THROUGH THE EYES OF A MEMBER OF THE RESTAURATION TEAM
You missed the food at the chalet? Good news, for those of you who didn’t already know, the cafeteria will reopen this year! The staff is more than ready to welcome you. We even took the time to chat with one of them to find out about her typical day at the main chalet. During her interview, she insisted on the fact that the team that greets you at the entrance of the chalet, wears more than one hat in the course of a week. We are convinced that, after reading this blog, you will understand the diversity of the tasks.
Anne Hudson, usher, kitchen assistant, waitress for special events, cashier at the Cube-IK restaurant in the summer, cleaning clerk, is starting her fourth season with us. Having worked as a special education technician in the Eastern Townships for 30 years, she chose Mont SUTTON as her active retirement project. “Working in the food and beverages department is really a good way to keep me in shape, because there is always something to do. The days go by extremely fast,” she said.
A typical day
Since Anne holds several positions on the food service team, her typical day story will combine all the positions she has held since arriving at the mountain. Her first job was as a cleaning clerk. Her tasks were mainly to keep the interior of the chalet as clean as possible during the day and to ensure the supply of materials (condiments, napkins, utensils, etc.). For Anne, who was not very skilled in French (which made her shy at the beginning), this was a good opportunity to begin at Mont SUTTON, because she could learn the language at her own pace by interacting with her bilingual colleagues. It is with the help of the francization program, which was offered at Mont SUTTON two years ago, that she was able to improve her French significantly: “This program really gave me confidence when I express myself in French. It’s not perfect, but I’m not as self-conscious as I was before.”
Since last year, with her improved French skills, Anne is now an usher at the chalet. Every morning, she starts at 8:30 a.m., at the same time as the ticket office opens. During her day, she greets guests, as she so aptly demonstrated, with a “bonjour, bienvenue”, directs guests to the right place, reminds them of the sanitary measures and supervises the entire lower level of the chalet. In less busy moments, she remains available to help the kitchen team: “In our group, you need to have a good team spirit, because we depend on each other. Helping one another, trust and autonomy are our core values.” And this notion of mutual aid goes far beyond the food service department. In fact, the best demonstration of this mantra, which quickly came to her mind, happened during a particularly busy day (probably a snow day) when she found herself unluckily alone on cleaning staff duties, but thankfully managers from different departments came to lend a hand. “You’re never alone, there’s always someone to help you,” she concluded at the end of her anecdote.
Why work in the kitchen
Working in the restauration team comes with several benefits. The opportunity to do different jobs is popular with employees, but for Anne, the flexible hours have been a selling point as it has allowed her to renew one of her youthful passions: skiing. In addition, what she really appreciates is that different age groups come together: “There are employees aged from 13 to over 70 years old in the same kitchen, the discussions quickly become interesting.” Finally, one thing that came up often throughout her interview is that, “Sébastien is a good boss!” Obviously, the bosses are appreciated at Mont SUTTON (see the article Through the eyes of a chairlift operator).
You don’t like the cold and you have a good team spirit?
Join the restaurant team now! Jobs available for winter 2023:
COOK
KITCHEN ASSISTANT
CLEANING CLERK
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