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Memorial Day in the Dining Room
Say you wanted to find a restaurant that served enough hot dogs at lunchtime to stack higher than the Sierras. Or a place that sold enough baked beans to feed an elephant for a day. (That is, if elephants ate baked beans). Of all the restaurants, food trucks, and tucked away eateries in San Francisco, you probably couldn’t find one.
For that, you’d have to come to St. Anthony’s Dining Room—on Memorial Day.
On May 30th, St. Anthony’s Dining Room served a record number of entrées. 16,000 hot dogs, 450 pounds of baked beans, and a line that stretched around the block, and then another block, all the way east past the corner of Leavenworth and McAllister.
During our Senior and Family hour, from 10:15 to 11:15 am, each guest was given a tray with three hot dogs, a scoop of baked beans and all the usual sides (salad, bread, fruit, dessert, and punch). After 11:15, all guests were given a tray with 2 hot dogs, beans, sides, and a to-go box with an extra serving of hot dogs and baked beans. When the doors closed at 1:35, guests had been served 3,635 trays plus 1,800 to-go boxes for a grand total of 5,445 entrée servings.
Ken, a member of the Client Safety Services team, said the extra to-go box on top helped guests by not having them get back in line as much as usual. “It relieved a lot of the stress on people.”
In the Dining Room, Memorial Day is notoriously busy. Mondays and days near the end of the month are always our busiest. Add other service closures for the holiday on top of that and you have the recipe for a truly dizzying lunchtime rush.
With all the people, the movement, and the stress on a lot of guests at the end of the month, you’d guess it would feel tense in the Dining Room. But Lucy, Dining Room Guest Services staff, didn’t feel any tension.
“Despite all the people—the children, the adults—we didn’t have any problems. People enjoyed the meal. And when guests enjoy the meal, they want to stay and eat.”
Looking at the numbers, Memorial Day sounds hectic. But looking at the Dining Room on May 30th, nothing was very different. And talking to staff, it doesn’t seem so unique.
“Memorial Day, or any day—we make a nice atmosphere here. We treat our guests like family,” said Antonio, Dining Room Host.
Volunteers carried trays, bussed tables, and chatted with guests. Staff connected people with services and said hello to regular visitors. Guests shared stories, critiqued the food, and gave thanks.
And everyone shared the same meal in the same place — just like a family.
