You are paying for the food & service, but how do you like it?
We Brits are known for a lot of things, but not for complaining. Especially about the food. In particular, food served in our restaurants, sulky serving staff or waiting a long time for our bill.
Yesterday, listening to Marie Lennon’s morning show, Marie spoke of a report she had discovered, regarding our dissatisfaction with restaurants and asked listeners to let her know about their experiences. Apparently a skewed survey, published by a card payment company! suggests, only 7% of us are happy with the food & service we get in eating establishments. The biggest complaint being the time it takes to pay our bill [Well it would have to be that wouldn’t it].
Listening to the Phone In comments, it got me thinking. What do we mean by good food? How terrible does the Waiter/Waitress have to be to be described as bad & how long is a protracted wait for your bill? All of these things, mean different things to different people.
Now, I run a food establishment myself. Stables Kitchen, Great Chalfield & I can quite honestly say 75% of my customers are satisfied & the remaining 25% have various gripes. But are they justified?
Most of my visitors know my food is take away, totally home made, cooked in small batches daily & is vegetarian, with a huge slant towards healthy eating. These customers choose to frequent my establishment because this is the kind of food they enjoy. It is their choice of food & they are happy little foodies.
Other people, who stumble upon me by chance, are not so happy, neither are they foodies. These are my most common complaints, if you can call them complaints.
“What no chips ? what sort of place do you call this ”
“Can I have sliced white bread instead of salad with my Ploughmans” ?
“I only like Mr Whippy Ice Cream”?
“I don’t like vegetarian food”
As I type this blog, a lady has just come up to me & said: “You have too many things written on your black board, I haven’t got the time to read it, so I won’t buy anything”
To be fair, the gentleman who said he didn’t like veggie food, did order my Chickpea, Tomato & Rye Pastry Pie. When finished, he informed me it was the nicest thing he had eaten in a long time & in future he would try different foods, which made me feel extatic. I like people who are willing to try something new.
Are the above comments, complaints or just statements of fact? or do some people just like to have a whinge about anything!
Bad service, as it is only me, who cooks, serves takes payment & washes up, I am usually a cheerful little bunny. In busy periods, maybe the wait for service is too long. Most people understand this & are happy to wait, when I have acknowledged them & explained. However, there are the odd few, who feel they are special & need to be served at once. I just smile & carry on.
As to waiting for the bill, my business is “Take away”, – which conjures up to some, a Burger & Chips joint -. I “Take away” the money, when the order is placed – everybody happy -. As for card payments, the signal in my area is so bad, it’s rather a hit & miss affair.
To sum it all up. Food, as you like it, means different strokes, to different folks. What are your thoughts on complaints and the catering trade?
Why not tune into Marie Lennon’s Morning Show, BBC Wiltshire, weekdays 10-12noon, You can find snippets of current affairs, news worthy items & learn something about the Wiltshire way of life. Who knows, it may inspire you to write a blog.
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