The Great Anchovy Disaster Of 2019
Last Thursday evening, in the dining room of a very swank downtown restaurant, an epic battle was taking place. Drew had dropped the check on table 17 and this check had been very carefully examined by the lady whose husband was paying the bill. Her detective work unearthed a terrible fact: she had been charged an extra $2.50 for the anchovies she requested for her Caesar salad.
Presently, she was interrogating Drew about this insult. How dare you charge extra! How dare you not tell me! How dare you slap me in the face with this unexpected cost here on our check. Well, attacking the waiter isn’t really an interrogation but at least she was getting it all off her chest.
By now you’re wondering how Drew handled it. Not well. He quickly processed if this was a problem he should hand off to his manager and decided it was not. He could resolve it easily with very little fuss for the guest by offering, “Ma’am, this isn’t the type of restaurant where we tell our guests every little charge. If you don’t want to pay it, feel free to deduct it from my tip, then.” Boom! Done. Except now she got next-level mad. And Drew got a splitting headache.
What he thought of as an easy fix was actually throwing fuel on the fire. So what would you coach Drew to do? (Pause for dramatic effect…) Well hold on to your hat, we’ll get there in a minute.
Now, it’s a fine restaurant and of course they don’t warn their guests about every little charge because it would be tedious and insulting. Most of their guests already expect to pay for the little extras. The fine white linens, award-winning wine list and fancy hostess already scream “You’re not getting out of here cheaply!” If the environment were different – picnic table seating, peanut shells on the floor and $12 meals served in plastic baskets – then it might be worth Drew’s time to mention that an extra side of honey mustard is going to run his guests a couple of coins.
But this is different and Drew is right that they don’t – and shouldn’t – mention every little upcharge. But to EXPLAIN that to his guest is lecturing his guest. Drew, stop lecturing guests! To make a bad situation worse, Drew brought up the tip. Perhaps this made perfect sense to him as the easiest way to resolve this unexpected charge. But now he just handed his guest another issue to deal with that she wasn’t even considering. Tip? We haven’t even gotten there yet! Deduct? Why should I have to figure out math to fix this mess that offends me to my core? No wonder she went next-level.
Look at things from the guest’s point of view. Is she a cheap-ass? Yes. That’s a fact. Is she fishing for something to get upset over? Again, fact. So if you were a cranky cheap-ass guest what would it take to calm you down? The coaching you should be giving Drew is how to manage guest perception.
Because the solution he came up with was all about him. You could spitball here and come up with at least a dozen responses that would have improved this scenario by 1000%, right? And they all start by recognizing the guest’s perception of the situation and going from there. Was she shocked? Yes. Acknowledge that. (“That must have been quite a shock.”) Was she angry? Yes. (“I can tell this has been upsetting.”) And if it turns out that she’s being difficult simply to be difficult, acknowledge that too by not enabling her behavior. That’s just more fuel she’ll have to throw on the fire.
Leslie Kalk, Restaurant Coach
The “Gordon Ramsay” for your FOH
P.S…. When you’re ready, here are 3 ways my team and I can help you take command of your business this year:
1. Join the ROOM (Restaurant Owners, Operators & Managers) group and connect with other badass restaurant operators who are growing their business, too. Right this way.
2. Find out about our Dining Room Nightmares service: A 30-day plan to fix your worst nightmares. Get more info here.
3. Apply for membership in our Secret Guest Private Program. Just email me and put “Secret Guest” in the subject line. Tell me a little about your business and why you think you could benefit from a secret guest visit, and I’ll get you the details.
.
.
.