A New Restaurant

Dealing With Customer Complaints

Taking the Good With the Bad - Compliments and Complaints

In this business you need to develop a bit of a thick skin.  If you don’t you will drive yourself crazy.

When I was a waiter, one of the hardest things I had to deal with was customer complaints.  The same meal that drew compliments from diners night after night would not be up to one customers standards, or wasn’t prepared the way Mom always used to make it, and they would have to take it out on me.  While most were relatively oplite about it, some did everything short of cursing my ancestors.  I quickly had t learn not to take it personal.

One of the truths of food service is that you will never please everyone.

The fact is, we all have different likes and dislikes.  Whether it’s a result of dietary restrictions, or upbringing, or the way your spouse cooks, we like our food different ways.  The dilemma this creates is, the dish that you serve may be wonderful for most of your customers, but there will always be some who don’t like it.  Despite the rave reviews you have gotten in the past, they are out spreading the word that the food in your restaurant isn’t very good.  In a business where success or failure is a product of how the customers perceive you, that can be a hard thing to deal with.

The only thing you can really do is let it go.  Try what you can, within reason, to make the customer happy, then go on about your business.  If you are constantly changing your recipes in an effort to please everyone, you will never have any kind of consitancy.  Develop recipes taht you are happy with.  If most of your customers like what you are serving, leave it alone.  If you don’t have a good reason to change the recipe, don’t.

In the long run, your success will be a result of consistently serving quality meals.  The customers that like your recipes will come back.  The complainers will either order something different, or they will go elsewhere.  Take care of the customers that you have.

Remember, your not as bad as the complainers say you are.