Stretch Out and Wait
Dear Restaurant,
Firstly, let me tell you how brilliant I think your lunch deal is. Two courses, plus coffee for just £5 is cheap as chips, even if there are no chips on the menu. In this economic climate, everyone's tightening their belts, so this is an excellent way to make sure you have bums on seats throughout the lean times.
This promotion means you're going to be busy. Which is your intention, so it's good news for you. But think about it: if you're offering cheap food to make sure your restaurant is full, wouldn't it be a good idea to put more waiting staff on?
Having one solitary waitress for the whole place - who also has to make coffees - is just not going to work. During the week, people generally have an hour to eat and get to and from work - they're delighted to get a bargain, but is it too much to ask for them to get it in a timely fashion? And if a group of five people go out to lunch together, chances are they actually want to eat their food at the same time as one another. If it's brought to the table a dish at a time, at five minute intervals, it's going to mean it either gets cold, or everyone eats at different times.
That poor waitress! She just didn't know what to do with herself. And that made her pretty bloody grumpy; understandably so. Which, in turn, leads to a whole tipping dilemma. If a tip's supposed to be a "reward" for good service, should you actually leave something when you had to wait 25 minutes for a coffee, and ask for the bill three times? Especially if you've run out of time to have a much longed-for pudding! It's not the waitress's fault, and everyone feels sorry for her for being put in this position, but nonetheless... Possibly people will follow our lead and over-tip because they feel so bad for her - but there's something that doesn't feel quite right about that.
We're living in tough times. You're operating a service-orientated business. People expect service. Otherwise they'll vote with their feet, and then where will you be?
Yours faithfully,
Cat
Stretch Out and Wait - The Smiths
Labels: Complaining, Customer service, Food
posted by Cat @ Tuesday, June 30, 2009
3 Comments:
Yep, nothing worse that crap service in a restaurant!
Yet again, another case of places cutting right back to the bone in the current economical climate. But you're right. People will get fed up and not bother to go back, so in the end they're doing the damage to themselves in the long run. It's a sad, sad state of affairs.
Right Here Waiting - Richard Marx.
Alison, it is one of my pet hates.
Bedshaped, the margins in these places are huge anyway; how much does it really cost to whip up some pasta in a tomato and basil sauce? But you're right, people won't go back. Or at least we won't.
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