Business Lessons Learned at a Small Chicago Restaurant

Why is it that some businesses retain loyal customers, while other seem to just barely make it?  What is it that creates the attachment to one specific place, even though it may not be the nicest or the fanciest, as in a small local pub as opposed to a trendy and fancy club.  The one is filled every night with people who have been going there for years, while the other seems to just wilt away until the next trendy club takes its place.  Check any business training manual and one of the first topics to be discussed, are those frequently used words, customer service.  This is one of the many lessons I learned years ago working in a small, sixteen seat Italian restaurant.  We were packed with a two hour wait every night of the week, while the bigger and more fancy restaurant across the street sat empty.  The food there was Italian as well, and to be honest it was just as good.  What our tiny restaurant they just couldn’t compete with, and that was honest and open customer service.

A management training program will give managers the tools to use themselves, as well as to pass on to their staff, regarding the importance of customer service.  But the thing is, it must be genuine.  When regulars would come in, even the chef’s would come to sing happy birthday, and many of the times, the regulars would head back to the kitchen just to say “Hi” to the dishwasher.  Customers and the staff celebrated the holidays together, and we knew the names of everyone’s children.  A few years later I worked in a larger corporate restaurant in Arizona that was not so successful.  We were told exactly what to say and how to say it, and when to smile.  But if we did happen to strike up a real conversation with one of our tables, we were scolded later for not using that time to sweep the steps or polish the furniture.  The customer service was forced, and not genuine.  In Chicago, the customers felt like part of the Via Carducci family, because they really were.  The customer service was really just us taking care of our friends, and it was a great way to work.