One main concern whenever we enter a restaurant is how good is the food. The other is whether the restaurant is clean or not and how good is the service. Image source: Wide Open Eat
There are plenty of restaurants near my workplace and their customer services differ one from another. So are their prices. After a long time, I settled to 2 restaurants and here is the story of the 2.
Restaurant No. 1
This one is famous for its crispy roti canai and creamy teh tarik in the morning. It is, in fact, one of the newer restaurants around the place. One of the reasons, it is doing quite well is that the price of the food is considerably cheap.
And wide-open area at the front of the restaurant makes it rather easy place to lepak for a hot teh tarik in the evenings. However there are plenty of oily dishes during the lunchtime but if you are careful enough in choosing the dishes, you can even get good, fresh fish for lunch.
Restaurant No. 2
Compared to Restaurant No. 1, this restaurant has been around longer but it has its share of regular customers. It has less choice of food but it has its own style and presentations.
The food is slightly pricey than the rest but overall reasonable. In my opinion, serves the best teh-o limau panas around.
The comparison
I go to both restaurants on different days of the weeks and when I get bored with the other restaurants. Lately, Restaurant No. 1’s service has been turning to bad. You sit down and wait for someone to take your orders. No one comes until you call the workers several times.
And after telling them what your order is, you patiently wait for the meal only to find that it is not coming. The lady who took your order is seen taking orders from someone else and later wiping the tables.
I had to call another worker and had to repeat the orders and pray that this time, the person gets it right and bring my meal. The owner is busier chit-chatting with the restaurant workers than attending to the customers.
When I go to Restaurant No. 2, things are different – the owner himself waits at the entrance and welcomes you. He wishes you “good morning” and sees that his staffs attend to me immediately.
And if I go in and sit down, the staffs bring me the menu and puts on the table before I even sit down on the chair. The food looks fresh and the drinks are served at the right temperature. And it is served without any delays.
Unfortunately, the price of the meal is not cheap but as I take out money to pay for the meal, I at least, get a “thanks”. Unlike Restaurant No. 1 who takes your money as if you owe them something big.
It comes down to who can provide a better service. Price is a secondary issue. For those having restaurants or in the industry of service, this is something for you to ponder.
And why I raising this is because I find, more frequently, a lot of restaurants are having this – take it or leave it attitude and soon, they are run out customers and had to close shop.
That is sad because their food and the price are great – they have a good chance to make it big but their service sucks big time. It does not cost much to improve on service – it does not take much to say “good morning” and “thank you”.
Restaurant No. 1 may be surviving for now but keep up the bad service, you may find customers looking for another place to eat.
Perhaps, this is where Najib should be focusing on – building a developed and matured human resource and service level in Malaysia, instead of the dreadful Warisan Merdeka