Restaurant consultant Sara Fetbroth learned some things the hard way. There was, for example, the time when she was a 19-year-old manager at Henrietta’s Table in the Charles Hotel, and a private party of 30 decided to pay individually for their dinners. The primitive computer system would process only two credit cards at a time. It was taking ages and the party was getting testy, eager to settle up and leave. It was a hot mess. In retrospect, says Fetbroth, she should have coordinated more with the staff overseeing the party. “I didn’t ask enough questions.”
Then there was the evening at another restaurant she was managing when a diner returned an overdone steak. The kitchen was slammed but redid the dish, which took a while. The diner ordered a glass of wine while she waited. By way of apology, after dinner Fetbroth sent the group a complimentary dessert. When the bill came, the table called her over and said they shouldn’t be paying for the glass of wine they ordered while waiting. Fetbroth dug her heels in and thought they should. “I was 22,” she says, by way of explaining the absurdity of it. The next day, her boss asked her, “Was it worth it?”
“Managing a restaurant,” says Fetbroth, “is a big social experiment.”
You never know who may come through the door, if they’ve had a bad day, an argument, or a parking hassle. A server or cook may have called in sick, a diner with no allergies may recite a list of items they will not eat, a party of 30 may demand separate checks.
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Fetbroth, 37, has run her own one-woman consulting agency for five years. Her clients include Ana Sortun of Oleana, Sofra, and Sarma; Mary Ting Hyatt of Bagelsaurus in Cambridge; Maya Mukhopadhaya of Jadu Coffee Shop & Wine Bar in Jamaica Plain; Teddy and Alyssa Applebaum of Elmendorf Baking Supplies in Cambridge; and others.
Teddy Applebaum describes Fetbroth, whom he has known for many years, as an incredibly skilled, unflappable juggler who understands both sides of the business, front and back of house. When he was a cook at Oleana and she was the general manager, he says, “she handled problems in the back so they didn’t become problems in the front.”
Says Applebaum: “Sara is just one of those people who knows how to manage people, knows when to talk, when not to talk, when to step back.”
“I think of her as my work therapist,” says Mary Ting Hyatt, owner of the 10-year-old Bagelsaurus in Cambridge. “I know that’s not what she’s there for per se, but it does include my mental health.” Hyatt brought Fetbroth in when the popular bagel shop was going through changes, increasing the number of managers, who were new to the role and needed training. “Now she’s still a resource for those managers. They’re able to reach out to her. I’m not their only outlet.”
Fetbroth was raised in Waltham and went to Waltham High School. As a teenager, she worked for the former Ohlin’s Bakery in Belmont, famous for doughnuts, and Stone Hearth Pizza, also in Belmont. When she left Stone Hearth at 18, headed for college, she decided to have a chat with the owners. “I created what I now know is an exit interview.”
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She attended Cornell University and Cornell School of Hotel Administration. She says that Hotel School, as it’s often called, was business-oriented and students learned to set up an enterprise. After cooking in several establishments while she studied and later, she eventually found her way to the front of the house at Oleana, where she stayed for a decade.
“There’s a great need for what she’s doing,” says Oleana co-owner Sortun.
“In the restaurant world,” says Sortun, “there’s a lot of people wearing a lot of different hats. We’re business owners, COVID experts, psychologists. Sara can train and teach people a skill set they may not have known before.”
Mukhopadhaya of Jadu in Jamaica Plain, also brought in Fetbroth to train staff. Jadu opened as a coffee shop seven months ago and in June became a wine bar four nights a week. Mukhopadhaya says that Fetbroth did everything: “Here’s how we greet someone when they walk in the door, here’s how we take an order, here’s how we put dishes down on the table.”
What impressed the new restaurant owner was how Fetbroth wanted her to be part of it. “Her ethos is very much, we’re together but the team should see this from you.” Training sessions were given by the duo.
One of the things Fetbroth is trying to teach everyone is actually something that is instinctive. She calls it “emotional intelligence.” You have to sense what diners need or want almost before they know themselves what’s missing.
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That begins at the entrance, she says. Years ago, a server she worked with, who came up with acronyms for many hard-to-describe situations, gave a certain group the abbreviation PPNL — “possible problem, needs love.”
She tells servers that whatever a customer wants, they should ask themselves: “Does it cause harm to another guest, a server, the kitchen staff?” If the answer to all these is no, fulfill the request. “I always say, why not, if you can make it work?”
Often in a restaurant, the server has no idea what the diners’ story is. When she was managing Oleana, a couple came in three times within six months. Later, the restaurant received a handwritten, heartwarming letter from the couple explaining their situation. Their sick child was being treated for an illness in Boston and they managed to get a few nights away to go to dinner. They wanted the staff to know how well they were treated and how much it meant to them to be able to escape for a night out.
Fetbroth also leads tours for Oldways, which takes groups to travel in search of culinary traditions. There are always local guides from the country, but Fetbroth is managing the group of 30 and anything that comes up.
“She can simultaneously handle a world-renowned chef on the one hand, and the people on the tours,” says Applebaum. Logistics, he says, are handled with grace.
“You’re going to have problems,” she tells her clients, and gives them some advice a basketball coach gave her. “Train yourself to keep your knees bent. Always look at your opponent.” In other words, she says, “Be more proactive.” Then get through that moment, reflect on it later, and learn from it.
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One thing no restaurateur has to worry about is what computers can do. They’ll keep track of diners’ preferences for tables, food, wine, you name it.
Some systems will print out 30 tickets without blinking.
Sheryl Julian can be reached at [email protected].