WHNetwork Blog

LOVE this article! This is my PET PEEVE. I used to call it "manager drive-bys." Manager walks briskly past guests at a table, eyes down to the floor and mumbles, "Everything okay here? Good!" and quickly rushes by. They call it "table touching." And that's all it is! Are we really wanting to "touch tables" or "connect with a guest?" And, if everything is just "okay," you're not going to make it in this competitive market and tight economy. Service is actually the main product these days along great food and wine. If everything is just "okay," your business will soon NOT be "okay."

Beth Tarbell

Hello Margie,

I do not know about you but I have noticed that there are a lot more chain type restaurants than privately owned. In a chain type of restaurant no matter how pricey the menu there is a corporate mentality in management. They have to follow corporate rules. An Owner has to be in the restaurant and literally is responsible at all time for everything, and that make a difference.

People who ask 'is everything ok?' are not trained, or not trained well. Of course the proper thing to ask is 'how is your lunch today?" or 'I hope you are enjoying your dinner?" A lot of servers really are there for the job and are more interested in pleasing a supervisor particularly in a setting where the customers are not regular customers.

If a manager is tied down with lots of paper work it can be very difficult to take care of proper training and real customer service. Customer service has to be a passion. I can assure that it is a passion with privately owned operations.
You obviously have a passion for food or you would not be doing what you do.

A good topic could be, how do corporations get that passion.

Greg

Hi Margie,

Great article!

Mind if I reproduce it on hotcatUK? I will of course reference both you and the Wine & Hospitality Network.

thanks,

Jose Ruiz

That is SO funny! Tim and I were having lunch in Napa and we were talking about this same thing! And also, what if we said “no, it’s terrible” while shaking our heads yes.. are they REALLY listening?? Or is it just a question? Funny stuff. Thanks for the read!

Cheers,

Jess

LOL, Love the pics, especially the ketchup-writing one! You are right on that "OK" is not good enough!!!

Good thoughts, as always.

Thanks, Bill

Margie...I think that you are correct about the only 1 in 26 actually registering a complaint.

Too many people have been raised to be polite and they assume that complaining is rude. They don't want to make a scene.

I know people who would rather suffer fairly grave discomfort that cause a confrontation. People need to realize that pointing out something that the restaurant may not be aware of will help them (the restaurant owner) improve their service. How you do that will not be simple.

How often do people order a bottle of wine..start drinking it and finish the wine even though they detest the wine?

When you have the answer let me know...I'll help you spread the word.

-Mark

Hi Margie!

Your Comment can to me from Linked in, "No, everything is not alright!"
We have a program, e-save that allows people like you to compare costs of their food orders with all current providers at one time. This is an online service and we have been able to save our clients on average 10.3% on purchases. You can visit e-save.net but if you would like a demo drop me a note and we can do an online demo and you can see how easy it is.

Thank you!

Ken Roberts

I do enjoy your messages, along with position updates. Thanks again for uploading my resume a few weeks ago. By the way, one of my skill sets is what you described in your article: guest experience measurements, performance standards, and standard operating procedures.

You may want to recheck the statistic about the ratio of negative comments to potential customer/guests. The "not so old" ration was 1 to 10. Now, it's substantially more due to the use of electronic communication (email, twitter, facebook, blogs, etc.).

Thanks for listening,

Regards,

John Durham

“Everything is not OK”



Margie – Great work.

How about another moronic question I get from servers, “Are you still working on it?...”

I’d like to think that when I was an active professional Chef (before I joined the distilled spirits industry fulltime) that my food and beverage did not require “work” on the part of my patrons. While many have jobs they love, most regard work is a necessity, but the connotation that something “needs work” or needs more time to be “worked on” is very negative. Work is my job; it is something I have to do but would like to put off lie house work, yard work, working in the garage. If my car needs work it needs to be repaired. If someone is a “piece of work” perhaps I’d rather not know him or her. “I’m working on it” suggest that something is delayed or not ready.

When a server asks me “Is everything OK?” I am tempted to say No. When they keep asking (quite common) I am tempted to leave. Most consumers are out to enjoy themselves and would prefer not to interrogated by staff.

"Too much of anything is bad... But too much good Scotch is rarely enough." - Mark Twain

Steve Beal, Senior Master of Whisky

DIAGEO NORTH AMERICA – SAN FRANCISCO

Excellent article and how I hope the companies/restaurants/stores that SHOULD be listening carefully to what you so succinctly stated - are!

Leslie

Sorry, I prefer the generic "Is everything OK?"

I have already become inured to "Hi, I'm __________, how can I give you excellent service today?", and similar pronouncements.

Just treat your customer as if their needs are important, be mindful of what those needs are, in whatever service position you're in, and follow through. If my needs are seen to consistently and competently, I'll be back.