“The Formal Dinner”

Formal SettingHave you ever attended a real formal dinner?  I have learned that most of us have not, unless you have experienced evening at the Queen’s table.  The term “formal dinner,” Americanized by the historically prominent Lady of Etiquette, Ms. Emily Post, does not mean “stuffy” as most might think; it means structured!  She said in her 1923 book of Etiquette, “The higher the level of structure, the higher the level of service one will experience,” and this is where I entered the eloquent venue of Formal Dinners.

Starkey International began thirty years ago and I have hosted 12 formal dinners a year as part of our Household and Service Management curriculum.  It has become a tried and true art form for us.  I consistently have “Run the Table” over the years and have tried almost everything.  We finally emerged with our current educational guide on Entertaining including tableware and settings, flowers, service timing and styles, entertainment, culinary menus, wines, conversation, apparel, and yes, only at the queen’s table, our mirrored service.   (more…)

New Milestone in Private Service

The Relationship of ServiceService Management as a career path has entered a wider and more sophisticated range of possibilities in recent years.  From an educational perspective, many within the hospitality and hotel sector have voiced that “we have created the best of the best in physical environments, but only have begun to broach the real education of our service providers.”   We have reached the ceiling in our service management educational abilities, and are now seeking new, revolutionary educational offerings to teach us what “The Relationship of Service” really is.  What must be put into place to accomplish “Genuine Service Relationships” that will consistently meet and exceed the needs of our Guests?

Starkey’s cutting edge expertise is much needed throughout the Hospitality and Private Service industry.  Starkey’s new and highly progressive, 255-hour, 4 week Service Management Program focuses on sharing what Starkey has developed over the last thirty years with serving the High-Net Worth world and our seasoned Relationship of Service skill.  Service must become “Service as an Expertise”!  This is essential knowledge for all those seeking to make a difference in the hospitality profession and quickly rise to the top.  This is essential new knowledge for General Managers of Boutique Hotels and Private Clubs and for all those working directly with Guests, including Concierges in hotels and those within the growing Senior Service Residential Communities, and of course for technically centered Butlers who serve the high-net-worth.  This proven knowledge provides the missing service management expertise within the hospitality Profession.

New Milestone in Private Service

The Relationship of ServiceService Management as a career path has entered a wider and more sophisticated range of possibilities in recent years.  From an educational perspective, many within the hospitality and hotel sector have voiced that “we have created the best of the best in physical environments, but only have begun to broach the real education of our service providers.”   We have reached the ceiling in our service management educational abilities, and are now seeking new, revolutionary educational offerings to teach us what “The Relationship of Service” really is.  What must be put into place to accomplish “Genuine Service Relationships” that will consistently meet and exceed the needs of our Guests?

Starkey’s cutting edge expertise is much needed throughout the Hospitality and Private Service industry.  Starkey’s new and highly progressive, 255-hour, 4 week Service Management Program focuses on sharing what Starkey has developed over the last thirty years with serving the High-Net Worth world and our seasoned Relationship of Service skill.  Service must become “Service as an Expertise”!  This is essential knowledge for all those seeking to make a difference in the hospitality profession and quickly rise to the top.  This is essential new knowledge for General Managers of Boutique Hotels and Private Clubs and for all those working directly with Guests, including Concierges in hotels and those within the growing Senior Service Residential Communities, and of course for technically centered Butlers who serve the high-net-worth.  This proven knowledge provides the missing service management expertise within the hospitality Profession.

A Divine Dichotomy – By Lloyd Pate

I can consider myself a religious and a spiritual man. The religious aspect of me can be best compared to that of a religious extremist, because those within my network promoted nothing except our own beliefs, values, and ghetto moral fiber. We believed in our turf; we worshipped it. We cared nothing for society’s wants, hopes, needs and dreams simply because they never cared for any of our own.  Our distorted reality only aggravated these circumstances and we evolved to become volatile concoctions of mayhem and destruction- which ultimately insured that not only do we become a highly potential risk to the status quo and our own collective societies; we become victims to our own venomous, psychoactive selves.  This caste of young miscreants and hooligans that I describe has been classified as gang-members. They infect the population like the AIDS virus.

The inevitable outcome of this complex life-problem is simply death or prison. It has conditioned us to accept this grim truth. Death is the only collector that cannot be ducked and dodged. We recklessly have beckoned this entity that we have termed as Death. At one time or another, we’ve stared it in the eyes in heavy situations… and it blinked first. MY own reward for this transitory victory was being remanded to a county jail first hand, then ultimately sent to a Colorado prison for multiple years. (more…)