There’s an old adage that you have to spend money to make money. That, of course, is easier said than done, particularly in an industry like yours where profit margins are razor-thin. With that said, most of your customers have no idea how slim your margins are. What they do see are gaps in your service that appear to them as if you’re being cheap or, worse, stupid.
That’s a tough statement. Let me explain. Now that the warm weather has finally arrived, most people want to sit outside on your patios and be pampered . . . in the shade.
I was at a restaurant recently doing exactly that, and what a nice afternoon I had because my patio table had an umbrella. While I was sitting there eating and drinking, I kept watching four other nearby tables that had no umbrellas. It was a very hot day and the sun was beating down on those tables. I watched more than a dozen potential customers walk onto the patio, look at the tables and walk away. Most of them didn’t go into the restaurant, by the way. Like me, they had their hearts set on sitting outside. I’m sure they went to other restaurants where they could comfortably sit outside.
I sat on this same patio last year and the year before and those same umbrella-less tables went unused on hot days. I kept wondering why the owner wouldn’t buy umbrellas for those tables. It would take no time at all before they would generate a profit.
At my table in the shade, a friend and I spent $125. As we left the table, a group of four filled in behind us. I think it’s fair to say they spent more than we did, and I’d bet my car that after that group got up and left, more customers sat at the table enjoying the sunny day. So, you can imagine why customers might think this particular restaurant owner is either cheap or clueless for not putting an umbrella at each table. But they would never tell the owner that; they’d just walk away and go to a competitor’s place.
By the way, at my table, the umbrella was not secured to a base. So, when the wind blew, the umbrella would rotate, causing sun to splash onto us and the table. A server jammed napkins to try to get the umbrella from spinning, but to no avail. “Sorry, that’s something we need to fix,” she said. That’s exactly what another server said to me last year as I sat at that very table.
I’m not just talking about umbrellas. Some restaurants have glitches that go unresolved year after year because it’s a pain to fix them and management is simply not paying enough attention to know how they’re affecting customers. These glitches are often easier seen by customers sitting at a table. But by neglecting these flaws, you’re sending a bad message to your guests and you’re losing a load of revenue. Perhaps I’m missing something. If so, let me know.
I’d also like to hear from those of you who detected some sort of flaw with your operations and fixed it. More importantly, how much did your bottom line benefit from the fix? Email me.
Michael Sanson, Editor-in-chief
E-mail: [email protected]
Web: restaurant-hospitality.com
Twitter: @MikeSansonRH
