Singing Praises of a Server Who Thought Ahead

Sometimes a restaurant just gets how to create a great customer experience and you want to dance through the entire building with glee. Capri Lounge, a local Indianapolis Italian restaurant recently provoked this feeling for me and released my inner Frank Sinatra.

I went to the restaurant with a few friends for some good Italian food and an evening of catching up. The comfortable atmosphere made us feel immediately at home, but the service stole the show. Our waitress did more than just take our order and deliver it to the table. She found little ways to make our experience even more enjoyable.

We had dined there before, and knew the ample portions would be filling, but the featured appetizers were tempting.  We decided to split two different appetizers. We expected we would have to divide the portions once our appetizers were served.  The small table didn’t have much room for extra plates so I assumed we would have a bit of juggling.

Fortunately our server anticipated the challenge. Instead of two large plates, she had the kitchen divide the appetizers. Each of us was presented with a small plate with the appetizers already perfectly divided. This delightful surprise eliminated the potential for a small annoyance, and we could focus our attention on enjoying the food, the conversation and the atmosphere. A memorable customer experience!

Empower Employees

It was a little thing. Dividing the plates took just a quick request from the server and an extra moment in the kitchen. Would your employees do the same?  Do you give them the power to personalize a customer’s experience. Want your customers singing praises of your serving staff?  Here are two simple tips:

• Create a system flexible enough to accommodate small changes. If you run a tight, McDonalds style assembly line process everyone has to have exactly the same thing in exactly the same way.  Quality is consistent, but there is no room to provide a memorable customer experience .
• Give your employees the power to make personal touches. Teach each and every employee to think on their feet and recognize and reward them for being willing to make accommodations for guests.  In restaurants the wait staff is rewarded by the customers with a larger tip, and that is often reward enough.  By encouraging a little out of the box thinking, they will make more tips, and the happy customers are more likely to return and bring friends. Now that’s a memorable customer experience!

Categorized in: Blog, Consumer Experience, Customer Service, Restuarant

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