Make the Right Thing Easy, part one
This is a two-part entry, as I had virtually the same experience twice in one day, in two completely unrelated incidents.
My husband and I attempted to attend brunch at a rather hoity-toity restaurant in Indianapolis. We expected truly top-notch service along with some tasty eats and were willing to pay for it. In summary, the service ranked somewhere around poor and the food, well, we never even got to try. I should also preface this with: I am not a brunch person, so being here was not high on my list to begin with.
When we arrived, the foyer was packed with confused/annoyed customers waiting to be helped by the maitre d'. The maitre d', meanwhile, rushed around flustered, like this must have been his first day in training. When he finally got his stuff together, we were seated in about 15 minutes. In another 10 minutes, our server took our drink order. About five minutes later he returned with coffee and hot tea, but no cups. Another three minutes, and cups arrived. Then we got to order.
We were both having the brunch buffet. At the beginning of my post, I'd mentioned that I am not a brunch person. I should also say that I am even less of a buffet person. I was interested in a lot that was on the buffet menu, though, so I went along with it. After 30-plus minutes of waiting at this restaurant, we were finally able to find the buffet area, grab our plates, and load up. What greeted us in the buffet line, however, was not bagels and lox. It was a restaurant manager informing us that the breakfast buffet was over and the brunch buffet would not begin for another 40 minutes "but your server would be happy to bring you a menu so you can order from it."
Is there a reason our server did not know this? Why didn't he let us know when we sat down or at least when he took our order??
My trainers always tell me, "Make the right thing easy and the wrong thing difficult." This works for horses as well as it does for people. If this restaurant really wanted our business, they would have made dining there easy. By making our whole experience difficult, their actions told us they really didn't care whether they had our business or not.
We were happy to take our brunch business down the road.
(In case you're wondering, I highly recommend The Scholar's Inn Restaurant and Bakehouse on Massachusetts Avenue in Indianapolis. Brunch was awesome there.)
Are you making it easy for your customers to do business with you?
My husband and I attempted to attend brunch at a rather hoity-toity restaurant in Indianapolis. We expected truly top-notch service along with some tasty eats and were willing to pay for it. In summary, the service ranked somewhere around poor and the food, well, we never even got to try. I should also preface this with: I am not a brunch person, so being here was not high on my list to begin with.
When we arrived, the foyer was packed with confused/annoyed customers waiting to be helped by the maitre d'. The maitre d', meanwhile, rushed around flustered, like this must have been his first day in training. When he finally got his stuff together, we were seated in about 15 minutes. In another 10 minutes, our server took our drink order. About five minutes later he returned with coffee and hot tea, but no cups. Another three minutes, and cups arrived. Then we got to order.
We were both having the brunch buffet. At the beginning of my post, I'd mentioned that I am not a brunch person. I should also say that I am even less of a buffet person. I was interested in a lot that was on the buffet menu, though, so I went along with it. After 30-plus minutes of waiting at this restaurant, we were finally able to find the buffet area, grab our plates, and load up. What greeted us in the buffet line, however, was not bagels and lox. It was a restaurant manager informing us that the breakfast buffet was over and the brunch buffet would not begin for another 40 minutes "but your server would be happy to bring you a menu so you can order from it."
Is there a reason our server did not know this? Why didn't he let us know when we sat down or at least when he took our order??
My trainers always tell me, "Make the right thing easy and the wrong thing difficult." This works for horses as well as it does for people. If this restaurant really wanted our business, they would have made dining there easy. By making our whole experience difficult, their actions told us they really didn't care whether they had our business or not.
We were happy to take our brunch business down the road.
(In case you're wondering, I highly recommend The Scholar's Inn Restaurant and Bakehouse on Massachusetts Avenue in Indianapolis. Brunch was awesome there.)
Are you making it easy for your customers to do business with you?
Comments