Close Only Counts in Horseshoes

by smallbizbee · 0 comments

Sometimes well meaning businesses get close, they're almost getting it right, but then get off track at one stage or another and end up worse off than when they started.

That was the case with a restaurant I visited a couple days ago for lunch, with a few friends.

Now before you think I am some sort of restaurant critic, I've gone on record singing the praises of restaurants who are getting it right. Truth be told the meal we had was excellent, and I am generally one of those people who find very little wrong with any meal I don't cook myself.

The Story

The four of us decided on a fairly well known seafood restaurant in my city for lunch, many of us had been there at least once before and we knew it to be good, if a little on the pricey side. When we got to our table we noticed an advertisement for a "Lunch Special", which seemed like good business for an upper end restaurant in a tough economy. Not only that, but the lunch special looked to be a great deal...entree, soup or salad, and beverage for a price that was about 1/2 of what you would normally pay. Two of us get the special, and the other two who like to spend money get something else off the menu.

Long story short, food arrives and it is as good as we remember, and we have a nice lunch chatting and catching up with one another.

The Problem

So far so good. We had a great meal, and (for two of us) for a great price. Waitress comes with the bill, and we ask if she can split if for us. Again, no problem. Bill comes back split four ways and we all plunk down our credit/debit cards. Waitress comes back, grabs our bills and heads off to cash us out.

Waitress is back to the table much too quickly, and with a concerned look on her face.

She notifies us that the "Lunch Special" is a CASH ONLY deal. If we don't pay cash, we pay the regular price for the meals.

Anybody see a problem here?

I take a look at the advertisement on the table and sure enough way down at the bottom, in 2 point font, it says "cash only".

None of us have any cash. In fact I mention that I can sometimes go months without seeing actual cash.

The story ends with us all paying with debit/credit, getting charged more, and heading out on our merry ways without further incident. It was slightly awkward and embarrassing as it was, and didn't want to push the issue.

Observations

Hopefully you can see the glaring problems with this. Talk about turning a positive into a negative, and coming close but falling short.

Let's recap what went wrong:

Cash only
Didn't clearly explain what the criteria was in order to get a deal
Since criteria was "hidden", made the customer feel awkward and taken advantage of
Had opportunity to explain the special, but didn't mention anything about it being contingent on method of payment
When it's that difficult to get the deal, it makes you think if they really want to honor it or not

What Can We Learn?

Close doesn't count. In fact just getting close can sometimes turn customers off more than if you never tried in the first place. Do you think I'd be writing this right now had we just gone in, never saw the "discount", and paid full price for everything. No way! I'd be saying what a great meal we had.

If you run a special, make it special! This business was running a special, but didn't really want people to take advantage of it. It was more for looks I guess.

Make it easy for your customer to know what they are getting, for what price, and what the terms are before services are rendered

Make sure any specials you run fit your business model. Cash only at a high end restaurant makes about as much sense as Mercedes having a booth at the county fair.

What about you, have you seen any businesses coming close but falling short? Let me hear it in the comments section below.

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