The most important offering of a restaurant is food, but following closely are atmosphere and service. In fact, for low-end, commodity offerings, I’d say atmosphere (bright, clean) and service (quick & friendly) are often decisive.
Someone in town mentioned to me that the service at an establishment I’d reviewed favorably months ago was on the decline, from difficulty taking customers’ orders efficiently. I stopped in a few times – not for a follow-up review, but merely to see for myself.
Sure enough: it was a jumble.
That’s too bad, because food isn’t just about food.
A story – true and of my own acquaintance – will illustrate my point. It’s not about a local establishment, nor even a fancy place. It’s about a scientist’s daily visits to a convenience store, of all things, for coffee.
In another state, a prominent scientist commutes to work each day. He’s intelligent, serious, and has completed both undergraduate and doctoral studies at some of the country’s most competitive programs. His work is classified, and so I know only that he’s a naval researcher, whose leadership has likely contributed to continued American naval supremacy.
He has a beautiful, intelligent wife, and daughters equally so. He has all that one might wish. There’s no neediness or insecurity in him.
But for all those advantages, all that authority and responsibility, he has a simple routine he very much enjoys: visiting a particular convenience store when he can, for a cup of coffee. He could buy any beans he might want, or go to any shop he might wish, in the metropolitan area in which he lives, but he doesn’t.
Instead, he stops at a small convenience store where the family owners greet him on each visit, simply with his first name, and exchange pleasant conversation about ordinary matters. These visits are memorable to him, a man not given to over-sentimentality.
Why is that? It’s not the coffee, nor the unique design of the store, but something in the service, the ordinary conversation topics, that’s beyond ordinary to him. It matters to him, and so he returns when he can.
There are shops that make better coffee, no doubt, and ones that sell better beans, but that’s not compelling for him. It’s the ordinary conversation that he finds special, and truly enjoyable.
Service matters, sometimes decisively.
I 100% agree with that sentiment.
I continue to get my hair cut at a local establishment. Not because they do a great job – they do ok, but at my age making it look “good” is a losing battle anyway…but I digress. The reason I like to go there is that the staff knows, my name, profession, family, etc. In turn, I know some of theirs as well. We converse on a more personal level. That is worth it to me. And, I might add, one of the many perks of living in a small town like WW.
I know the establishment of which you speak. 15 minutes is too long for me to wait for a cup of coffee, even if it IS a great cup of coffee. The ownership needs to look into this very serious matter, as word—and dissatisfaction is spreading…