Comments on: Those Damn Customers! http://www.3sigma.com/those-damn-customers/ Surfing the brink of chaos Wed, 01 Feb 2012 20:47:53 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.1 By: john dowd http://www.3sigma.com/those-damn-customers/comment-page-1/#comment-422 john dowd Sun, 01 Nov 2009 20:04:40 +0000 http://www.3sigma.com/?p=3016#comment-422 I worked in restaurants while in high school and college and was always told by management that a key to profitability was 'table turn over'. On a busy (say, Saturday) night turning a table over three times rather than two markedly affected profitability. The expectation was we (the waitstaff) would hurry patrons along to get that extra turn-over before closing. Maybe if he'd had a profit sharing plan I would have cared... But I digress. When I moved to Thailand I noticed that in clubs and restaurants there was no such pressure. One could get there early, dine and sit around the table and chat and never feel the slightest pressure to leave. You could go into a bar, order one beverage and 'nurse' it the rest of the evening. The waiter or waiteress would ask if you wanted another, but it was not done in a pressuring way. What a difference in experience! Now, back in America, when in restaurants I always feel rushed and it dampens my fun in the social part of the experience. Of course, the restaurant needs to be profitable to survive, but perhaps trading profitability off with the customers desires is not the best route to success. Maybe it's just the most obvious. I worked in restaurants while in high school and college and was always told by management that a key to profitability was ‘table turn over’. On a busy (say, Saturday) night turning a table over three times rather than two markedly affected profitability. The expectation was we (the waitstaff) would hurry patrons along to get that extra turn-over before closing. Maybe if he’d had a profit sharing plan I would have cared…

But I digress.

When I moved to Thailand I noticed that in clubs and restaurants there was no such pressure. One could get there early, dine and sit around the table and chat and never feel the slightest pressure to leave. You could go into a bar, order one beverage and ‘nurse’ it the rest of the evening. The waiter or waiteress would ask if you wanted another, but it was not done in a pressuring way.

What a difference in experience! Now, back in America, when in restaurants I always feel rushed and it dampens my fun in the social part of the experience.

Of course, the restaurant needs to be profitable to survive, but perhaps trading profitability off with the customers desires is not the best route to success. Maybe it’s just the most obvious.

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