The Good. The Bad. The Ugly. A range of customer service.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Or “When to Leave a $20 Tip on a $15.44 Bill”

By: Mason Harris 301-770-1122    Life’s short. Eat out more.®

Do you remember the Clint Eastwood movie titled “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly” (1966)? If you like Westerns, the movie is a classic. If you own a restaurant, this title can be a description of your typical day. Or for the purpose of this column, it describes my experience at three different restaurants - all of which I do enjoy - and how they handled service and food problems.

Each of these restaurants happens to be part of a chain, ranging in size from roughly 20 stores to over 100. However, the problems I will describe occur daily in every restaurant, whether chain or independent. I am using these chain restaurant experiences as examples to demonstrate that service problems are universal, and the response to these problems can end or strengthen a customer relationship. (Also, I know many of my “Independent Restaurant” readers love it when I write about problems at chain restaurants; it seems to provide some psychological satisfaction. Limit your smirking, however, as I could easily have chosen three Independent Restaurants for this story!)

Restaurant No. 1 (“Salmon”) is a great steak, seafood, and Italian restaurant. While on a family vacation in Orlando, following an exhausting day trudging around a theme park with the kids, we decided on this restaurant for dinner.

We’re familiar with the restaurant chain as we are customers at the locations near our home. Although definitely upscale in atmosphere and price, the restaurant is welcoming to families.

The kids shared a large adult entrée, I ordered my typical steak, and my wife ordered salmon “cooked all the way through.”

The salmon arrived very much on the rare side (think sushi) and was sent back.

Restaurant No. 2 (“Salad”) is renowned for its varied menu, large servings, efficient and friendly service, and its extensive line of desserts (about 40 or so, unfortunately only one that’s low-carb!).

I ordered a side Caesar Salad instead of fries with my entrée. The edges of the salad leaves were brown. Not an occasional piece of the salad, mind you, but throughout. The server apologized and left to replace it. The new salad was just as bad, and for the first - and only - time in my life, I sent my food back twice in the same meal.

Restaurant No. 3 (“Slow Service”) was new to me and my wife, and we decided to try it because our first choice could not accommodate us. We then drove to a nearby mall and walked by this restaurant, examined the menu, and courageously made our way into uncharted dining territory. (Although we love to try new restaurants, we typically only go to new restaurants based on trusted referrals.)

Our only limitation was that we needed to be out in about an hour as we had concert tickets to see Ian Anderson immediately after dinner. (First reader to tell me who Ian Anderson is gets a free copy of my book!)

Although our drinks and appetizers were served promptly, there was a substantial delay in receiving our entrées. Our server was attentive, stopping at our table multiple times. He apologized for the delay, which he said was caused by a large party of 30 diners having placed their orders just prior to ours.

As the time passed by, we expressed our concern to the server that we would be late for our concert. He apologized again and offered to prepare our entrées “to go” but this was not an acceptable option for us.

As restaurateurs, you undoubtedly experience similar situations daily. The problems described are not so unusual that you need to spend an inordinate amount of time resolving them. However, when the resolution fails, you have the potential to create a bigger problem, resulting in the end of a customer relationship.

The Good: Restaurant No. 3 “Customer Service” resolved the problem effectively. Within moments, our entrées arrived and our server, who had been attentive, told us they were “on the house.” As I was thanking and telling him this was “above and beyond” the manager came by. She communicated her apologies as well, insisted that it was her pleasure to “take care” of the cost of our entrées, and expressed her hope that we return soon.

Congratulations Daily Grill in McLean, Virginia! You turned a negative experience into the beginning of what I hope is a long-term dining relationship. Remember — this was our first visit, and it could easily have been our last.

(FYI — we arrived at the concert just as the lights were turned down to welcome the band.)

The Bad: Restaurant No. 2 “Salad” impressed me on one level, but not another. The third salad that was presented to me was fine; no brown leaves were in evidence. But the delays in waiting for a quality salad to appear resulted in my being served the salad and entrée at the same time, not quite what I had wanted.

Although the overall experience was less than satisfactory, I was impressed by something else. As I was served the acceptable salad, the Chef came to my table and personally apologized. He explained that a member of his crew had cut the salad leaves too close to the stalk, but it was still his responsibility to catch the error before the food left his kitchen. Not bad — accepting responsibility goes a long way towards generating customer understanding and forgiveness.

The Ugly: Restaurant No. 1 “Salmon” was so slow in returning the salmon entrée that my kids had finished eating, and although I ate more slowly and shared my meal with my wife while she waited for her order, we were all pretty much done when she finally received her salmon entrée.

This wasn’t the end, however. To complicate matters, it appeared the salmon was now so thoroughly overcooked (possibly explaining the delay), that the top of it was charred and smoking. How bad was it? If smoking was illegal in Florida restaurants at the time, the “Smoking Police” would have had to issue a citation to this dead piece of fish.

Although I have been back to Orlando several times since this experience, I have not yet returned to this restaurant.

You already know these lessons, but frequently you need to be reminded. That’s my job.

Know in advance how you intend to resolve various expected problems, because they will occur.

Resolve a problem in a manner that leaves your guest impressed, and in addition to creating a satisfied customer, you can create a cheerleader for your restaurant.

Confirm — don’t assume - that your customer’s issue was satisfactorily resolved. You do not want a customer leaving your restaurant with the attitude that he isn’t returning anytime soon, if ever. Aside from telling his friends, he may even write about his experience!

Fail at delivering basic levels of service (I’m not even talking about being truly “exceptional’ here!), and you risk losing a customer. Fail at resolving a customer concern, and you will lose that customer.

Fortunately, unlike the movie “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly,” nobody dies here (although I truly do not know the long-term effects of “second-hand salmon smoke”). At least we ended up with a hero a la Clint Eastwood - the Daily Grill. Oh, and by the way, lest you think I’m all about the “free” meal as resolution, I left a $20 tip for the Daily Grill server, on a check totaling $15.44.

Mason Harris is a dynamic (and modest!) speaker and has authored ENTREE Marketing: Six Critical Principles for the Overworked Restaurateur. Feel free to share your questions, comments, and marketing issues with Mason via email at mharris@hutzpahmedia.com  *  301.770-1122