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When sitting down at a restaurant in Minneapolis, I noticed the waiter replaced my white napkin with a black one. Apparently the tradition here is that if you are wearing black trousers or a dark skirt, the reasoning is that a white linen napkin might leave visible lint on your clothing so they immediately swap it for a black one. Such careful attention to detail surely develops trust. I wonder how many of these kind of subtle details are managed at finer eating establishments. I looked for a list on the Web and couldn’t find anything comprehensive. The closest I could find were references to chilled silverware when serving cold appetizers, but I figure there are a few more subconciously discernable practices in the presentation of a meal out there … my hunt begins.
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That sounds quite weird. Why would they have white napkins as a default, if what you’re saying is true? People who visit fancy restaurants more often have white trousers or skirts than black? Hmmm… I don’t think so. I think there’s another explanation. The black napkin feels more like a signal of grief of some kind.
Christian, a quick glance around me in an airport lobby confirms your thought. Everyone wears dark pants. Maybe Minnesotans especially lean towards khakis?
Best, John
I’ll say this- I was a butler in a country club and a private home for several years. I’ve seen the white/black napkin thing done before, and the chilled silver, but it seems like those gestures were only rolled out occasionally and were not standard practice. Which is to say, I only did them when I was told by management that the guest would particularly appreciate it, or when I was serving a very formal dinner in the private home.
Most of it was for show, anyway. If you consider how many times you’ve ever worn white (or any light-colored) pants to a restaurant, it would seem to make sense that all napkins would be black. The exchange from the white napkin to the dark napkin- the “show” is what’s valuable.
But there are hundreds of little things like that - both ostentatious and subtle that I remember doing. Warming tea & coffee cups. Icing plates. Ironing the newspaper. Heck, corking and tabling a bottle of wine is practically a religious ritual!
Sigh… I don’t miss those days.
Thank you for sharing your interesting experiences Atom. Your point on a client that might not notice the extra effort and optimizing for the situation is key. Also you made me realize that serving a bottle of wine is no different than the Japanese tea ceremony! Best wishes in your non-butler life, John
Just after I read this post I heard on the BBC news (http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/) that “The [UK] Good Food Guide 2008 will have no references to dress codes as too few restaurants now require a jacket and tie.”
I’m not sure if that means fewer restaurants in the UK now bother about the effect that napkin lint has on diners’ trousers but I have to say that I haven’t come across this in my years of dining, not to mention my formative years working in my parents’ restaurant, where the napkins were orange (it was the 1970s though).
I have just started blogging on the topic of superior service - and already have a couple of restaurant tales - so I’ll link to the post as it’s a great example of an attention to detail that makes the customers’ experience that extra bit special.
John, I’ve read about your book and am looking into it. I’m considering adopting it for my course of Man-Machine Interfaces next semester. So here I am.
Now, the black napkin… As a customer I’d be immediately stricken by the fact that they would rather change the color of my napkin (making me feel self conscious and awkward) than go the extra mile to make sure it would shed no lint! Make if of egyptian cotton of extra fine linen. Subtler and nicer.
Keep up your great work!
I’ve encountered this only once, at a very nice restaurant outside of Austin. Whether it was standard practice or calculated to impress, I was so pleased about their attention to detail I still remember it, several years later. I’ve had too many napkins leave lint behind on dark-colored moleskin trousers. I wish more restaurants did this!
I came across this same practice last week at a nice resteraunt in Orlando. My sense was the same as yours: it was a thoughtful and subtle signal that this resteraunt paid attention to the details. Its dessert presentation was also new (to me): 10 pretty traditional desserts-each served in a small, rectangular double-shot glass. None of them, the waiter explained, had over 200 calories, and each was only $1.95. “Order as many as you like.”
Personally I have never noticed lint from napkins on my slacks… the whole ceremony thing is interesting though. Reminds me of how dressing in impractical clothes makes us look conventionally business-like, as a similar ceremony for business meetings. Whereas wearing a Patagonia-style wind/water resistant sweater and non-iron wicking shirt, with non-iron jeans and sneakers for long-day comfort and mobility would be cheaper and easier. But that whole ceremony of wearing impractical clothes reminds us we’re in a business meeting, like the napkin/tea/wine ceremony reminds us this is an officially fancy place to eat.
In the spirit of this site’s ‘laws of simplicity’ theme, I got inspired to think (way too much) about napkins in terms of law #1, ‘reduce’.
Napkins and ecology:
If you trust the restaurant to be clean (a look inside the bathroom is helpful there) then a dark-colored napkin makes sense because it doesn’t require bleach, as well as the reasons from the chain above: Given the average color of dinner bottoms and the whole lint issue.
Maybe fabric napkins are good: if cotton then natural fibers, and reuse it so manufacturing waste is amortized over entire life of the napkin.
With a napkin that is white, you can tell the napkin is clean - nobody is reusing the napkins without washing.
Maybe fabric napkins are bad: How much energy is required per napkin use, to run a clothes washer and dryer, as well as to create the laundry detergent? What about effects of soapwater runoff into our water supply? Maybe environmentally it costs less energy and waste to use a recycled-paper napkin. Keeping white napkins white uses a lot of bleach - not good for the environment.
Maybe the ideal ecological napkin is a small piece of fabric: less laundry per washing load, less energy washing and drying per napkin (since can wash huge number of small napkins in one load)?
Thanks for your complete “Science of Napkins” discussion Lori. A lovely dinner table discussion topic — so relevant to the dinner table. Best wishes, John
John,
There are other service/attention to detail conventions, such as the “cueing” conventions I’ve noticed in restaurants. When the bar waitress/waiter stops by, they often leave a coaster or bar napkin on the table. This signifies that you’ve been greeted and offered the opportunity to order a drink.
Decaffeinated coffee is often served in a cup with a paper doily between it and saucer. While the doily shows more staining than the saucer, it signifies “decaf” to the roaming refillers of coffee.
While these may seem more mundane than the napkin switch, they reflect a willingness to leave a silent signal on your table, rather than create an interruption to ask “regular or decaf?” or “would you like to order a drink?”
I’m sure there are more such conventions, but I haven’t actually worked in the restaurant business.
Thanks for your eye-opening comments Barbara. The “signaling” of a decaf with the doily/non-doily is really great. You’ve solved one of my tabletop mysteries. Thanks much, John