Hospo Complaints 101

We all know the customer isn’t always right, but lets talk about it. Hospo complaints 101.

because ranting is oh so 2015!

Hospitality is one of the largest growing and sustainable businesses in a forever changing economy.  While in times of economic lulls or when people are trying to scale back, food, beverage, entertainment and dining which were once considered luxury items  or a saved for special occasions, are now everyday expenses.  Where it’s now cheaper to dine on dollar dogs or stuff yourself full of $2 tacos. My Harris Farm spending sprees can’t compete with that!

Gone are the days where donning your Sunday best or your black dress shoes were required and where $100 was hefty. Now we’re lucky if we can be bothered to put on real shoes and the local is King. We’re a generation of convenience, affordability, speed and value for money. We want big portions and we want them fast.  We want top notch service and god forbid if you’ve advertised $5 drinks then you better have the staff to keep up with the lines at the bar.  As a consumer, they don’t care if there is no business logic in the food and beverage promotions you’re offering.  They don’t care if you’re a bartender down or that you’re paying public holiday rates, in essence, why should they?   They want to take a photo of their food from 5 different angles before they eat it, and then complain that it’s cold. As a society, we’re largely influenced by social media on where to go, when to go there and where one person’s opinion can be regarded as Gospel. That shit can make or break you, and if you’re shaking your head saying “Oh but I don’t care”, then read on friend as you bloody well should!

Whether you love it or not, welcome to the era of instant communication and feedback.  Gone are the days where a disgruntled customer would pen you a letter on their best (and likely scented) writing set, that a carrier pigeon would be sent to you from yonder. That someone might of overheard someone talking about the crap experience they had in the butchers and then their mothers aunt jumped on the bush telegraph. If you were lucky you’d see them out, confront them, maybe follow them up with a phone call or the publican elected by the community hotel didn’t “give a rats arse”.

On Yelp!, on TripAdvisor, on Facebook and Instagram (I felt like I was rattling off Santa’s reindeer’s for a moment there). Where content is created by our peers, every day people or a reviewer (who’s likely having their meal footed by the venue you’re reading about).  Where if you were to leave a real and honest review , it would be  really fricking rude, and as said reviewer  god forbid you did, you’d be right to expect the  invoice (in the mail) for your meal.

If people have a poor experience, they’ll immediately take  to and  share their thoughts; instantaneously.  FACT! Usually the bad  feedback makes an appearance before the good.  The creation of Instagram means that that slightly under cooked steak (which was likely the guest not listening when meals were auctioned off – we’ll talk about that another time) that it was maybe a busy night in the kitchen (again we’ll talk about this down the track too) means that a product you pride yourself on and put your name too, is likely your restaurants best seller is now there for the world to see. #ohshit.

Regardless if it was a “perfectly cooked rare steak” and “oh but the mushrooms were picked at dawn at a perfect 17 degrees”, enter the era of My Kitchen Rules and Masterchef, where every mother, retiree and teenager are all self-certified Sous Chefs.  Where owning a smart phone makes you a food blogger (Kudos to the food bloggers though, not paying for a meal to take photos of it? Smart!)

Where the number of followers you have and how well you take a picture from a great height gives you a Michelin Star in Gastronomy. Bon appetite!

So what happens when you get a bad comment on social media? When a guest is still sitting in your restaurant and wants to tweet about their lousy and lack luster salad? How you deal with these issues has a huge ability to make or break you.  Start a flame war? Tell them they’re wrong? For starters never let your Chef have access to your Instagram account, and well the rest let’s discuss.

The customer is not always right:
Gone are the days of the age old adage of the “Customer is always right”.  Often we know point blank (and likely their friends at the table who won’t make eye contact with you) that a) they’re likely an arsehole or have no idea at all. We want to call bullshit, but we know that despite how much it makes our blood boil it’s probably best put the foot in mouth filter on or call the Head Chef out to the table to deal with a complaining customer. So what do we do? We work in an industry where there is room for error, human error. In that, there’ll come times we’re for the good of the business (and against our better judgement) we have to bit our tongues, smile and resist flying into a fit of Tourette’s. I tell all my staff that when they’re on the floor, they’re like actors; they’re paid (handsomely) to act, smile and put on the best damned show of their lives.  Elect to make it a pleasant experience at the time and you can bitch about it as much as you like at staff drinks at the end of the shift or back of house.

Tell them what they want to hear, empathise but don’t admit fault:
Nothing is more annoying than people accepting  accountability for things and making excuses! If you made a mistake, then say so. Learn to say sorry in a roundabout way. If anyone has mastered this skill it’s me. I am the master of the backhanded compliment. Let me explain. When you say sorry, you’re admitting fault. To some people this “I told you so” way of thinking and where ego is involved can immediately flip the arsehole switch. I’ve seen it, it’s not pretty. Do not feed the animals at the Zoo!  This is the time to call on the Thesaurus in your mind. Try using phrases like “I’m sorry the experience you had was less than memorable for the right reasons”, “That’s not the experience we pride ourselves on here, it’s unfortunate that was your experience” or try “It’s disappointing that you feel that way”. Other phrases like “If I was in your situation, I’d probably be less forgiving” or “I totally see your point and can understand why you’re upset”. Empathy; try it. They want you to be on their side, they want you to relate to them and get it. Making excuses, getting defensive or telling someone they’re wrong are all monumental bad moves. You’ll only infuriate them further and in no time you’ll be wearing a Bundy and Coke (true story, it happened to me).

Ask the customer what they would be happy with as a resolution:
We all know of that colleague we had that has a trigger finger when it comes to giving stuff away. Be thankful the only gun they have access too is the post mix one. They crack under pressure, the customer smells the fear and then it turns into a game of “How much free shit can we get taken off our bill”. They offer desserts, a comp bottle of wine, a round trip for a family of 4 to Vanuatu. You get my point.

If someone wants to give me my entire meal for free when I complained about the bread rolls, who am I to complain? But this makes for bad business and the customer still likely being annoyed at the solution.

Hold up and before you offer those desserts to the diabetics, STOP! Ask the customer “How can I fix this for you?” or “What do you think would be a reasonable compromise”?   In this situation your empowering the guest, you’re giving them input into the resolution process and putting them in control. Most times the reasonable person is ok with you taking said item off the bill. For the ego maniac who wants everything for nothing, meet in the middle and come to a compromise both parties are happy with.

Fix the issue immediately and offer a resolution:
This falls into the category if and when you can. Often some people won’t speak up if there is an issue. They will stew on it and then they’re generally the ones that write a seething comment or complaint.  Note said complaint always starts with “I hate to complain”. If you notice something is wrong, picking up on some strange vibes or you notice couple arguing at the table then going quiet when you come over speak up.  Ask them point blank if everything is ok.  If they tell you, fix it. There is nothing worse than having something leave unhappy and things escalating.

Have someone delegated to handle complaints:
There are some people that point blank cannot/should not handle confrontation. That cave under pressure, are far too honest for their own good; likely selling their Grandma  if interrogated by the Gestapo. Hide these people back of house and do not let them speak to people.

My recommendation is having someone or some people that are the go to for handling complaints. This person should be someone that is devoid of an ego, is in a position to make a decision and can authorise a return, refund or solve a problem. There is nothing more annoying than the “I’ll have to speak to my Manager”, “I don’t have the authority to take that off the bill” or “The person to fix that isn’t here right now, we’ll have to take your details and contact you on Monday”. Instant rectifications remember!  They’re command for both written and verbal communication and complaint resolution should be top notch. Find someone, train them and make them the go to! Can I note at times the business owner shouldn’t be this person!

Dealing with complaints on social media:
Social Media complaints come through in real time and should be handled accordingly. Someone that is in a senior position and role should be an admin to all of the social media accounts and pages. They should also actively check posts and comments as they come through and should be removing anything obscene and inappropriate as necessary. The best comments and messages are the ones I’ve received at 3am, when someone’s been declined entry to a club.  (My favourite to this day, is still the dude that lost $10 and was calling lost property, then proceeded to ask me how he was going to get the bus to work.. Umm you’re out of luck son).  Usually in the form of voicemails or facebook messages. Monday mornings were always ridiculous, and clearly they were  pissed. When you call them back to acknowledge, they’ve zero recollection, and I discreetly shame spiral them into by the end of it apologising to me.  Some however are legit, warrant a reply, further follow  and action.

One of the worst things you could do is to delete a comment without responding to it. Such a dick move and very cowardly. Acknowledge the issue, invite the person to discuss with you further by phone or email, investigate, follow up and resolve.  If handled accurately you’ll find 9/10 will either update their initial  comment and explain that it was fixed.  Voila, a happy customer and other customers will see you sorted it.  OR they’ll delete the comment. By deleting the issue you’re just making them angrier and welcome the flame war and likely bad reviews on every social media forum known to mankind.

Welcome them back to your venue:
Unless there is good reason for them to not be welcomed back to the venue, if they were violent, obscene or rude, invite them to return back to your venue. “Are you mental”? I hear you saying, but read on.   This is where you throw in the “It’s unfortunate that the experience that you had was not the one that we pride ourselves on, we’d like to invite you back to venue and offer a voucher to the value of (whatever you see fit or to the value of the bad experience) to use at your leisure. It’s entirely up to you if you want to come back, but if you do want to, let me know and I’ll organise a booking and time for you to utilise”. Read between the lines;

  1. You’ve offered a resolution; if they don’t accept well then you’ve done everything in your powers to be a decent human being and business owner.
  2. You’ve left the decision up to them, which is putting them in control if they ever decide to come back.
  3. By making it so they need to book with you to redeem the voucher, you know when they’re returning and can ensure that they do get an experience that is above and beyond.
  4. They’ll likely return, have a good experience and tell everyone and then also you too, which means perception changed and issue solved. Do not under estimate the power of word of mouth marketing!

If you can’t back it up, then don’t. If you’re getting a huge influx of complaints about the Barramundi, that the cut of steak is fatty or that the Mojitos taste like there is no Rum in them, LISTEN TO YOUR CUSTOMERS! Check with the Chef, call your supplier, ask your staff members how to make a Mojito. We’re not always perfect and there are always areas for improvement.  Without knowing you can’t strive for perfection which is totally possible.  Oh and if the customer is point blank rude, abusive, out of line or just being a dick, remember you’ve the right to remove them from your venue, refuse service and even ban them. Just make sure you’re the right person to be doing that.

PS. I’m probably one of the biggest  complainers when something isn’t right but it’s more because I have such a high expectations, that I know that you as a Manager can’t be everywhere at once and that unless told we can’t rectify the matter.

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