It really began the moment we entered the restaurant…
As we headed towards the table, the manager loudly shouted NO! NO! NO! She then very rudely told us that unless we disinfect our hands we would not be allowed into the restaurant.
After sitting down, we realised that the group was too large as per the current Covid regulations. When we tried to separate the tables to comply with the regulations, the same manager came and shouted again at us, rudely telling us that we had no right to move tables by ourselves and that we had to sit together.
It got worse from then on.
It took forever for the waitress to come and take our orders. When she did come, there seemed to be no method in her order taking as she jumped from person to person without following any particular order.
The drinks came first, but for only some of us. My waiter put the glass down so hard on the table that a third of my drink spilled from the glass and onto the table and me. Others were left waiting for over half an hour before their drinks arrived. When we tried to order food, the same confusion ensued.
Finally, when our food arrived, the orders were wrong, the sides were wrong and the burger meat was done wrong.
I was lucky to be given a burger that was delicious, especially when my friend sitting opposite got a burger whose patty was so badly charred that it was hard and almost completely black. My fries, however, were cold and inedible.
To top it all up, at the end of our dinner, we were overcharged 25 Euros since the waitress had mistakenly billed more drinks and items that we ordered. We halfheartedly tried to argue but finally gave up and paid the extra, just happy to be done with the whole evening.
Which got me thinking, from a management point of view, what went wrong that evening?
Let us begin with our “welcome”. Friendliness is a topic that I blog about a lot, simply because it is so important. You will find that guests will turn a blind eye to many mistakes, as long as the service is friendly. The moment we entered the restaurant, the manager had a chance to set the tone. Unfortunately, she failed.
Processes are just as important as friendliness. As was clearly evident, there seemed to be no processes in place, neither with the welcome, nor the order taking, nor the serving and certainly not with the preparation of the food. How would you like your guests to be served? This is a question that every manager must ask him or herself, thus putting into motion service processes that are not only efficient but will also guarantee a service experience for the guest that is of the same quality, each and every time he or she enters the restaurant.
Which brings me finally to the topic of training. Processes, unless followed by training, are useless. It was clearly evident that the staff in this particular burger restaurant weren’t trained at all. Training how to take orders, prepare burgers and serve items in the right order and at the same or nearly the same time will not only help the staff understand what is expected of them but also how to provide this service. Often, “staff” are simply college and university students who work in order to finance their studies. Restaurants and hotels choose these staff since they are willing to work at a lower wage. In that case, they cannot expect their staff to be fully trained in service methods and must spend the time and money/effort to train them.
It probably goes without saying that we will not be returning to that burger restaurant anytime soon. However, it did at least provide an interesting management lesson on how NOT to serve your customers!
Thorsten Edu 