Evaluation of the Practicum Experience at District Restaurant Group - Scholarship Essay Example

 Evaluation Report of Practicum Experience Preface As a curriculum requirement to complete Master’s degree in Tourism Management with a major in event and meeting management practical attachment experience was of essence. I secured attachment opportunity at District Restaurant Group (DRG) in Washington, DC. During the internship program, I acted as an event assistant for the hotel and managed do complete one hundred and sixty-four hours required during the practical period. I started the internship program in Wednesday March 21 and successfully ended it On Friday July 25. My main responsibilities as an assistant event manager included designing of sales and promotion strategies, organizing special events such as meetings, and customer logistics management. In this report, I have discussed DRG company profile, event management experiences gained, an evaluation of DRG and plans for my career success (District Restaurant Group, 2014). Introduction District Restaurant Group Profile DRG Company that is located in Washington DC establishment was in January 2011. At inception, DRG main aim was to act as a social hub for entertainment and sporting activities, and offer catering services. DRG offer quality food and beverages of all varieties in its catering department. DRG boosts of different modern state of the art catering facilities and sporting technology within its premises. District Restaurant Group Company manages three key Establishments in DC metro region such as the Ugly Mug, Katherine’s Catering, Jake’s American Grill and District 2 Bar Grille. In addition, Exhibit 1 DRG organizational structure has one catering full time service branch under its management. DRG has maintained its market share through online marketing strategies such as Twitter and face book as well as constant identification of market opportunities such as accommodation of family or corporate events and parties. The Ugly Mug Ugly Mug sports and entertainment bar established in December 31, 2004 does its operations daily from Monday to Sunday stating from 11:00 am to Mostly 2:30 am. Ugly Mug provides opportunity for Washington inhabitants who are football fans to watch live matches as they drink Ugly Mug collection such as Blue moon, Heineken or Miller Lite. It also has a collection of food and beverages that satisfies the taste and preferences of its customers as they enjoy watching football games. Ugly Mug is located in Capitol Hill neighborhood of Washington DC neighborhood. It is one of the leading sports bar in Barracks Row area attracting Nationals, Capitals, Redskins and Other DC United Games. The bar has increased its public image through customer care services and community based operations. Ugly mug managers maintain the policy of community support through fund drive shows such as bartending events that raises capital for neighborhood development. Community support initiatives have earned Ugly Mug good reputation and community cooperation. District 2 Bar and Grille District 2 bar and grille is a popular sports and entertainment bar in Cathedral Heights neighborhoods in Washington DC. The sports and entertainment bar provides quality drinks and food. In district 2 bar and grille, drinks collections include mussels and design cocktails. It hosts popular events such as Friday Lice DJ night, Sunday Fun Day beer Pong competition and the famous Wednesdays Karaoke night. The sports and entertainment bar was established in October 2, 2010 with the aim of providing exceptional entertainment services to Washington DC inhabitants. District 2 bar and grille participates in annual community programs such as charity functions. Fund drive strategies assist the company in establishing healthy relations with the community members with the view of increasing their market share. Katherine’s Catering The recently established catering restaurant aims at engaging innovativeness in cuisines. Katherine’s restaurant provides the natives of Washington DC with freshly prepared traditional food. It also has a collection of customer taste beverages. The company is client based and all its operations and services done to the best interest and satisfaction of customers. Jake’s American Grille Jake’s American Grille bar has a collection of craft beer and gourmet burgers. The beer brand it offers to its customers has improved its image and popularity in Washington DC surroundings. Customers flock the modern built facility daily and the company makes no loses. Jake’s American Grille has child friendly events and facilities that enable outing services for families. Several families gather at the bar for meetings and entertainment. Besides, the company also offers event opportunities for corporate companies, private parties, charity fund drives and memorial parties including birthdays. Their facility such as Bridge room and Boiler room establishes even more popularity of Jake’s American Grille in the market. Objectives of the Internship Internship opportunity at DRG was an opportunity to gain experience and professionalism in events organization and management. The attachment opportunity enlightened me on successful organization of events and customer satisfaction strategies. Besides, I have learnt on healthier methods of managing work relations and creating friendly customer service rapport. The main objectives of the internship program at DRG included the following To gain relevant professional management experience on events organization and promotion at District Restaurant group (DRG). To duly complete assigned duties and responsibilities based on District Restaurant Group operations strategy To be familiarized with customer service relations, public relations and marketing strategies at DRG. To assist the DRG processes of managing and coordinating on-site events and catering events To design and create promotion flyers and registration materials To attend meetings with clients and help them in designing and preparing events To regularly update the website as part of responsibility of social media. To understand the challenges faced by the DRG in accomplishing its vision To develop and maintain professional ethical standards at workplace To build personal experience and gain more knowledge in event management Responsibilities My supervisor at DRG Company in the department of events and meeting management assigned me the following duties and responsibilities To design promotion flyers for new and existing products To foster and strengthen healthier customer relation system with DRG To maintain DRG website and update customers on social media pages To assist DRG in organizing special events for customers meetings To design and decorate marine events at Ugly Mug To help design promotion strategies that will increase DRG market share To advertise new DRG products through posters around District 2 Bar and Grille To manage customer’s information in DRG mailchimp.com database account To design on-site customer and risk management strategies for all on-site events Accomplishments Practicum experience at DRG greatly improved my personal communication skills. By the end of the internship session, I was able to foster good interpersonal skills with fellow employees and customers. Besides my responsibility as an assistant event manager, other responsibilities such as attending meetings were beneficial in enhancing my communication abilities. In addition, DRG management strategy of involving interns in decision-making further improved my communication skills. The management requirement that interns design advertising flyers and customer social media messages enlightened my personal interaction skills. I realized that good interpersonal communication skills improve customers and workers loyalty. Such interpersonal skills include listening and speaking abilities. Success of Graveyard Drub event day at the congressional cemetery improved my event planning skills. I experienced all the steps and logistics of organizing a successful and customer satisfying event. In addition, I realized the importance of proper organization of event requirements before the actual function. Success of an event starts early through preparation of food, setting up booths and most importantly is advertising the event. I gained exceptional experience while performing ground works activities of the Graveyard Grub event organization that took place at the congressional cemetery on 25 July 2014. In advertising the Graveyard Grub event day, I did prior social networking by uploading colorful pictures of the congressional cemetery platform in twitter and face book accounts of DRG. Moreover, to realize timely and coordinated ground works, proper inter departmental communication is vital. My main work apart from advertising the Graveyard Grub event involved coordination of staff in-charge of food and drunken snow cones in timely serving of food and beverages to esteemed customers. My research skills also improved during my stay at DRG. I was able to carry out successful research on the potential customer of Jake’s Grill sports and entertainment bar. I accomplished potential customer research through collection of personal data of inhabitants of Jake’s Grill apartment and its neighboring communities. Challenges Although the internship opportunity at DRG was a success and an event that enhanced my knowledge, it presented several challenges that rarely miss in a workplace. The challenges that I faced were mostly duty and responsibility based. The most strenuous responsibility was carrying out successful advertising. In several occasions, advertising was not fruitful evidently form low customer returns. Such low customer outcomes after advertising always proved discouraging considering the effort used. Advertising involved walking through the streets of Washington DC pinning event posters on walls and markets. Such undertaking proved strenuous and only rewards with good customer turnouts. Company Evaluation DRG has a supportive, friendly and cooperative management. The company’s relation with its customers and employees is so efficient and friendly that workers morale and productivity increases every day. Senior employees at DRG relates with professionalism to each other and to interns. Mutual respect and ethical standards at DRG are highly maintained amongst its employees. DRG policy of good customer relations observed by its employees in ensures customer satisfaction. Training of employees at DRG also on customer relations improves management skills and fostering of good customer relations. These customer service policies has improved DRG customer market share in sports and entertainment hubs around Washington DC. DRG relations policy also ensures that there is healthier relationship with the surrounding community. The company has maintained its public image through involvement in community-based services such as fund drives. Involvement in solving community-based issues has earned DRG great success evidently from good public image. Good customer, community and employees care services convinced me that although DRG is still a smaller company, it is destined for greatness. I would therefore recommend it as a potential employer or for internship prospects. Self Evaluation In all the one hundred and sixty four hours that I worked at DRG, felt more confident and satisfied with my career path. I realized each day that my career path in event and catering would be fruitful. I managed to maintain high ethical standards and professionalism. Moreover, I was always confident while performing my duties and responsibilities and most times made the right professional calls. The attachment period helped improve my listening and speaking skills. I managed to develop patience and respect for personal skills that bests suits my career. Career Evaluation I managed to add value to my career development throughout the period of my internship at DRG. I am certain that the experience gained would remain relevant to future my aspirations. References District Restaurant Group. (2014). About Us. Retrieved from http://www.districtrg.com/about.html Read More