I think it's time I introduce myself to the Daviswiki community; my name is Shannin Saulnier and I am the new General Manager at Bistro 33. As Russell mentioned above, I have every intention of being a permanent fixture at Bistro for some time. Through my experience I have learned that building a successful restaurant starts from the top down. When management is dependable and guest oriented, staff will become that way as well.
I am well aware that Bistro has had its challenges in service and consistency since it opened. As some of you may know, any new business hits a few speed-bumps during its infancy. What I think is most important to acknowledge is that those mistakes are in the past and have all provided me, my management team, and my staff with valuable lessons about how to better serve you, our guests.
I am humbled by Russell's confidence in me and the changes I am making at Bistro, however, I cannot take all of the credit. First, the General Managers who preceded me did the best they could with a very large, multi-faceted location. We are part restaurant, part bar, part banquet facility, and part event center. This can be a very difficult challenge if you have not previously worked in such a demanding environment. Regardless of their tenure, I credit them with laying the foundation for our successes now and in the future.
Second, credit needs to be given to the upper management and owners of our company. Since the concept of this location first came to Matt and Fred Haines, they have made every effort to respect the wishes of the Davis City Council, the [Downtown Davis Business Association, UCD, and the residents of the City of Davis. Their goal is and has been to create a location where people can dine, listen to live music, or even relax and read a book on our patio. I believe wholeheartedly in Matt and Fred's vision of Bistro 33 as a community gathering place and will continue to develop Bistro as a positive and inviting environment for all to enjoy.
Dan D'Orazio, our Regional Manager, is a Davis resident himself and takes a great deal of pride in the service and food we serve his fellow community members. His expectations of our staff are nothing more than reasonable; he expects dedication to service, knowledge of our product, and a positive attitude towards guests and co-workers. Dan speaks honestly and settles for nothing less than honesty, is loyal and supportive, and knows what it takes to run a successful restaurant. It is through Dan's strength of character and dedication to Bistro that he has earned the respect of many members of the community as well as those of us who work with and for him.
The greatest amount of credit for the positive changes we are making at Bistro 33 belongs to our staff. [Before I continue, let me provide you readers with some statistics about our staff: 1) of our current staff, 16 have been here since we opened, (which is extremely RARE in the restaurant business) and 2) the majority of my employees are full time University students.] Never have I worked with a staff so enthusiastic about the restaurant they work for and the product they serve. I am blessed with employees who want to learn about how to better serve their guests, and a staff who genuinely takes compliments and criticism to heart. This staff has embraced the goals I have set out for them and have made me extremely proud with their desire to improve their skills and their overall service.
To those of you who have had less than enjoyable experiences as diners at Bistro 33, on behalf of the restaurant I apologize. Please know that it is always easiest for us to rectify a situation when we are made aware of it immediately. Do not hesitate to speak with a manager if there is an issue with your service, meal, etc. We do not learn and grow unless we know where we have opportunities to do so, guest feedback is imperative to this process. I do hope you will consider coming in again to allow us the pleasure of providing you with the service, food, and friendliness you should have had the last time you were in. Thank you very much.
2007-02-27 19:29:19 Thanks for all the info. As you can tell, this page is one the untidiest on the wiki, and many of the comments reflect Bistro's status when it had just opened. As many comments deal with the service and staff, one way to clean it up would be to separate comments made before and after some specific time. Do you have any ideas of what date would be a natural transition point? —CraigBrozinsky
- Shannin you rock! Craig, I think a year after opening seems like a pretty fair gauge. —JeffSpeckles
- Jeff, you are too kind. Thank you. Craig, I think that Jeff's suggestion is as good as any. August 1, 2006 would be a good date to use as a filter. I don't want people to feel discouraged from posting their issues or concerns still, however I do agree that we are a very different restaurant now than we were when we first opened. I appreciate your willingness to acknowledge that on record and to help me dispell some of the negativity hanging around due to incidents that happened over a year ago. ShanninSaulnier
- That works for me. Sometime tomorrow, I'm going to revamp this page according to the above suggestions, and will move the pre-Aug '01 comments to either the talk page or to a Bistro33/FirstYearComments kind of a page. If people like this idea, it could be a precedent for other restaurants that had a difficult first year, but have attempted to redeem themselves. Also, Shannin, I'm thinking of moving your note to the ["Bistro 33/Talk" talk page], and can do my best to integrate your main points within the text of this article once that's done. Welcome to the Wiki, btw! —CraigBrozinsky
- Craig, feel free to move my comments as you deem necessary. As you can tell, I am very new to the logistical side of the Wiki, so wherever you feel my comments will have the most impact, have at it. I like the idea of a First Year Comments section. I have confidence that the comments to be added in the future will positively overshadow that page quickly. Please feel free to stop in soon and introduce yourself. I would like to shake your hand and personally thank you for your consistent candor and support of Bistro 33 as a Davis institution. I'll even buy you a whiskey on the rocks!
2007-03-02 03:10:15 I've tried to extract the biggest ideas and integrate them into the top of the Bistro 33 page. I took somewhat of a minimalist approach, so you should add to my edits anything you feel appropriate. Other users will likely make a couple of edits too. More generally, only a few other local businesses/people have taken an active role on the wiki, so you're very much encouraged to edit, create, etc. Some pages you might want to check out for reference are Welcome to the wiki and Help with Editing, and you'd probably have lot of insight on the Restaurant Guide. —CraigBrozinsky
2007-03-28 23:04:16 Well said Shannin, nice introduction, a credit to the wiki community. More importantly your honesty at addressing some issues and making strides for actual clarification and improvement should serve your employer, employees, and the restaurant (yours and all others in town) very well. In my opinion your establishment is getting close to what it can be. I've enjoyed seeing the changes made since opening. I've worked at many restaurants under many managers and the ones that communicate their purpose along with their actions always seemed to be the most effective, you seem to understand this concept well, cheers. —JarrettNoble
2007-04-04 21:52:05 I'd like to leave the decision to you as to if or how you want to link Bistro 33/Wiki Wednesday Spring 2007 from the Bistro 33 page. I hope you'll add to the writeup and correct the picture caption on the last photo if I misidentified anything. Thank you again for hosting this event. —JasonAller
2007-04-05 17:04:51 thanks so much, Shannin! it was great to meet you, the owners, and the members of the wiki community i hadn't previously met. and that salmon was really tasty! —CraigBrozinsky
2007-06-24 08:24:43 Does bistro tool down in the summer or does it kick it up a notch? Also do you see a percentage of the wait staff come and go with the students? —StevenDaubert
2007-07-04 21:55:34 As a business person in town can you take a look at Reviews and let me know what your reaction to it is? Do you think that having a link from right above the comments to that page would help with businesses that have gotten what they feel are unfair reviews? —JasonAller
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