Industry Spotlight - Kisa's Restaurant
After the pandemic, the tourism and hospitality industry have struggled to recover and address the staff shortage gap. However, being one of Scotland’s largest industries, there are excellent job opportunities available in this field. Our highly commended programmes offer invaluable skills that will set you up for a successful career. We are also committed to continually upskilling our staff, to benefit our students and their learning experience. Hospitality Lecturer, Shirley Simpson, gained some valuable industry experience from Kisa’s restaurant in Perth, thanks to a former HNC Hospitality Operations student, Callum Walker.
Hi Callum, 🙋♂️ can you tell us about your role at Kisa’s?
My Role at Kisa’s is one I gained though a work placement with UHI Perth and I am a Trainee Senior Restaurant Assistant. I assist colleagues and the management team with duties and responsibilities which are performed as back-office tasks. Although the majority of my hours are spent on the floor with our customers, my main responsibilities take place back office. I am responsible solely for the management of Resdiary – which is our online booking platform - and I look at new ways we can adapt our system to make it easier for customers to book online and over the phone to ensure we are always maximising our customer intake through reservations, as well as this I will look for ways in which I can it make easier for our team to take and handle reservations though the system.
My other responsibility is technology, I look at new ways to improve current technology within the restaurant and try to come up with solutions. For example, this month our team are trialling headsets which will improve communication between our front of house teams and back of house to ensure customers are seen more quickly and effectively by all team members and hopefully improving our service we provide.
Shirley came to Kisa’s looking for up-to-date industry experience. Can you tell us what this entailed?
When Shirley approached me to do her work placement with us at Kisa’s she wanted to be able to see how we worked and what we did so we tried to give Shirley a taste of everything we offer.
One of her two days was spent on the restaurant floor, where she shadowed me. I showed her exactly how our system worked - from taking out trays and food, to serving customers. Showing small final touches our team look for at every table and every customer to ensure they have the same service every time. She was given a full tour of the restaurant and kitchen, and we sat down and went over our new training handbook which is something we hope to roll out in the coming months.
On our second day, Shirley and I did meet and greeting - which is our first port of contact with all customers, both over the phone and face to face, to show her how new technology is helping us make and manage reservations for customer. Shirley was shown how to take reservations over the phone and by email, and how customers can book themselves online, and also shown the back office of our system which we use to analyse our current performance with how many covers we take per month and year on comparison to past years and months.
How have you found your time working at Kisa’s?
I have worked for Kisa’s restaurant group for just over five and a half years. Kisa’s and the whole restaurant group is a tight knit family run organisation, our owners are very much family orientated people and treat staff like their extended family. We are well looked after for both holidays and especially on shift, with a long list of perks we get with the job!
How did you find your time studying at UHI Perth?
I started at UHI Perth when I was still in school, in fifth year, on an online course for Charted Management. After I left school, at the end of fifth year, I applied and started on the HNC Hospitality Operations course.
UHI Perth is a great place for anyone who is maybe not in a position yet to go to university but also maybe not ready to be in no education at all. With the range of courses in hospitality and practical cookery, it’s a great place to get qualifications straight after school. The support and effort lecturers provide in both delivery and out with is incredible. I was not overly academic at school; however, your lecturers are able to help with any questions on how to write academic pieces, or just general questions about anything to do with the course.
My full studies include Higher English, Modern Studies, Business Management and Administration and IT, Certificate in First Line Management, and my HNC in Hospitality Operations. I am now going on to study with Edinburgh Napier University for BA (Hons) in International Hospitality Management, starting in September.
Shirley, can you tell us why you wanted to take time out of your summer holidays to work at Kisa’s and what did you learn?
Kisa’s is a well-known, busy and popular local restaurant which I frequent often as they provide a high standard of quality food and excellent customer service. Having been a regular customer, I was keen to have some industry experience in such a busy working environment and in particular learn how to use the Resdiary booking system. The hospitality industry is fast paced with systems changing regularly, so it is important to me to keep abreast of what is happening on the front line and I was very grateful that Callum kindly arranged for me to have some experience in Kisa’s.
I received a very warm welcome from everyone in the Kisa’s team (front and back of house) and it struck me immediately what a close, hardworking, focussed and friendly team they are. They are well organised and work seamlessly together and it was great to be part of the front of house team helping and engaging with the customers. There is a relaxed atmosphere amongst staff and customers alike and it was evident they have a very loyal regular customer base. Staff training is clearly a high priority to ensure an enhanced customer service is delivered and the new training handbook gives fantastic detail for new team members to work through, demonstrating a real commitment to staff development.
Callum was excellent at walking me through the Resdiary booking system which I was very interested in, as well as learning just what a critical part this technology plays in analysing customer data and statistics for the business. Tech is not my strong point so Callum must be commended on his patience with me! The rest of my time there, I was on the floor and very much enjoyed assisting in service and observing just what a well-run operation it is, delivering excellent well-presented piping hot food to customers who appreciated the exceptional customer service that is delivered there.
For me – it was great to be back in industry. I love the buzz from working a restaurant service, and it is important to me and my professional development to regularly carry out industry experience to ensure I am aware of current practices, the successes and challenges of our fantastic industry. It helps me to have more insight and a fuller understanding of what our students are experiencing working in industry which in turn enhances my teaching. We are lucky to have - and work hard to maintain - our industry links which are invaluable to us. Industry colleagues provide work placements, employment opportunities, mentorship, guest lectures and visits and these connections are an important part of our department at UHI Perth.
A special thanks to Callum for dedicating so much time in giving me such a rich and valuable industry experience and the whole team at Kisa’s for being so supportive and kind – I hope to be back soon, certainly as a customer, if not, for further experience!
I wish Callum the best of luck moving on with his studies and am excited to track his future journey as with his hard work ethic, focus, drive and passion for hospitality I know he will be a shining light in our industry and a great success story.
