A friend of mine who knows that I consult with retailers and restaurants on loss prevention sent me this e-mail below on an experience he had at his favorite fast food (QSR) restaurant.  Well, I guess I should say what used to be his favorite lunch spot.  Unfortunately, the situation he describes is not uncommon, and generally falls into the “unintended consequences” category.  The manager made some decisions, probably for good reasons, but with disastrous effects.   My friend does a pretty good job describing the various effects of those decisions on losses and profitability.  There was no presence of the usual suspects on profit drains – theft, manipulation, fraud or other crime.  It simply is poor management, but profit draining just the same.  Upset customers will give feedback on poor operations – they won’t come back.

Here goes, edited of course to protect ……… well, you know.

“Here is an observation that I’ve been meaning to share with you for a week now. 

_____________ used to be my number one fast food choice.  Recently, I ate at the one in ___________ and was dismayed when I turned from the counter with my tray to find that there were absolutely no condiments, napkins, or anything!  Not even ketchup cups!

I turned around and went back to the counter and asked about it.  The clerk hands me ten ketchup cups (I would have only taken four) along with a handful of napkins.  I turn back around and head to the ketchup dispenser only to find out that it's empty!  Now another trip back to the counter where the clearly annoyed clerk drops a gaggle of ketchup packets on my tray next to my unusable ketchup cups. 

As it turns out, this was an order from the new manager to pull all those items off the drink kiosk and hold at the back of the counter in the interests of reducing shrink (customers were “wasting” the condiments and supplies).  Trouble is, the customers were all very upset, and the counter people had to deal with it.  So now the counter help must interact with the customer two or perhaps three times.  As a result, tables were dirty, and the ketchup dispenser empty because the employees had to continually get stuff from behind the counter for the customers.  Where’s the shrink calculation for that?  The frustrated employees may not last very long in that situation = DING!!! TURNOVER!!!  Now THAT'S a real money saver, isn't it?  What I’m wondering is where was the thought process was in rolling out this policy?  Didn’t anyone consider whether this change would improve the customer experience?  Nope, it was just a knee jerk reaction at trying to reduce costs.

On a return visit to the same store hoping that things were different, I found the same conditions and was told that this was a corporate wide policy.  Hmmm.  Go figure.”

 
In our training sessions on “Creating an Outstanding Customer Experience”, we emphasize that customers do NOT care about your policy.  We have plenty of fodder and examples to use.  We can now add this one.   Now this place has probably lost my friend’s business too; and he was a regular customer.  What a shame.  Maybe I should pay them a visit and pass along my business card.