COEUR d'ALENE - Dylan Bertram knows that success in the restaurant business depends on more than good food.

The 18-year-old Project CDA food services student had the chance this week to learn about another element that is critical to business success - customer service. Bertram said he now sees more clearly that the quality of a customer's experience is equally important to the quality of the food he or she is being served.

The benefits of embracing good customer service skills extend beyond the food service industry, he said.

"It's just a good way to live," Bertram said.

The school lesson came from people with a proven track record in food service success, the folks at Pita Pit.

Bertram was among a handful of students who spent three days under the tutelage of Jane Hammons, Pita Pit's director of training and education, and Pita Pit marketing assistant Mindy Meyer.

Pita Pit, a specialty sandwich franchise operation with about 200 units throughout the United States, has its corporate headquarters in Coeur d'Alene. There are additional stores in Canada and on other continents.

Hammons is in charge of training for U.S. stores. Pita Pit's national training center is at the same location as the store on Sherman Avenue. Behind the bathrooms, there's a classroom.

Anyone opening a U.S. franchise comes to Coeur d'Alene to receive the same kind of customer service training the high school students received.

"We think that what they do here at Project CDA with the food service program is really world class," Hammons said.

"We're shining the light on the business side of it. Keeping people in the equation is paramount," Hammons added.

At Pita Pit, they call it the "WOW experience," which means, Hammons said, going above and beyond for every customer, every time.

While the students were taught the art of pita rolling in the Project CDA kitchen, they also learned the importance of engaging the customer for whom they are creating each sandwich, as they put the pita together. As she gently stuffed lettuce into a pita, Hammons smiled across the counter, as if at a customer.

"Use eye contact and smile to tantalize," she said.

With a gentle wave of a condiment bottle, Hammons displayed the art of spreading sauce evenly across the sandwich, all the while smiling at the customer.

Angela Beck, the family and consumer science educator at Project, said the school's educational programs become more relevant to students when businesses come in and share real examples of how to succeed in service.

Val Martin, food service manager at Project CDA, said teaching students the value of exceptional customer service will help them in their jobs and future careers.

"It will also be reflected to the people living in this community," Martin said.

Students with strong customer service skills are better workers, their employers are able to retain customers, and consumers have better experiences.