How To Make The Crabby Customer Into The Lifetime Satisfied Patron

Despite all of our best efforts, all restaurants face the occasional crabby customer. Regardless if the grouch is grouchy because of something we did (or didn't do), the bottom line is that it's our job to put them in a better mood. And most often, the whiner who can be won over will think your restaurant is a winner.

Practice responding to unhappy guests. Use real-life scenarios and role-play them with your staff. Start with the small and the mundane like "My food is cold." That's easy - you simply take the plate of food away and return hot food. Voila! You're a superstar.

Move into the heavy stuff. Food is taking a long time or a table was forgotten. How do you make up for those things? Find out before you have to deal with it for real!

Oftentimes, training sessions reveal that a server might be bringing the problem onto him or herself with their language. For example, a guest tells the server that her omelet does not have the mushrooms and olives she requested. The server looks at his order pad and says, "Ma'am, I have that you asked for tomatoes and ham; I don't have anything about mushrooms and olives." The server has taken a confrontational attitude with the guest by implying that he wrote everything down correctly; she must be wrong! He just threw down the gauntlet and asked for a fight from his guest!

The solution is quite simple. He should have apologized, taken out his order pad and asked her again how she wanted her omelet. As he should have done in the beginning, he should repeat the order back to her. Repeating orders back to guests can eliminate most mistaken orders.

What about the consummate kvetcher. You know who I'm talking about - he comes in looking for a fight. He's big, he's mean, he has hair growing out of his ears, and he eats small children for breakfast. Despite all of our best efforts to rectify our mistakes, there are those customers who just won't be satisfied. Many servers say they handle these kinds of folks by "killing them with kindness." This can come across as false, and the person will become even more belligerent. Sometimes the best solution is to treat them with kid gloves and avoid unnecessary talk. Make it clear by your attitude that you simply want him to have an excellent dining experience, regardless of his mood. Above all, don't take it personally. Unfortunately, there is no quick fix for this guest.

The question that makes every server cringe: is the customer always right? Not exactly, but regardless if he or she is right, the customer needs to always win, and then ultimately, we all win. They will come back, and if we made them happy, they will bring others.

Restaurants often placate moaning customers with free meals. However, some establishments end up hemorrhaging money because they overuse this policy just to avoid a potentially challenging situation. Believe it or not, most people do not want a free meal. They don't plan to have a bad experience so they can get free food. Free food after a confrontation doesn't digest very well. Most of our customers go out to relax and have someone serve them. If something goes wrong, they just expect that it will be quickly and smoothly corrected without a big fuss.

Language is probably the most important asset you can have in this business. If a guest reveals to you that the fish is dry, a server needs to be quick-thinking and efficient. At this point, the guest isn't angry; he's simply pointing out that his food isn't as he expected. A good response is, "I'm sorry to hear that; our red snapper is usually very good! May I bring you a menu to select something else, or may I suggest our Chicken Marsala? It's a fantastic dish, and I think you'll really enjoy it."

In these instances, the winning comeback is always to apologize without groveling and quickly recommend something else: apologize and solve. Reading your tables is important; judge how well the guest reacts to the solution. You may determine you should buy a dessert or an after-dinner drink to make up for the inconvenience of waiting for his food when everyone else was eating.

While cranky customers are often the one reason that a shift becomes intolerable, it's often these hard-to-please folks who become our best customers. The key to creating this transformation, however, is training. Most people are not especially smooth on-the-spot, especially when they are being attacked. Practice for the impolite!

 

---

Susie Ross is the owner of Waiter Training, writes a monthly newsletter on server training, retention and service, and is the author of four books and manuals including A Waiters Training: The Ultimate Guide to Better Service, Tips and Steady Employment, and restaurant manuals for Hosts, Servers and Buspeople. She can be reached at 720-203-4615 or susie@waiter-training.com.