Greetings! My name is Nanette and I’ve been with Aslan for just about a year now. Besides working in the front of the house, I’m stoked on adding some flavor to our blog and give some internal and external perspective to what it is we do around here.
The restaurant experience is not only determined by the food and the spirits but by the service. What I’ve learned time and time again is that most people won’t remember that their food came out a little late but they will remember that their server got them extra beer, asked them questions about their day and continuously came back to check in on them.
When I first started coming to Aslan as a patron, I remember my favorite thing about the place was the atmosphere. I honestly can’t recall how much I liked the food but I do remember how much I loved being around the people that went there and worked there. I was also in awe of community seating because it normalizes the concept of shared space. I remember how much my friends would gawk over the people that worked there because they were all so unique. Not only were they incredibly outgoing and witty but they’re also astonishingly beautiful.
After getting hired, I was so intimidated to join this highly-regarded group of people. But not long after I started working there, I started realizing that so many of the perceptions people have about Aslan are misled.
First of all, the people who work at Aslan have no idea how beautiful they are. Most all the people who have been working here from the get-go don’t believe me when I talk about how much people love them. They were hired not only because they love people but because the hiring staff found that they’d make a great fit into the family that is Aslan. Not to mention everyone busts their asses around here - this is not the place for people who drag their feet.
Another thing I’ve learned over time is that Aslan wasn’t created by trust fund babies. It was created from years and years of blood, sweat and tears. Of course loans were taken out but if there’s something you should know about start-ups, it’s that it takes a copious amount of money.
What feeds my pride of working here is knowing that everyone who works here isn’t doing it because we’re all making millions (we’re not), it’s because we all want to see this place succeed. The hiring process at Aslan is competitive for a reason - we’re a family. We work together, we play together, and some of us live together.
Second, the people who work in the front of the restaurant are only a reflection of the people who work in the back of the house. The reason that people can order as much food as they do is because it was prepped at the crack of dawn that morning. The reason so many people can order beer after beer is because it was brewed weeks to months in advance. Those people who prep the food, brew the beer, and run operations? Those people are who we have to thank for setting the stage.
When you have a company that has over eighty employees, it’s hard to picture all that goes on behind closed doors, or in our case - the glass behind the bar. But it’s important to spread the love because we’re all in this together. Much love to those who carry the operations of this place.
The purpose of this post isn’t to talk up Aslan because we’re in no way perfect and we have in no way “made it.” Just like any business, we have our areas to work on and it’s something that we’re constantly reviewing internally. But as someone who can freshly look at this place from the inside and outside, I’m confident when I say that this place has so many beautiful aspects and I’m stoked on the idea of sharing those aspects with whoever is interested.