I was at iconic eatery in Bangalore. The eatery serves South India fare and with its first outlet close to one of famed gardens of Bangalore is a tourist spot in Bangalore in its own right. Although, I was at a different spot.
I ordered idly and vada. This is basically staple South Indian breakfast fare. Now the one thing you expect in this kind of a joint is that food be served piping hot. That is the base customer expectation. The customers dont say it out explicitly. The eatery doesnt advertise it. But as I said, this is the expectation.
However, the moment the vada came in, it I saw that it was as cold as the Bangalore weather (which is actually mild; but I thought I'll give it some dramatic effect). I realized it after taking a bite.
You expect people to own up and replace the stuff - I have had this done and seen this being done multiple times. In the South of India, where people take their idlis, dosas, vadas and coffee more seriously than they take most things in life, you dont eat any of the above, cold. Period.
The blatant refusal to take back [because I had taken a bite], or even apologize was something that left me fairly angry. This was gross violation of one of the cardinal principles of customer experience in my opinion - you mess up >> you own up >> you clean up >> you make up.
Now let me compare this with another eatery in HSR Layout, Bangalore ("Madhuram"). It is more of a local joint - with a very similar style. You order-you eat-you pay-you leave. You can clearly see that this place is suffering a lot from not being known and hence low footfalls. But one place you dont see that impacting, is the way they treat their customers. Once, I had a few things not in order. The head waiter approached our table on being informed this, profusely apologized, replaced the stuff, apologized again. He came back again to inquire if the food was in order, and apologized once again. He in fact trailed us on our way out and told me that this incident will not be repeated.
Now let me get to some additional facts - restaurant #1 is popular. It gets more footfalls. It might even be making better food. However, all this is happening because of their years of legacy and brand. [which needs to be protected because they have more to lose]. They have a high revenue, high cost structure [more so, because they are located in the Central Business District.]
Restaurant no. 2 has a small but a loyal customer base. They have not fixed their front end around promotion and marketing and almost seem happy to earn the meager business they do.
Difficult to say who will do better in the long run - but I would place my bet on the latter. Or rather, that their business will not be shut down because a customer who walks decides not to walk in again.
I ordered idly and vada. This is basically staple South Indian breakfast fare. Now the one thing you expect in this kind of a joint is that food be served piping hot. That is the base customer expectation. The customers dont say it out explicitly. The eatery doesnt advertise it. But as I said, this is the expectation.
However, the moment the vada came in, it I saw that it was as cold as the Bangalore weather (which is actually mild; but I thought I'll give it some dramatic effect). I realized it after taking a bite.
You expect people to own up and replace the stuff - I have had this done and seen this being done multiple times. In the South of India, where people take their idlis, dosas, vadas and coffee more seriously than they take most things in life, you dont eat any of the above, cold. Period.
The blatant refusal to take back [because I had taken a bite], or even apologize was something that left me fairly angry. This was gross violation of one of the cardinal principles of customer experience in my opinion - you mess up >> you own up >> you clean up >> you make up.
Now let me compare this with another eatery in HSR Layout, Bangalore ("Madhuram"). It is more of a local joint - with a very similar style. You order-you eat-you pay-you leave. You can clearly see that this place is suffering a lot from not being known and hence low footfalls. But one place you dont see that impacting, is the way they treat their customers. Once, I had a few things not in order. The head waiter approached our table on being informed this, profusely apologized, replaced the stuff, apologized again. He came back again to inquire if the food was in order, and apologized once again. He in fact trailed us on our way out and told me that this incident will not be repeated.
Now let me get to some additional facts - restaurant #1 is popular. It gets more footfalls. It might even be making better food. However, all this is happening because of their years of legacy and brand. [which needs to be protected because they have more to lose]. They have a high revenue, high cost structure [more so, because they are located in the Central Business District.]
Restaurant no. 2 has a small but a loyal customer base. They have not fixed their front end around promotion and marketing and almost seem happy to earn the meager business they do.
Difficult to say who will do better in the long run - but I would place my bet on the latter. Or rather, that their business will not be shut down because a customer who walks decides not to walk in again.
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