#379 - Icky Stuff: 20 Ways to Upset and Lose Customers
Check around you - the look, feel, smells and sounds that customers notice when they spend time at your bar, café or restaurant.
Familiarity makes it easy to overlook a host of unpleasant, icky* things we make them experience.
Ask someone you trust to do a brutally honest review of your venue, from front door to rear entrance. Here are a few of the nasties they may find:
- Toilets - everything about them can be pleasant...or awful. Wet and dirty seats, bad smells, unclean surfaces, no paper - how are they on a busy night?
- Staff aprons - worn and dirty, or fresh. Do they look like they've done a year of hard service?
- Stale smells - how fresh is your function room if it's been closed for a while? Or the restaurant when you open in the morning?
- Staff collecting dirty glasses with their fingers - you know what happens. Why don't they use trays properly?
- An open kitchen that's dirty and untidy. Busy kitchens are messy in minutes, but good design keeps this out of public view. What's on the shelves that can be seen outside?
- Worn flooring in high-traffic areas - it may be clean, but looks bad and needs professional resurfacing or polishing.
- Dirty saucepan bases. When people to look into the kitchen, every metal surface should shine, not be grimy and burnt.
- Fluorescent display lights visible by customers - it's meant to make the product look appetising, not shine in our eyes.
- Distorted music - you need good speakers and a good amplifier that doesn't have to be turned up high. Plus music your customers (not your staff) love.
- The customer view as they stand at your counter and look down - how tidy is it?
- Clutter - piles of old magazines, out of date newspapers etc. You're not running a dental surgery!
- The cleanliness of your entrance and windows out of hours - does it look good even at 6am?
- Anything sticky! Carpet that clings to your shoes, or the arms of chairs - this is caked-on grease. How does it feel under table tops or counter edges - alarming? Usually no shortage of chewing gum…
- Wiping the counter then cleaning the coffee machine steam wand with the same cloth.
- Wiping seats after a customer leaves, then wiping the table top with the same cloth.
- Visible cleaning equipment - mops, buckets, dustpans etc. How come they're always grubby when their purpose is to clean?!
- The bin and waste areas if they are visible to customers.
- Male staff who haven't shaved today. It's not because they're growing a beard, but because the grooming policy is lax. Your thoughts?
- Staff eating or smoking in view of the customer - never a good look to see kitchen staff chewing food.
- Staff grooming behaviour - do they realise they're touching hair, picking their nose, fiddling with earrings or scratching themselves? Elsewhere please…
*icky - defined by the Urban Dictionary as 'an odd or disgusting situation'.
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2012 Training & Events Calendar
>>> Starting a Cafe or Restaurant Workshop Sydney 25 February or 24 March, Melbourne 3 March 2012
>>> Clubs+ Dynamic Online Marketing Workshop and Webinars Workshop in Sydney 21 Feb, or Webinars start 22 Feb
>>> Clubs+ Business Essentials Workshop - in Melbourne 29 Feb - 1 March
>>> Clubs+ Melburne Food & Wine Tour - 1 - 4 March
>>> How to Create a Great Beer Venue - Special Dinner in Melbourne 1 March
>>> Fine Food Queensland - the state's major Trade Fair 11 - 13 March
Share your Comments and Suggestions: Click on 'Leave a Comment', and add your ideas where it says 'What's on your mind...'
With warm regards -
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Restaurant Management
