To follow-up on H.L.'s comments, I worked for Intel for 17 years and I think you'd agree they are/were a very successful company, and good to its employees, by the way. The company was VERY conscious of its image and reputation among its customers. In our local company newsletter, the Marketing Department published a list of why businesses fail so that we'd know what to avoid. Restaurants were specifically examined. I don't have that list any longer, but I was not particularly surprised by what the #1 killer of restaurant businesses was. I'll save that for last.
Although I don't recall the exact percentages, the following numbers are pretty close to why restaurants fail, and it's NOT because the food was bad. By the time a restaurant actually opens its doors for customers, the food is probably good, or at least acceptable. Even though the following describes restaurant failures, the same reasons (except the food, but substitute "quality" for that), could apply to almost any business:
2% bad food
1% customers die
3% customers moved away
1% location
67% perceived poor attitude/poor service by EMPLOYEES
Yup - a bad employee will kill your restaurant business quicker than burned scrambled eggs! One disgruntled customer tells a friend, who tells two friends, who tell four friends, etc., until no one goes to that restaurant any more. I have personally taken great satisfaction in seeing lousy restaurants (due to employee attitudes) close down after we boycotted them and told friends not to go there. The survey did not mention whether disgruntled customers addressed their issue directly with the restaurant owner/manager. Most people don't want that kind of confrontation and simply don't return.
So, business owners - keep the above in mind when you suspect an employee is hurting your business! That is, if you still want to have a business.
Marshall, the ultimate consumer
