Restaurant out of business

[billbenson]

I made a post a while back about a restaurant that serves wings, curly fries etc. It was in a shopping center with a lot of foot traffic. Particularly good if you go to the grocery store next door or one of the other stores there. Grab some wings to go or a quick lunch there. Food was good, but wings aren't rocket science. It was run by a father and his twin daughters. There is another Jamaican wing joint nearby, but they push beer more as well. I don't recall if they have booze or just jamaican beer etc.

The last time I went in the owner rang me up. It was something like $8.96. I had a pocket full of change that I wanted to get rid of. I was a penny short. I asked him if he'd take $8.95. He just replied it's 8.96 in kind of an annoyed tone of voice. So I left somewhat annoyed with my wings and a bunch of change in my pocket.

I made a post here saying that that was bad salesmanship. It doesn't take much to put a penny jar on the counter. People will even leave penny's behind for it in my experience. Why risk loosing business over a penny. His attitude wasn't great either. Some people here agreed with me, some didn't.

Fast forward 6 months. I went to the Jamaican place down the road after that. Actually better food and better beer. Had the original wing place been the only place close to me, that wouldn't have happened, but they weren't.

My wife went into the department store next to the original wing joint and the cashier told her that the wing place went out of business and had 50k in debt.

My wife also saw the owner and one of his twin daughters working in a local grocery store as cashiers yesterday. So they went from business owners to clerks at a grocery store.

While this probably didn't happen because of no penny jar, I would be willing to bet that the owner did other things either out of being cheap or non personable with customers, staff etc., that hurt his business. To me, if you have good competition in the area you try not to do anything to loose any customers (within reason).

Just thought I'd toss this out for opinion...

[Harold Mansfield]

By the time you got that attitude from him, he was probably already going under, not making much money, bills coming in, kids need stuff, wife in his ear every night saying stuff like "I told you opening a wing joint was a dumb idea" and everything else.
He was probably out of good attitudes.
I've seen people at the end of their business and it's not pretty.
Still no excuse. Customer service is all about leaving it at home and being positive everyday, but most people who open bars and restaurants only had one thing...the money and a dream. Most don't have any experience and are destined to fail anyway..especially if they try and learn the business while they are running it.

It's the hardest business to run because if you have no service skills, you can't train people to have them and eventually it will catch up to you.

[Spider]

Another opportunity for me to drop my favorite quote of all time - "Attitude is everything."

[cbscreative]

I remember the penny incident, and I suspect it was part of a pattern that led to this outcome. That usually seems to be the case. While it was just a penny at the time, it was just one manifestation that was probably multiplied many times over in other ways until the business failed.

[Harold Mansfield]

I remember the penny incident, and I suspect it was part of a pattern that led to this outcome. That usually seems to be the case. While it was just a penny at the time, it was just one manifestation that was probably multiplied many times over in other ways until the business failed.

So true because if you are experienced in customer service and understand where you are and who you are servicing ( people that likely live close by and are shopping at other stores around you and stop in for a quick bite), you would have understood that..that penny would have shown your service attitude and would have left that probable frequent customer with a good attitude about your business that would have been prevalent every time he went to that strip mall.

When I was driving (limo), there was a pizza joint across the street from the Hard Rock Casino. When ever I had a drop off, or pick up in the area during business hours, I always made it a point to leave a little time to stop in for a slice. It was a combination of great pizza and good attitudes behind the counter. If the attitudes were off, I probably wouldn't think to go there when I was in the area ever again..after all I'm on the LV Strip, I can eat anywhere... but since it was a cool place, I made it a tradition.

[KristineS]

It just goes to show that even the smallest things matter, and if you're involved in customer service (and everyone is involved in customer service) you need to be aware of how you come across at all times. If you aren't, small things like this can mushroom into big things. I'm guessing Bill is not the only customer that was lost due to something silly like a difference of a cent. Lose enough customers and you're a cashier at the grocery store.

[billbenson]

When I was in security for Sears in the late 70's we had some kids that would go to the flea market and buy broken Sears tools and return them for new ones. Sears had a lifetime guarantee at the time. The store manager took the attitude of "I'd rather have them walk away saying how they got Sears that saying how Sears screwed them". He's right. In the case of the restaurant above, I am very likely to support small businesses being a small business owner. There is a liquor store I go to. They are more expensive than another one, but a mom and pop sort of place. I don't mind paying a few bucks more there. I'll sit around and BS with the owner about business. The restaurant had that type of opportunity as well.

Maybe you are right Harold that he was on the downslide. I still suspect he lacked a lot in the people / marketing / sales skills. I've had some fights with my wife and my business phone rings. I go instantly to sales mode.