Poor Services Marketing and Teppanyaki
My professional expertise is in Marketing and over the years Services Marketing has been an area of keen interest. In fact, I remember the first time I was exposed to the subject area (while pursuing my Undergrad Degree at the University of Nevada Las Vegas) it immediately caught my interest. After multiple class discussions, case studies, exams and working on various service blueprints I became quite the critique of the service experiences I encountered.
Whether good or bad, it gets recognized.
Anyhow, moving on to the experience that triggered this post.
I recently met a couple of my mates and we decided to go out and grab some dinner. First we couldn't think of where to go. So, to get the ideas flowing we started to think of the type of experience and ambiance we were seeking. This immediately reminded me of a restaurant that I recently dined at and the seafood laksa noodle soup they served (which was pretty good). I definitely wanted to go back there, so that was the choice we decided on. In addition to the great food we were seeking, they also have an alfresco dining option which was perfect.
We arrived at the restaurant and there were two groups of customers outside. The inside was not busy at all. We sat down outside and waited to be served. Waited about 5 minutes and then actually called the restaurant by phone and said 'hey, we are seated outside waiting to be served'. While waiting, we got more hungry and continued our conversation about the new restaurants, ones that our friends have opened, and a couple of our friends who work as Chefs. Close to 10 minutes later and yet to be served, our conversation about food really got going and we remembered some of the great dining options in Colombo. We stopped at 'Teppanyaki cuisine at Ginza Hohsen'.
Total waiting time was approximately 15 minutes. The wait was long enough and 'Restaurant Choice #1' lost their opportunity to serve 3 hungry grown men. Remembering Ginza, at first we thought 'we totally need to go back there'. And then it was me that said 'we've not been served yet, why don't we just go now'.
The weather outside was suddenly really nice and we arrived at Ginza. The ambiance was perfect, it was not too crowded and we sat upstairs in front of our well hooked-up flat iron griddle while the dining experience took its place. A couple of fresh platters later, including lobster, prawns, chicken, mushrooms, onions, bell pepper, Australian steak (both medium rare and medium well), fried rice and miso soup, we were happy.
Completely satisfied with our evening, we walked to our car and laughed remembering the first restaurant we went to. Bad service just lost them $200.
If only restaurant #1 had paid a little more attention to the tables waiting to be seated. What did get their attention though was our car lights coming on just before we left. Finally a waiter ran out, only to see an empty table with chairs pulled-out.