Those that know me know that I am a man who enjoys a cup of coffee (or two) and I suppose that doesn't really differentiate me from the rest of population of Western Europe...but what you may not know about me is my (infuriating, according to Mrs Inmynd) desire to assess every coffee shop I'm in!
Recently Mrs Inmynd made a booking for us to go out for dinner to a pretty high end restaurant. This restaurant had been critiqued favourably by some of the UK's leading Sunday papers and we were both really looking forward to the experience, note I say 'experience' because I believe strongly that this kind of meal should be a complete experience and not just a quick bite and out again, which also has it's place.
Mrs Inmynd had made an early evening booking as we were heading on to a gig, so when we arrived there was only 1 other couple in, what looked like, an 80 seater restaurant. Safe to say the staff were not under any pressure. Lets set the scene..
We entered the restaurant by the front door and pulled back a heavy velvet curtain to be stood in the main dining area, a couple of team members were down the back doing, to my beady eye, not a hell of a lot. One other lady stood behind a little bar counter about 4 meters away…she saw and heard us enter, lifted her head, looked at us and then back down at her, obviously, more important work. Here was the opportunity to flash a quick smile and mouth 'I'll just a minute'…
The sort of personal interaction which says; I know you're there, you know that I know you are there, every one can relax for a minute or two. Opportunity missed!
Why were we not greeted with a smile? - even the briefest glimpses of recognition and a smile are a million times better than none at all - but I see this happen so often and it's not just limited to our great array of coffee shops, our higher end restaurants could learn this simple technique too...
My wife and I stood at the door for a couple of minutes, it felt like 10 or 15 minutes due to the awkwardness of the situation. Do we move on in and approach this lady? Do we wait to be greeted? Do we just help ourselves to a seat?
After a while, minutes probably, which felt like longer, the lady came from behind the counter and said 'Hello, can I help you?' Seriously? Can I help you? Could she not have checked the booking sheet, used some powers of deduction and observation that might be associated with a front of house team member, and thought 'I bet this is Mr and Mrs Young' ...given they had no other customers, we had a 6pm booking, for 2 people and they probably didn't have another 6pm booking for 2 people, she could have been forgiven for having a sneaky bet with herself that 'we' were 'it'.
'Ah, yes, we have a 6 pm booking for 2 people under the name Young' 'Oh, OK, let me just check that' and off she walks back to the counter...Now, several things were going through my head here..Had my wife forgotten to make the booking and not said? I doubt it! Why hadn't the lady not had a quick look at the booking sheet before approaching us? Why hadn't she brought the booking sheet with her to save her a double journey? So you can see that now there is a slight bit of tension associated with the initial greeting and entry in to the establishment.
She returned. 'Yes, you do have a booking' she informed us...Like we might have been the sort to lie our way in to a restaurant at 6pm when there was no one else around. 'Your table is that one over there'. She pointed to a table about 4 tables away. She didn't bring us to the table, didn't do any of the pulling out of chairs or putting napkins on your lap or asking 'can I take your coats?'. She might as well have said 'that's yours there love' in a broad Northern Irish accent, which incidentally, I love when in the appropriate venue.
We sat down and immediately (I know, I know, this is not normal behaviour!) I noticed that the table was missing 1 wine glass and 1 fork. I always like to let this sort of thing play out until its natural ending...'Would you like a drink folks' we were asked politely. We ordered wine, which was brought and corked at the table 'Would sir like to try the wine?' 'Yes please'..Queue the attempt to pour wine in to a glass that didn't exist. 'Ah, you have no wine glass sir'. Indeed!
We moved on and ordered our starters and when they arrived had to ask for a fork. Hey, no big deal really, it’s just when all these little things layer on top of one another they add up to disappointing experience. The food itself was amazing, fresh, local and cooked to perfection. A beautiful starter.
The main courses arrived. One small problem, the starter plates hadn't been cleared! I could sense the panic in our young waiter...Doh, ah, ok, I'll just set these plates of food down behind me, lift the starter plates, put them on another table and then lift the plates of food back off the second table and on to our table...it’s food solitaire!!
Again, the food was first class! Easy to see why this place had been receiving rave reviews for the food...Geez the service though, shambolic to say the least...
So we finished up and left with little or no further interaction, at least pleasant interaction, with the front of house team. My wife and I both decided that for the cost of the 'experience' it was fair to expect top notch food AND service. We agreed that we were not being unreasonable in our expectation of being delighted by staff and the food. We also agreed that we could have this sort of amazing experience, probably cheaper, elsewhere and that it would take a whole lot to win us over as customers again...an old boss of mine used to say 'Kevin, a customer walks in, a customer for life walks out!' I think this restaurant had just lost a customer for life.
So why am I telling you this now? Well, if you are a hospitality entrepreneur, either experienced or aspiring, my top tip to you is invest in your team. Spend a few hours and a few pounds and train them right. Train them how to DELIGHT your customers not just service them...cars get serviced, mares get serviced, customers should be delighted!
I'd be more than happy to hear your opinion on this story.
Here is to your every success...and remember, its customer delight that you should be measuring not customer service.
Kevin