My wife, Rachel, and I went out to dinner on Labor Day. We went to a little place in Clayton, Missouri, called Oceano’s during happy hour. We knew it was happy hour because we observed a sign telling us so on our way in. The sign let us know what happy hour entailed. Among the things discounted during the designated time period were appetizers (half price). The hostess sat us at a nice little booth, and a waiter came by to take our order. We asked about the happy hour, which was still in effect, and our waiter informed us that we couldn’t have half price appetizer’s where we were sitting. I asked why. The waiter informed us that happy hour specials were only for people sitting in the bar area. I asked where that area was, and the waiter pointed to a table that was about 15-20 feet away. I looked around at a mostly empty restaurant (5 of approximately 25 indoor tables were occupied).
I smiled and asked the waiter, “So, you mean to tell me that if we sit at this table, appetizer’s cost $12, but if we sit at that table, appetizers cost $6?”
“Yes, sir, that is correct.”
“But that’s ridiculous.”
“Yes, sir.” I asked the server to go ask his manager if he would make an exception and allow us to remain at our table, just a few tables from the magic section.
“I’ll see what I can do, sir.” He left and was gone for several minutes. He returned and informed me that the manager had said no. I couldn’t believe it, but I shrugged and asked to move to one of the tables at which appetizers were $6. We were moved. We enjoyed the appetizers;)
I don’t know about you, but if I were running that restaurant, I wouldn’t have made a patron move tables to get a deal in my empty restaurant. I don’t care enough to follow up on this, but I don’t think it would be hard to get in touch with the owner of this restaurant and inform him that his restaurant is being run this way.
I got my first restaurant job while I was in college, waiting tables at a local restaurant. It was the best run restaurant I ever worked in, though I didn’t appreciate that until working in several others while I was in college. The owner personally trained the wait staff back then (she doesn’t anymore), and on my first day she told me this:
“Whatever people ask for, you want to say yes if you can. Try to get them whatever they want. If they want to order something that isn’t on the menu, and we can do it, we’ll do it. If they want scramble eggs, and we have eggs, we’ll make scrambled eggs.”
Unsurprisingly, this restaurant has had a lot of success. They now own two restaurants, and business is still going strong as far as I can tell. I think about the above quote every time something utterly ridiculous happens at a restaurant.
What’s the competitive advantage in the restaurant business? Is it good food? Maybe. But it had better be so good that it blows your mind if that’s going to be your competitive advantage. I would say that there isn’t a competitive advantage in the restaurant industry. Restaurants, even good ones, are a dime a dozen. I’ll probably never go back to Oceano’s in Clayton. The food wasn’t bad. It wasn’t incredible, either. I really didn’t have a legitimate reason to go back. The bartender that served us was a very nice person. The fact of the matter is, I have so many options to try in life that I’ll never be able to try them all – and this particular restaurant gave me no reason to come back. Plus, irrational situations (playing musical tables) bother me. Thanks for reading.
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Great story. I think the restaurant owner was pennywise but pound foolish.
I don’t like unreasonable people. I am calling this manager unreasonable because, if you had asked him why he said no, he would not give you a reasonable answer, as far as customer service is concerned.
Thanks for sharing your experience.
I hope you still had a good time with your wife. Sometimes incidents like that can spoil an otherwise great outing.
Oceano’s was the name, right?
By the way, “”Sustainable” competitive advantage” is one of my favorite microeconomics concepts. At one point, I thought about how I could apply it in my (personal) life. I may have taken it too far… like, how could I be the best boyfriend, so that I could have a “sustainable competitive advantage” against other guys (um,..the competition)!