About itsudemo

My employment in Itsudemo was pretty spontaneous, so I had to catch up everything about its background, structure or operation ethics already during the process of work what made my PT even more exciting. First of all, it is important to mention that Itsudemo is not an independent restaurant but one of the franchises all over Finland that is why not only people from Jyväskylä are familiar with the brand. It was opened in 2020 in the center of Jyväskylä and became popular really quickly because of the easy buffet system and reasonable prices for the biggest variety of food in the whole town. Even though Itsudemo restaurant might be associated with a Japanese culture and cuisine- I have to say that it is not, what was the big surprise for me. The owner of the restaurant and all of the chefs are Chinese while the management and team are multinational. The language of communication at work and in the group chat is English in order for everyone to stay informed.

Working life

Itsudemo restaurant has a buffet system what means that people serve themselves and take food to their own tables. Thus, main tasks of waitresses are taking  customers at the cassier, processing the payment, serving alcohol and explaining the concept of the restaurant if customers have questions. Basically, the main communication with the clients takes place at the cassier. But except for these tasks, workers are cleaninh tables and floors, fulfilling the buffet, carring dirty dishes and preparing takeaway orders for deliveries, and all of these at the same time. It may sound easy, but it is not at all. During the rush hours the restaurant can be fully booked, so a long line of people is waiting for the table to become free, and it is a responsibility of waitresses to maintain the order in Itsudemo and explain to people that they have to wait. In such busy days it may be hard to keep concentrated and keep working under such pressure. Having 2-3 waitresses at the same time and especially during the busy time helps, but it is becoming highly important to work as a team and keep communicating all the time to manage. Everyone has to know exactly what to do and how to help to make the working process smooth and bring positive experience to customer. Morning and evening shifts give a chance to open or close restaurant independently. I personally find it is a nice feeling to be trusted to do such an important thing and it is also a useful experience. Multicultural team of waitresses and speaking English constantly really helpes to improve your language skills. In addition to it, I promise that you will spend all outside of job time together, maybe even more time than with your other friends or classmates. It is a nice to have a chance to get to know more other cultures by spending so much time with its representatives. The only complication is that the chefs do not speak English or Finnish at all- only Chinese, so using translator is the only way to say or ask something.

Lessons to learn

If you are into Sales or Customer service, this PT place is definitely for you. It teaches you how to stay patient and look professional at the same time, how to negotiate and proceed with complaints from unsatisfied customers, how to compromise, to apologize and to thank your clients. Apart of customers, you get to interact with people in a working team a lot and resolve some conflicts and misunderstandings. Sometimes language barrier complicates the problem solving, but there is always a way to solution. During the work you learn how to hold conversation and resolve issues in a professional manner,  how to be friendly,  attentive and responsive to customers’ needs and preferences. Since there are always customers all over the world it is an interesting experience to provide customer service in different languages.

While working in Itsudemo you start to understand the importance of teamwork as well. Trust and right task delegation can lead to the successfully working mechanism whereas poor connections and absent of mutual respect cause disaster. Especially during the busy day it is highly valuable when everyone knows exactly what to do and is able to complement the work of other, since mutual respect and sense of comradeship really help in business.

Managing time effectively is another lesson to learn to ensure that there are always clean tables, enough food on buffet tables and satisfied customers. You have to spread your time in a way that there is time to do everything but not one at the expense of another. It taught how to prioritize in a right way and not overestimate ones capacity since you learn how to spread you forces as well and not to burn out. This skill also helps to overcome stressful situation and do not start panicking as when you know exactly what to do and how much time it takes, it gives you confidence to keep going. Facing stressful situations make you to think clear and fast to resolve the issues that arising during service. When something happens and you are on your own you should never show this, so Itsudemo teaches people how to work under pressure and make fast and accurate decisions not to let down the team and management.

Conclusion

When people think about the restaurant, they don’t usually know how many things one can learn while working in it. I can say that Itsudemo is a good working place with pleasant atmosphere, experienced and understanding management and working benefits. I am grateful to all my coworkers for the time spent together, difficulties we overcame and valuable experience I got, so I recommend Itsudemo for those who are looking for a PT place. One very important thing you will also learn is no matter what your profession is, place of work or range, you should respect yourself and people around you for creating safe and stable working environment and your future.

Author: Chasnyk Iana