You can use the new access levels in Joomla 1.6 and up to control who sees a menu item.

 

Create a group to have access to your Front Desk menu item.

Here I created a new Group called 'ABPro Users'

 

Under the User's menu select Add New Access Level..

 

I will call it ABPro FrontDesk, and assign the Group 'ABPro Users' to it.. 

 

Now in the Menu Manager, set the 'Access' of menu item you wish to restrict.

 

Now the menu 'Hidden Front Desk' will only be shown to members ot the Group 'ABPro Users'.
Note: Groups are not listed here, only 'Access Levels' 

 

Assign any users whom you wish to access the front desk, to the Group 'ABPro Users'

Now, when John Doe logs in, he will see menu item 'Hidden FrontDesk', others will not. 

 

I used a different name for Group (ABPro Users) vs Access Level (ABPro FrontDesk) to highlight the fact you are not giving a Group access to the menu, you are giving the Group viewing access via the Access Level.

Confused yet? Complain to the Joomla Team not me ;-)