Céline Dareau's interview
Title : Breakfast Manager
Department : Catering
Length of service : Since 2017
Tell us a little bit about yourself
What is your background and what brings you to the Starling Hotel Lausanne?
Graduated from a French hotel school, I always wanted to work in the catering business.
Thanks to my professional background, I had the chance to progress in different types of restaurants: luxury, bistronomy, gastronomy, traditional…
Since the end of 2016, I have been working in the canton of Vaud. Before, I worked in the restaurant of the Château de Prangins as a temporary worker.
I started at Starling Hotel Lausanne to make extras, then a breakfast manager position became available and I took this opportunity.
What is a typical breakfast manager day?
We prepare the restaurant for breakfast, guide the guests to the various buffets, provide with food, put away and set up the lunch service.
We regularly welcome clients for conferences. We bring them coffee breaks, serve them at lunch if scheduled.
We also manage all reservations.
Then before leaving, there is a handover of instructions for the next team.
What makes you a competent breakfast manager?
I try to be as friendly and smiling as possible.
I am a physiognomist, which is a real asset because we have loyal customers and it is important that they feel recognized, that we put them at ease, it really personalizes their welcome.
It is also essential to know how to sell, to make customers happy to enjoy their time in our restaurant.
I am also very discreet, we must be “there without being there”, the customer must feel at home.
What advice could you give to people who want to do the same job?
It’s a hard and thankless job: tiredness, stress, difficult schedules, some demanding customers… So the main advice I would give is already to like what you do.
Then, having a strong mind, being diplomatic, smiling and having a very good memory. For my part, I memorize orders without taking notes, it’s more efficient and faster!
And of course, you have to love contact with customers, proximity is created, you learn to better know their needs.
How do you see your future with the Starling Group?
I would like to evolve towards a profession in contact with the customer, why not sell services. Or taking in charge a department, knowing that I like managing teams.
Currently, my team is small but I get a taste for managing a team. I do my best to ensure that everyone is fine, that there is good group cohesion.
So, I perfectly see myself in a managerial position in the future.
If you had to define Starling Hotel Lausanne in 3 words?
I would say:
The setting with beautiful views.
The proximity: it is not far from city centre of Lausanne, from the motorway, it is close to the lake and to the EPFL that brings us many customers.
The conviviality: it is a small hotel and a conviviality is created with teams and customers.