Unpopular opinions
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BUSY NYC RESTAURANT SOLVES MAJOR MYSTERY BY REVIEWING OLD SURVEILLANCE - 28 (MIDTOWN EAST)
We are a popular restaurant for both locals and tourists alike.
Having been in business for many years we noticed that although the number of customer’s we serve on a daily basis is almost the same today as it was 10 years ago, the service just seems super slow even thou we added lot’s more staff and cut back on the menu items.One of the most common complaints on review sites against us and many restaurants in the area is that the service was slow and or they needed to wait a bit long for a table.
We decided to hire a firm to help us solve this mystery, and naturally, the first thing they blamed it on was that the employees need more training and that maybe the kitchen staff is just not up to the task of serving that many customers.
Like most restaurants in NYC we have a surveillance system, and unlike today where it’s a digital system, 10 years ago we still used special high capacity tapes to record all activity.
At any given time we had 4 special Sony systems recording multiple cameras. We would store the footage for 90 days just in case we need it for something.
The restaurant decided to compare the footage in a bid to discover why service is significantly slower compared with ten years ago despite adding staff and cutting back on menu items.
The restaurant decided to compare the footage in a bid to discover why service is significantly slower compared with ten years ago despite adding staff and cutting back on menu items
The firm we hired suggested we locate some of the older tapes and analyze how the staff behaved 10 years ago versus how they behave now. We went down to our storage room but we couldn’t find any tapes at all.
We did find the recording devices, and luckily for us, each device has 1 tape in it that we simply never removed when we upgraded to the new digital system.The date stamp on the old footage was Thursday July 1 2004, the restaurant was real busy that day. We loaded up the footage on a large size monitor, and next to it on a separate monitor loaded up the footage of Thursday July 3 2014, the amount of customers where only a bit more than 10 years prior.
I will quickly outline the findings. We carefully looked at over 45 transactions in order to determine the data below:
2004:
Customers walk in.
They gets seated and are given menus, out of 45 customers 3 request to be seated elsewhere.
Customers on average spend 8 minutes before closing the menu to show they are ready to order.
Waiters shows up almost instantly takes the order.
Food starts getting delivered within 6 minutes, obviously the more complex items take way longer.
Out of 45 customers 2 sent items back that where too cold we assume (given they were not steak we assume they wanted the item heated up more).
Waiters keep an eye out for their tables so they can respond quickly if the customer needs something.
Customers are done, check delivered, and within 5 minutes they leave.
Average time from start to finish: 1:05
2014:
Customers walk in.
Customers get seated and is given menus, out of 45 customers 18 requested to be seated elsewhere.
Before even opening the menu they take their phones out, some are taking photos while others are simply doing something else on their phone (sorry we have no clue what they are doing and do not monitor customer WIFI activity).
7 out of the 45 customers had waiters come over right away, they showed them something on their phone and spent an average of 5 minutes of the waiter’s time. Given this is recent footage, we asked the waiters about this and they explained those customers had a problem connecting to the WIFI and demanded the waiters try to help them.
Finally the waiters are walking over to the table to see what the customers would like to order. The majority have not even opened the menu and ask the waiter to wait a bit.
Customer opens the menu, places their hands holding their phones on top of it and continue doing whatever on their phone.
Waiter returns to see if they are ready to order or have any questions. The customer asks for more time.
Finally they are ready to order.Total average time from when the customer was seated until they placed their order 21 minutes.
Food starts getting delivered within 6 minutes, obviously the more complex items take way longer.
26 out of 45 customers spend an average of 3 minutes taking photos of the food.
14 out of 45 customers take pictures of each other with the food in front of them or as they are eating the food. This takes on average another 4 minutes as they must review and sometimes retake the photo.
9 out of 45 customers sent their food back to reheat. Obviously if they didn’t pause to do whatever on their phone the food wouldn’t have gotten cold.
27 out of 45 customers asked their waiter to take a group photo. 14 of those requested the waiter retake the photo as they were not pleased with the first photo. On average this entire process between the chit chatting and reviewing the photo taken added another 5 minutes and obviously caused the waiter not to be able to take care of other tables he/she was serving.
Given in most cases the customers are constantly busy on their phones it took an average of 20 minutes more from when they were done eating until they requested a check. Furthermore once the check was delivered it took 15 minutes longer than 10 years ago for them to pay and leave.
8 out of 45 customers bumped into other customers or in one case a waiter (texting while walking) as they were either walking in or out of the Restaurant.
Average time from start to finish: 1:55
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Thank you Giles. I only hope that those on the forum who haven’t worked in the service industry take the time
To Read this. The Restaraunt I work at is in the top 100 grossing independently owned pizza Restaraunt’s in the US. We don’t offer WiFi. We don’t have coffee or dessert. We don’t have salad.
“Get in get out quit fuckin about ya ho ya ho ya ho.” -
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Thank you Giles. I only hope that those on the forum who haven’t worked in the service industry take the time
To Read this. The Restaraunt I work at is in the top 100 grossing independently owned pizza Restaraunt’s in the US. We don’t offer WiFi. We don’t have coffee or dessert. We don’t have salad.
“Get in get out quit fuckin about ya ho ya ho ya ho.”That Sounds like a solid Place to eat some Pizza.
Two weeks ago on holiday in Austria a young Lady from the US had a 30 Minute discussion with the Boss of the Hotel regarding the Fact that the Hotel Rooms have no WiFi, which is Part of the Hotel policy and dissclosed on their Website, nontheless she said that she thinks no WiFi is like no Towls in the Room, the Room is basicly unusuable for any Type of Holiday without Internet.
Probably one of the dumbest Disscussions I ever wittnessed, I know why I am not in the Hotel Business, i would´ve told her to walk her way out.
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Thank you Giles. I only hope that those on the forum who haven’t worked in the service industry take the time
To Read this. The Restaraunt I work at is in the top 100 grossing independently owned pizza Restaraunt’s in the US. We don’t offer WiFi. We don’t have coffee or dessert. We don’t have salad.
“Get in get out quit fuckin about ya ho ya ho ya ho.”That Sounds like a solid Place to eat some Pizza.
Two weeks ago on holiday in Austria a young Lady from the US had a 30 Minute discussion with the Boss of the Hotel regarding the Fact that the Hotel Rooms have no WiFi, which is Part of the Hotel policy and dissclosed on their Website, nontheless she said that she thinks no WiFi is like no Towls in the Room, the Room is basicly unusuable for any Typ of Holiday without Internet.
Damn Yanks…...
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Thank you Giles. I only hope that those on the forum who haven’t worked in the service industry take the time
To Read this. The Restaraunt I work at is in the top 100 grossing independently owned pizza Restaraunt’s in the US. We don’t offer WiFi. We don’t have coffee or dessert. We don’t have salad.
“Get in get out quit fuckin about ya ho ya ho ya ho.”That Sounds like a solid Place to eat some Pizza.
Two weeks ago on holiday in Austria a young Lady from the US had a 30 Minute discussion with the Boss of the Hotel regarding the Fact that the Hotel Rooms have no WiFi, which is Part of the Hotel policy and dissclosed on their Website, nontheless she said that she thinks no WiFi is like no Towls in the Room, the Room is basicly unusuable for any Typ of Holiday without Internet.
Damn Yanks…...
I agree man. I’ve had customers get very angry that we don’t have WiFi. “What are my kids supposed to
Do??” Lady… I don’t know. Eat pizza I reckon. Be Here Now. -
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The thing with casual Resturants having WiFi is that every Idiot in the Neighborhood starts to use your Place as his Office, ask Starbucks. I tend to get angry when someone next to me writes E-Mails whilst I want to eat Pizza.
I concur. Turn and burn. Get in get out. But while
You’re in I will shower you with impeccable service and attention. -
I'm quoting Dwid from Integrity.
(Who probably has an unpop-up on everything…
)He must be quite a Ladies man
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Stop taking pictures of your food and stop Posting them.
1. Nobody gives a shit
2. Your server is annoyed that he has to wait to ask you if you need anything else
3. Your pizza is getting cold.Preach ^^^
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Thank you Giles. I only hope that those on the forum who haven’t worked in the service industry take the time
To Read this. The Restaraunt I work at is in the top 100 grossing independently owned pizza Restaraunt’s in the US. We don’t offer WiFi. We don’t have coffee or dessert. We don’t have salad.
“Get in get out quit fuckin about ya ho ya ho ya ho.”That Sounds like a solid Place to eat some Pizza.
Two weeks ago on holiday in Austria a young Lady from the US had a 30 Minute discussion with the Boss of the Hotel regarding the Fact that the Hotel Rooms have no WiFi, which is Part of the Hotel policy and dissclosed on their Website, nontheless she said that she thinks no WiFi is like no Towls in the Room, the Room is basicly unusuable for any Typ of Holiday without Internet.
Damn Yanks…...
^^ A thought that must occur daily to IHUK staff…
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the new kasuri indigo dyed western from PBJ is hideous. there, I said it
