Restaurant Customers And Comping Meals
Patricia Farnham
There are some calls in a restaurant that can be hard for those in charge to make. One of them is when to merit offering to compensate the meal and when you are being taken advantage of. Sometimes the dining experience leaves something to be desired and customers will complain about it.
Saying you are sorry may not be enough though so offering to pick up the tab for the dinner can soften the perspective of the customer. This is going to cost the restaurant money though so you want to avoid doing it when you don't have to. On the other hand though you don't want to risk losing out on repeat customers.
In the long run you have to decide if you are willing to comp a meal and hope they will come back again or not. If they don't, they can also prevent others from coming back in. Word of mouth is quite powerful in the restaurant industry as people don't want to take chances when it comes to the food they order.
When you do try to make things right with offering a free meal, it does show your commitment to customers. They will remember what you did to remedy the situation and that will likely get them back in the door. Most people are willing to forgive things that occur if they feel the mistake was sincerely addressed well.
However, it is important to understand that there are people out there who will take advantage of this. They will go to a restaurant with the intension of not paying for what they ordered. They will complain and often create a scene. Of course the restaurant wants to keep them quiet to paying for their meal is often offered.
You can look at this topic online and find out that people have a good time with it. They are willing to share their secrets with others about how they go to the best restaurants and get meals for free. They may do it once in a while or several times per week. Of course you can't go back to the same location to do it so this only works if you have many in the area.
It is important for the restaurant to have a plan of action for dealing with such issues. That way they don't escalate out of control. This is a decision that the manager needs to execute though rather than the staff. This way discretion can be used to determine when offering a free meal is right and when it is a ploy that someone is after.
It can be hard to tell though sometimes what really took place. In such instances the customer should get the benefit of the doubt. It is more important to keep genuine customers happy then it is to worry that a scammer got one over on you. Free meals aren't something your restaurant wants to offer all the time, but they can certainly help to smooth over some types of situations that arise.
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