What Kills Resturaunt's? It's the "WE'LL BE BACK" Trick

Having lunch with the publisher of Today's Restaurant News he told me a story of a close friend of his in the the restaurant business.

His friend had asked him what he thought was wrong with his restaurant as the sales were going steadily south. He said; "Howard, I don't understand it, as the guests leave, they shake my hand, kiss my wife and tell us, "It was wonderful, we'll be back..." but they don't come back, why?

This publisher, Howard Appell, said he did not have the heart to tell his friend all the things he knew was killing his business!

If this operator had any brains, he would start calling his guests the very next morning on the phone and ask if they had a good experience in his restaurant last night.

This operator would then learn that most of guests are a bunch of liars as the very same people who told him; We'll be back," had a very different story to tell him in the privacy of their own home.He would instantly learn and understand why his business was going south!

Then, if a guests had a real bad experience, he should send back all the money including the tip that this poor abused guest had spent in his restaurant along with letter of apology.

In many cases his guests would be thrilled to death over his gesture and send the check back, with reassurance that they indeed would be back to his restaurant.
Some of his guests would cash the check and deduct only what they spent and send the balance of the money back.

This restaurant operator would soon find out that his guests 'trust account' would start to grow along with his increased business.
No guest will ever forget a gesture like that!

Years later this guest will not remember the name of the restaurant, what they eat or whom they had dinner with, but they will all ways remember the check in the mail!

In order to using this idea as a marketing concept to grow your business, you need to allocate 1% of sales to be refunded to "unhappy" guests.