FOOD ARTS The Magazine For Professionals May 1993

What Are You Waiting For?

Washington, D.C. - When Vivienne Wildes and Gerard Foley turned to the Style section of The Washington Post on New Year's Day, they couldn't believe their eyes. There, in black and white, was the in/out list for the coming year, proclaiming among things, that home cooking in restaurants in is while cooking at home is out. Post staff writer Cathy Horyn went on to decree that potatoes are in while pasta is out; espresso's in but coffee's out; tequila tastings are in while winetastings are out; and that the Hay Adams hotel is in while Jean-Louis Palladin is, well, you know. Then, buried toward the bottom of the list, Wildes and Foley encountered this: Waiting tables is in; going to law school is out. "Manifest destiny!" proclaimed Wildes. "This is going to be our year."       As the codirectors of the just-founded Washington, D.C.-based Waiters Association, Wildes and Foley say their mission is "to help the nation's two million restaurant service personnel gain the status and benefits they deserve, and to change the feeling that service is a subordinate profession." Wildes and Foley are funding the association themselves while awaiting approval of non-profitstatus.       The group offers a short-term health insurance policy and is currently deciding between three carriers for a long-term, full-benefit program. Their monthly newsletter, Hospitality, offers articles and tips on improving job skills, reviews of books on help-wanted ads. Wildes and Foley also offer training seminars for all restaurant staff, with a specialty in front of the house, as well as job placement.       Wildes and Foley met in 1970 at the Triangle Restaurant in Mountaintop, Pennsylvania: She was waiting tables, he was washing dishes; she was 13, he was twelve. Over the past 22 years, they were often subject to the chides of parents and friends who asked, "When are you going to get a real job?"       For the past seven years, Wilde's "real job" has been as director of personnel at The Inn at Little Washington, recently ranked the number two resort in America by the Zagat U.S. Hotel, Resort and Spa Survey. Foley left his position as f&b manager at Richmond Hill, a four-diamond inn in Asheville, North Carolina, to start the association.       The response to the new organization, Foley says, has been overwhelming. "We've got over 300 members," he says, "and the phone just doesn't stop. Mothers are calling for their sons, wives for their husbands. Entire restaurant groups are calling. And we've been giving a lot of late-night waiter therapy on the phone."       Newsletter subscription, with no additional benefits, are $15 per year. Full memberships range from $20 to $500. For more information, contact Gerard Foley: (800)437-7842.

-J.M.