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Top chef Michel Roux tells ´óÏó´«Ã½ Press Information's Tony Matthews why his new series for ´óÏó´«Ã½ Two is focusing firmly on front-of-house service.

When it comes to great service, it's the little things that count and, as Michel Roux, the Michelin-starred chef whose new series for ´óÏó´«Ã½ Two focuses on the art of waiting at table, knows only too well, poor service can ruin even the finest meal.

For Michel, waiters and sommeliers are the unsung stars of the restaurant world; their brilliance can transform a great dining experience into an unforgettable one, which is why he is setting out to train eight young people, none of whom have considered service as a career, to become front-of-house superstars.

As they progress, they will learn the skills required to lead the service in some of Europe's best restaurants and, Michel hopes, they will discover that working front-of-house is a brilliant career in its own right. But they will need discipline, self-confidence and a burning desire to care for others.

Apart from the weather, if there's one thing sure to set the British grumbling it is poor customer service and yet, no matter how important it is, the feeling persists that providing service is somehow a second-class occupation.

"I'm not the only person who genuinely feels we have a problem with service in this country," says Michel. "And it's not just in restaurants; you can get bad service anywhere, even buying a newspaper you can find that you're not even acknowledged. There's no eye contact, no greeting or anything. You give them the money and they don't even say 'thank you'; it's dreadful.

"I think there has been a loss of respect through the generations and the issue of service in Britain is, maybe, a class problem with service seen as subservient – the old Upstairs Downstairs syndrome where it is only for the lower classes. Regardless of that, the core message of this series is that working front-of-house should be seen as a career path and a profession to be proud of, just as it is in France, Italy and Spain. I genuinely believe you can take great satisfaction from delivering great service. At any level, from a fast-food restaurant to a cafe to the fine-dining restaurants, as a paying customer you just know when service is good, and that's why we're putting it at the top of the menu."

The eight intensive weeks that the candidates spend in Michel Roux's Service will be spent trying to convince him that they have what it takes to earn a potentially life-changing scholarship, in turn leading to placements at top hotels and restaurants. "We wanted the trainees, who are aged 17-24, to be a broad spectrum representing Britain today," Michel explains. "The one thing that brings them all together is that they are all more or less at a dead-end and don't know what to do. For the most part, they have very little self confidence. They need not only to be taught a profession but to learn a few life skills as well – it's a huge challenge."

The series begins with some absolute basics, as Michel explains: "Just saying 'please' and 'thank you', I was aghast that some of these kids found it very difficult even to utter those words. There's not much more basic in life than that, it's simple upbringing. Whatever your background, courtesy matters, and then being smart. Knowing how to present yourself is something that should be taught by parents and in schools. It should be second nature; I was surprised that I had to teach some of them those basics."

Michel's approach to this is to treat them as individuals. "I don't want them to break down or have their dreams shattered," he says. "It's a hard task and they need to understand the importance of it all, but they also need encouragement and a lot of praise. Many of them have never actually been told they are doing something right and there's an amazing reaction when you say to these guys and girls 'well done, you've achieved something'. That is also what's missing in our society...

"Without being too prosaic about the issues of society at the moment, we all need to do our bit. A lot of the underlying problems, I think, can be resolved through profession and career choices that actually don't need further education."

Given that business stands to benefit greatly from improved customer service, does Michel think enough is being done in the restaurant business in this case to make front-of-house an attractive career proposition? "They do try, but not hard enough. We've all got to look at ourselves as restaurateurs and make the effort to take on a few more youngsters who perhaps don't have the exacting qualifications we require but who, given time, can be helped. Perhaps we need to be a little more patient, because it's a career that can be very rewarding, as this programme shows."

As any avid viewer of cooking programmes knows, front-of-house is a career choice that requires hard graft to match the work of those in the kitchens. "I do work damned hard, the vast majority of my time is spent in chef whites," says Michel. "My filming commitments aren't that bad – it's only eight or nine hours a day and a chef is used to working 16 hours minimum, which is why I look very tired on screen. But I don't consider myself a celebrity chef or even a celebrity; I don't court the television screen or fame, but I am passionate about my work, I do it with all the gusto that I have. It's my customers that give me the drive, that's what gets me out of bed in the morning."