Marla's Restaurant Blog

Traffic=Late Tables. Help!

So Friday nights are the worst.  This last Friday, we had the "Gift Mart" and the Atlanta Boat Show in town, bringing in over 100,000 people.  My hostess received six phone calls (which we greatly appreciate),from customers who were stuck in gridlock on the freeways.  It was raining too, which often creates a mind boggling mess in Atlanta. 

The guests were trying to get here but were running late. Most were here within 15 minutes.  Now I have to seat them.  This means the people coming for a later reservation are going to of course be on time and wondering why their table is not ready.  I sat one table 20 minutes late and they were furious. 

This is not one of the my favorite moments in the restaurant business.  Most customers are understanding when the wait is 15 to 20 minutes and I guess this is what I'm asking for.  If we have overbooked a table or the service or kitchen has slowed down a meal, I try to make amends with drinks at the bar or extra sweet service at the table.  How many parties should be compensated for a traffic jam and how?  Help me.

We're not going to touch on the topic of guests who book an early table, knowing that they will never be able to arrive at that time, nor incomplete parties (which is the same as late), nor tables that just come in late and wonder why we are giving them an unpopular table on the back deck or one hour later, nor the guy who moves his reservation via Open Table four times on one Valentine's night because he just couldn't commit.  Those topics are for another, less proactive blog post.

A note from a customer.....A little schooling for me.

Marla,
I love your restaurant and regularly recommend to our friends in
Athens.  If we are in Atlanta, we try to eat at Babette's. We have never
been disappointed.  (I will post on your website in order to adhere to
your recommendations for following good patron etiquette.

I am also observing your suggestion that if we have a response that
would be better served in an email, we do so. I was reading about a
child being a person, too.  Nice phrasing.   I love to eat without
children but sometimes it is not possible. I am a grandmother and a
friend of younger people with children.  Every once in a long while, a
child may in tow without prior knowledge of the person who made the
reservation.  It can be awkward for everyone.  I only ask that you not
assume the person who made the reservation knew a child would be
coming...eg.  babysitter gets sick and calls at the last minute and no
one wants to completely cancel.  Maybe there is a way that you can
'educate' patrons who are in an awkward position with
family/friends/business people, that a last minute phone call is a
courtesy if an unexpected person is coming along.  I have seen the same
thing happen with an elderly parent, btw.

I was in the awkward position of mother of the bride for a luncheon
hosted by out of town relatives.  One of the bridesmaids just happened
to bring her 5 year old daughter!  Everyone was surprised.  The daughter
was a flower girl and had a melt down when she wasn't invited so the mom
took her in tow.

Now- there are many places where communication could have been improved.
However, my expectations and the expectations of the hosts (who were
paying the bill), was that things would be handled politely. I would
have paid any amount of money to prevent the caterer at the historic B&B
which she also managed from saying, there will be an additional cost for
her!  Well, of course but how very indelicate and embarrassing for
everyone. We did not know she was coming.

The moral of the story is that sometimes the miscommunication is among
the members of any party.  I don't have solutions, but I do know how
things can be mishandled by the proprietress.

Thanks for listening, Pam

The Power of Online Reviews

If you want to make a restaurant owner really happy, post a (preferably good) review on one of the many sites on the Internet.  Citysearch.com / Zagat.com  / opentable.com  / Aolcityguide.com / yelp.com

IT IS A VERY BIG DEAL.

This is what happens.  The more reviews any business receives on-line increases their placement in search engines.  The higher place in search engines equals higher exposure.  Higher exposure gets a hipper vibe which sends more people to the business to spend their money and to write more reviews.  More reviews generate more buzz and a higher place in search engines...and on and on.

So thanks for the email saying how great your dinner was.  Thanks for the phone call telling me how much your out of town guests enjoyed their dinner.  I love getting them, but please...post it too.

If you have something bad to say, I would still appreciate a phone call or email instead of a posting, so I can properly apologize, beg forgiveness and correct the problem.

Some of my friendly neighborhood competitors have had their staff write reviews.    My staff won't do it, they think it's tacky.  I asked.

Children are people too

My manager wants me to mention that you need to count your child as a person when making a reservation.  Either they are in a highchair which takes up a spot at a table or they are sitting in a chair, which pretty much counts as a spot as well.  We have had several reservations on the books lately for four people and four adults and a child appear.  It's not like we can magically add a chair to a table and still have room for our servers or other guests to move around.

Mother's Day Alternatives

Last night, 10 days away from Mother's Day, people (dad's) are calling desperately for Brunch reservations.  We are politely telling them that we only have tables for two available, everything else is booked.  My manager overheard a call and asked if we could start laughing at people after they call.  I said that was not very nice, plus it's too early....we only giggled.

I stopped into the office of my beach buddy last week and she mentioned Mother's Day....I looked at her kind of funny, she laughed and said maybe she and her mother would come and leave husbands, kids and fathers behind....4 days later her husband called me and did just that, booking the table for his wife and her mother.  He said he was taking the kids to McDonald's.   NOW THAT'S  A MAN!

So please take note Dads.  Dragging the family out to brunch somewhere would not be every woman's idea of a celebration.  Taking me somewhere away from my pain in the neck kids and rubbing my thigh would be much better.

WHY RESTAURANTS DON'T LOVE LARGE PARTIES!!!!!(More than 4 guests) Easter Continued

Let's say we have two tables that can seat 4 people each.  We can put them together for a party of 8, maybe even 10.  This is called "a build".   The party of 10 wants to come in at 7:30 pm.  We open at 5:30, but often are not busy until after 6:00pm.  We only have two particular tables that we can put together in such a manner.  We have to seat those two 4 tops at 5:30 for them to "turn" in time for 7:30.  Very unlikely.  The tables sit empty until 7:30.  A party of 10 will stay 2 1/2 - 3 hours.  So that is the only sitting on the two tables for the evening.  If I could use the 2 tables for 4 tops, I could seat one of them at 6:00 and turn it at 8:00 and the other at 6:30 for a turn at 8:30.  This equals 16 people.  More money to pay bills.  More money in the server's pockets.  More consistent servers and service, because they have more money in their pockets.  A restaurant that can pay its bills is a very good thing.

But it's also flexibility.  One of those tables may want to spend 2 1/2 hours eating their dinner, not caring about the industry standard of 2 hours.  One table may have theater tickets and spend only 1 1/2 hours with us.  If I have to put those two tables together for a later party and they finish up at such different times, I'm screwed.  Multiply that times 30 requests for "builds" and I might as well not even open, which was considered seriously after one terrible Mother's Day.

OK, so we do some large parties.  We ask that the guests come at 6:00 or 8:30 on the weekend.  This allows us to seat a later group or an earlier group.  At least we get to "turn" the tables.  During the week, we can set aside a couple of tables that will not turn, so we play with the times a little.  Not a problem.  But Easter!, Mother's Day!, come on....

Valentine's Day

If you want to get a restaurant staff laughing, call a day in advance for a Valentine's reservation.  And then get indignant when we tell you we will call you if anyone cancels.  What planet are you from?  VALENTINE'S DAY IS THE BIGGEST RESTAURANT NIGHT OF THE YEAR.

For prime time slots on Valentine's Day, be prepared to call around the middle of December.

A Perfect New Year's Eve

   We had a terrific December, a record actually, and it was capped by a New Year's eve with nary a one NO-Show.  Yes, we had some last minute cancellations.  People do get sick after all, but each party called us and we were able to rebook their spots.  Thank you, Thank you, Thank you.  This is a restaurateur's dream night.  A couple of parties had to wait a bit after their reservation time and though they got a little restless, they were very kind to me and my staff.   

Thank you everyone!

Marla

Flowers anyone?

My manager wants to suggest the following when having flowers delivered to a restaurant:

• A tall arrangement is fine if it's the last celebration before your divorce, but otherwise you will not be able to see your loved one over the flowers.  It will take up too much space on an intimate table for two and looks kind of funny.  She suggests letting the florist know that it's for a dinner table.  We've seem some beautiful arrangements come in the door.
• We use Foxgloves and Ivy on St Charles Avenue in the Highlands.  Their number is 404-892-7272.
• Avoid the Stargazer Lily unless it's your favorite.  The scent is deadly in a restaurant and will have other patrons complaining and asking to move away from your table.