Recent Posts
- Boston Market's two-buck chick
- Are you celebrating Christmas or the holidays?
- Change must come, but what kind of change?
- What's wrong with this picture?
- Do you want living wages with that?
- Re-allocation hurts this analyst
- Prepared meals: How dangerous are they?
- Discuss: Burgers and menu labeling
- Chipotle on "hold"
- Common spices, processed foods ... really?
Recent Comments
- Soul Delicious Restaurant on Will the bailout help your restaurants?
- Joseph Lee on His bank account kicked up a notch
- Bundling Works on Boston Market's two-buck chick
- Anon on Julia Stewart: Improve Employees' Lives
- Rich on Julia Stewart: Improve Employees' Lives
Most Commented On
- McDonald's "gay support" issue (30)
- Micatrotto: 'LIke a very large restaurant.' (27)
- Making Servers Pay: Cold-Hearted or cost-effective? (20)
- Same old, same old integrity (10)
- Julia Stewart: Improve Employees' Lives (9)
Archives
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
- August 2007
- July 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
- April 2007
- March 2007
- February 2007
- January 2007
- December 2006
- November 2006
- October 2006
- September 2006
- August 2006
- July 2006
- June 2006
- May 2006
- April 2006
- January 2006
Blog
Service at Outback
June 23, 2008
Restaurants that deliver remarkable experiences gain more loyalty from guests who live in a world where commoditized services are the norm.
When I first read that sentence, which I spotted this morning on social media site FohBoh.com, it impressed me. Of course, I reasoned, great service in a world of service-sameness will make a restaurant standout and engender loyalty.
But the more I thought about its buzzy words ("remarkable," "loyalty," "commoditized") questions arose: Can one actually identify guests who live in such a world? And, if so, why are your servers required to offer them a remarkable experience? Anything better than "commoditized" (whatever that may mean) would seem to do the job. Say, a warm greeting, a smile or two during service and a thank-you when the customer heads to the door.
Or is that type of experience now the new commodity?
Non-commoditized service
In any case, it's the type of service I got last night at my local Outback Steakhouse. And I was well-pleased with it. Granted, the waitress's spiel might have sounded less canned but she got the job done without a hitch, smiling whenever she approached our table.
And when I asked another server, who brought me wine, why she had to auction it, she sensibly explained her colleague hadn't indicated on the ticket who had ordered it. Otherwise, she would have set it in front of me.
Well, of course.
Then, when my dad (my guest on a belated Father's Day dinner) gruffly objected to the amount of pepper in his chopped steak, our waitress apologized and gently suggested he advise the restaurant not to season his food with pepper next time (hinting that kitchens in this massive chain can prepare food a la minute.)
Should she have removed the offending item from the bill? I think not. He'd already scarfed down more than half the dish by the time he piped up. I admired her resolve despite the fact I was picking up the check.
I should give credit, by the way, to the author of the above epigraph. He's a restaurant consultant named Jeffrey Summers.
Posted by David Farkas on June 23, 2008 | Comments (0)