The old joke about restaurants in LA is that if you want to attract the attention of a waiter, you yell "actor".

Then some twentysomething aspirant Brad Pitt or Julia Roberts appears at your side with a willing smile and describes in loving detail the specials of the day.

"Today we have an organic corn-fed chicken brought up in the heart of the country by two loving parents who gave it a wonderful start in life and miss it very much..." etc, etc.

And then they tell you about the independent film they are about to make. In the U.S. and in continental Europe, waiters and waitresses come in basically two types - the actors and the real waiters and waitresses.

The latter vary in age. And if they are Greek or Italian women they get smaller as they get older because, as you will have noticed, Mediterranean women don't die, they just shrink.

And they are remarkable. Their arches may drop but their stamina never does. They are waitresses for life.

In Britain we have a problem with that idea. Service has always been thought of as suspiciously servile. By and large, British people don't treat waiters and waitresses with any respect.

You might be wondering at this point what the for goodness sake this has got to do with the city bid and The Place To Be. Wait no longer. Last Sunday at The Ship Hotel, in the Paganini Rooms, the Juicy Awards were held.

The Place To Be was asked to nominate a special award and we chose nominees who exemplified the flair, imagination and entrepreneurship that is Brighton and Hove's future.

Rod Flavell runs a company called fdm, an IT solutions outfit that has grown from £2 million to £42 million in five years. The other nominees, and the actual winners, were a 16-year-old and a 20-year-old, Rupert and Nick Loman, who are the country's leaders in organising competitive e-sports live and on the net.

They have a company called eurogamer.net and they may well be Brighton and Hove's first Clearasil millionaires. There was also an award for Best Waitress. It was won by Maria Stavrou from Bankers fish and chip restaurant in Norfolk Square.

And talking to her afterwards, everybody was struck by just how much dedication she gave to her job. Waitress for life and happy and proud about it. Now we don't have to be reminded that we are a tourist and service economy.

Here in Brighton and Hove there is much well-meaning service but not enough real class. But we do not give their profession - yes, profession - the kind of respect that encourages them to raise the game of the town.

They are the front-line ambassadors of Brighton and Hove. Restaurants should pay them properly, customers should treat them with respect and they themselves should respond by making Brighton and Hove a classy place to eat.

Wages will only rise if we stimulate the local economy and inspire local imagination and entrepreneurial flair to take root. The strength of our tourism will rely to some extent on the standard of our service.

And the strength of the economy will depend to a major extent on extending the reputation we are getting for being a real dotcom powerhouse.

So, the teen wannabe millionaires and Maria the waitress share something. They hold the future of our town in their joint hands.