Reading back the comments of Takeaway Yobbo yesterday about having to request water for the table prompted me to think about how things are today generally, and what everyone considers 'the norm' in relation to those little extras which one expects the restaurant to provide as a standard part of the service.
I acknowledge the fact that these days providing ANY extras at all comes at huge cost, financially, to any business owner. However - in terms of goodwill and repeat business, it really must be looked at in the terms of a variety of advertising. Forget the waffle of an expensive TV ad repeating night after night about how fabulous the food is at xxxx restaurant. If 3 or 4 of us go there and find that our food was crap - we'll tell people. We won't believe the advertising that we see daily. We will go on what we have experienced, or what a friend or family member tells us they experienced.
Give someone something for free, and they'll remember that a lot longer than the TV ad. The most outstanding and memorable thing to me about Restaurant 373 was the little extras they popped on your table - and we're not just talking bread and water here! Of course they've factored in the costings of providing these perceived freebies to every table. We are intelligent adults and deep down we know this with certainty. But - we LOVE that kind of demonstration of generosity. We will return there again and again. They have our loyalty. They BOUGHT our loyalty - very cleverly.
Venues where they charge you for bread and/or water are places you can make a few assumptions about.
As dining out has become way more prevalent, the amount of freebies seems to have dwindled. But it's still great to have those little extras popped down along with your coffee, or food, don't you agree?
In a Chinese restaurant, it used to be pretty standard to be issued with your statutary fortune cookie at the end of the meal. You gotta love that, don't you? A full tummy PLUS your fortune told in a single sentence!
In my next life I'd love to be a fortune cookie fortune writer but with the number of fortune cookies bought/issued/eaten these days, I doubt the longevity of that particular career!
Sunday, 6 January 2008
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3 comments:
What happened to after dinner mints with your coffee?
Silver Pearl Chinese still give after dinner mints. Coffee or not!
You know what I really hate? Meals with no greens, no bread and only bottled expensive water. $8.00 for a bowl of chips as served by my lovely Sandbar...if that's all you want to eat, well you can do it, proper chips with divine aioli, but soggy packet stuff as and add on extra. NO!!
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