Matthew G.
Yelp
As an entrepreneur, this place absolutely appeals to the market and, as can be seen from a regularly cramped taphouse. It's good to see a restaurant/pub with a change in vision from the typical franchise Lethbridge has classically become so diluted with. While there is a large potential for growth for Telegraph, it still has to work out a few kinks. I'm typically not in the business of names, I am however in the business of numbers and while they may be holding strong now there is a problem, one of the pillars of Telegraph is missing; customer service.
Before going any further I'm going to enlighten this particular situation. Off the Californian coast of Ano Neuvo State park there is a spectacle to be seen, a huge population of elephant seal clung to the rocks. Below, there are millions of sardines, the popular food choice the elephant seal. Yet, week after week, for several weeks in fact, there sit the elephant seals waiting, and starving; for below the silver laden sardine polluted depths of the ocean lay the elephant seals greatest predator, the great white shark.
Week after week, the elephant seal hold out, starve, and maintain their demeanor, that is until one seal, hungry enough, WEAK enough, loses control of its surroundings and dives in. That one seal essentially sacrifices itself, beginning the frenzy so that seals after it may live, eat, and pass on their genetic code in order to maintain the species, the stronger species. I have been to Telegraph now on 6 separate occasions on 4 of those occasions I have had the great misfortune of having to deal with the weakest seal, her name is Katrina, and while I have been so kind not to tear her to shreds for her sloppy skills as a waitress as most other would in this sea of sardines, so polluted with restaurants and other places to eat, she needs to be let go. A good employee is hard to find, but it is PERFECTLY OK to use your 90-period to your advantage and revolve the door on employees with poor performance! When you find the one server who automatically knows what they should be doing through experience, understands the importance of priority, you PAY GOOD MONEY for that employee to stay right where they are! They're your most valuable asset. When you hear the words; "Dear god, I hope we don't get that little blonde waitress again." From someone you don't even know, it's time for that employee to move on. If I have to ask for coffee and watch any single waitress go over and dry forks before even looking at the coffee machine; I'm simply going to ask for someone else, until I find someone who knows what they're doing.
Back to numbers; firing, and aggravating a single employee might poison the service of the employee and their family... you lose perhaps 10 customers. Keeping that employee and never seeing growth, while simultaneously aggravating 50-100 customers in the period of a single day... you wont survive five years. Something a budding taphouse with such incredible potential does not need in a sea full of sardines.
That aside, you have two gents behind the bar who keep order of that bar how it should be, strong and worth every ounce of Telegraphs positive cashflow; the first one I believe is named Tony and the second is a tall fellow with a cleft chin, dark hair, didn't get his name. Both are INCREDIBLY knowledgeable about the selection, but more importantly, both have the peculiar knack for typing beer to personalities with the littlest information. The second comes across like he's constantly stoned; despite that, they BOTH show characteristics of incredible employees.
Side notes; keep it up with the food, overall the menu is not the problem, other than the Saskatoon pie, that's awful. There seems to be some insight toward development of the atmosphere (ipad menus perhaps?), and keep on trucking.
Cheers
