Restaurant Pet Peeves ... a Few of Many
61Phony ketchup: this may seem trivial but it speaks volumes about the restaurant's commitment to quality and service. Ask for any condiment: ketchup, mustard, steak sauce, hot sauce. When the server hands you cheap piece of no-name crap, you are being sent a very clear message: we don’t really care about food, taste, quality or service. It’s all about the bottom line. And we’re so dumb that we are willing to lose your business over the three cents we saved on this bottle of phony dreck ketchup substitute.
Phony ketchup in real ketchup bottles: this is an even greater sin. They buy a few cases of Heinz and when the bottles are empty they are carefully rinsed and refilled from the 55-gallon drum labeled "Ketchup, Imitation, Industrial" hiding under a pile of soiled linen in the kitchen. Message: we’re stupid AND dishonest. Just the kind of people you want to do business with.
Filthy, smelly restrooms: If the restrooms are that dirty, imagine what the kitchen looks like.
The appetizing aroma of sour, rancid mop: it really whets your appetite when that hits your nostrils full-force upon coming through the door. Could you spend five minutes to train your people on how to handle a mop bucket? It’s not rocket science.
Ale in frozen glasses: Like wine, each style of beer should be handled and served properly. A restaurant that would not dream of serving chilled red wine or warm white wine will gladly pour ale into a frozen glass. Ale is the red wine of beer and should be served a bit warmer than lager.
Most restaurants get this wrong and store all the beer at the same tooth-numbing 32.5 degrees F. You can’t expect every eatery to invest in ale storage refrigeration (only the most discerning beer joints go to this trouble). But it is a mortal sin to pour ale into a frosted glass. Train your people.
Homogenous beer lists: Imagine this wine list at your favorite fine dining establishment: Robert Mondavi Chardonnay, Beringer Chardonnay, Canyon Crest Chardonnay, Yellow Tail Chardonnay and Barefoot Chardonnay. Can you imagine any restaurant manager of sound mind, putting in such a list?
Yet the same discerning, experienced restaurant manager will have absolutely no qualms about the following beer list: Heineken Light Pilsner, Molson’s Light Pilsner, Budweiser Light Pilsner, Foster’s Light Pilsner; Bud Light Light Pilsner, Coors Light Light Pilsner, Miller Lite Light Pilsner … and so on, and so on. Dear Manager: you don’t see a problem here, do us a favor and get out of the business, please.
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Rebecca Essex says:
4 months ago
It's got nothing to do with the manager, but their management team above them at corporate or franchise head office. The choices for food and beverage selection are from what the consumer favours most, which they get from s.p.i ( sales per item) and food mix ( computer tells them which item sold most, how many, how much they made from it etc) .
Franchises, ugh.... ya half of them don't give a crap, especially when corportate doesn't care about checking their following consistency in brands or buying inferior products ( because as a franchisee you want to make more money than you have to spend, as you mentioned with hitting bottom line) but 90% of time corporate WILL care about corporate run stores and go that extra mile. If not, there's always the feedback e-mail consumers can e-mail headoffice to get their heads straight.