running operation enables quick seating, prompt serving (besides the chilli crab that takes up to 40mins to serve), clearing the tables and settling bills enable higher turnover of customers per table, thus maximising sales within short meal times. Another establishment I would leverage with Jumbo Seafood is Din Tai Fung. I’ll try to blog about Din Tai Fung next time.
Coming back to my dinner. Just as the sun sets and darkness seep in, I realised a crowd forming by the ‘rostrum’ at the entrance. And I casual chatted with the crew while she was clearing my table.
Beerkaki: Wah!! Got lelong ah? So many people.
Crew: No lah…they waiting for tables. Machiam like Jumbo got discount every day hor.
Beerkaki: Ya lor. So where’s the economy crisis?
Crew: People still have to eat mah. I work every night until my feet aches. Stand too much and too long.
And that’s when the crew told us while pointing her finger at the other table “Chen Han Wei is here too”.
I turned and saw Chen Han Wei with a table full of beautiful men.
