Vitalia Active Adult Community – Montrose Shows Appreciation to Its Waitstaff

May 21^st is National Waitstaff Appreciation Day. The difference between an okay dining experience and one that is truly remarkable lies in the hands of your waiter or waitress. They are the unsung heroes in our restaurants, and without them, we wouldn’t be able to operate at the level you’ve come to expect.  

National Waitstaff Appreciation Day was created by Fred Sirieix. He wanted to celebrate all waitstaff, from those in the finest restaurants to the ones in the least exotic locations. Sirieix’s goal was to change the perception of waitstaff as being unskilled and show them as hardworking people they are, doing skilled work that can lead to a rewarding career. It was proposed by Sirieix in 2012 and was first celebrated in 2013. 

As the Culinary Director at Vitalia Active Adult Community – Montrose, I consider attention to detail, communication, anticipation of needs, and the ability to work with a sense of urgency to be the attributes of a great server. It’s important to have these dedicated and loyal team members because our servers are the core of the daily operation in our restaurant, The Crest. They are also the secret ingredient to the overall satisfaction of our residents, multiple times a day.

Loyalty is key to the success of a restaurant operation. Gaining loyalty is not always easy, as there are many places these talented servers can work, especially in these post-pandemic times. Ensuring staff engagement, a fun and positive work environment, and instilling a teamwork mentality are all integral parts of creating a great team of servers. That is what we have here at Vitalia Montrose. Our servers are always working hard to ensure our residents have the best possible dining experience every day.

John is our dining room manager who joined our team about a month ago. He is very excited to continue his training and further develop our team of servers. Mckayla has been a part of our culinary team for almost two years and has helped train many of our servers that are currently on our team. Irina and Talesha are our morning servers that set the rest of the team up for success for the remainder of the day. Nid is an important server that covers for Talesha and Irina. Livi, Annabelle, Emily, Jake, and Morgan are high school students, working after school and on weekends. RaiNautica and Alyssa are also an indispensable core of our serving team.

As a group they all share a passion for food, so their special day will be themed around that. We will also recognize them by writing personalized thank you cards, decorating the server stations, and giving them personalized swag, as well as lottery tickets!

I would personally like to give a huge thank you to every one of the servers at Arrow Senior Living! This is not an easy job, but they show that day in and day out they are here for the most important thing, our residents! The work they do takes skill, dedication, patience, and drive, which they all possess. Keep up the great work, you are an integral part of this company!

This year, as we all settle in for a fantastic meal, let’s take a moment to recognize the hardworking men and women that make up Arrow’s waitstaff. Their smiles and personalities help make our days a little brighter and the meals taste a little better. Thank you to them all.