We had a customer today whose child got chicken fingers. What was my horror when I heard they wanted to speak with the manager because their chicken wasn't fully cooked. I went out to visit with them. I shared my concern for the problem. They said it was disgusting, I agreed with them and offered to fix the problem. I tried to explain that we follow the instructions provided by the manufacturer and cooked them the appropriate time and I wasn't sure how this had happened. I comped their meal and offered my apologies. Apparently I did not do a very good job because I got a phone call a while later and it was these customers calling to talk to an owner. I picked up the call and then they were upset that I was the same person they had talked to before and laid in on me. I apologized again. So, when I said that we follow the instructions provided by the manufacturer... they were under the impression that I was casting blame and not taking responsibility and they wanted to know what I was doing to ensure this didn't happen again. I started over, expressed again my horror at the situation, my agreeing with them that it was unacceptable, my deep concern that the product be cooked properly. I shared my concern as a parent, that chicken fingers happen to be one of my son's favorite things to eat and how upset I would be if his were under cooked. I explained that I was discussing the situation with the cooks, I was looking at the fryer and the oil temp to ensure that everything was set correctly. I seriously asked the cook no less than three times how long he cooked the chicken. He and another cook both said it was the full six minutes. I heard them discussing the time when he was cooking them so I believe it was right. I told her that I would have them check internal temperatures on every piece of chicken going out and no longer accept the cooking time and temp as a sure thing. I also mentioned that I might go from a raw chicken to a fully cooked product just to ensure nothing like this happens again. She expressed that she appreciates the quality and freshness of our food etc. All I could do was apologize. In the end I think she was okay.
It sucks that she had to call back and that I didn't convey the right message the first time. That is frustrating to me. I thought I had. It can be an awkward situation and being the guy that has to go and try to make it right is not always the easiest tasks. I don't always know what to say and certainly don't know how what I say will be received. Though I thought I was expressing empathy and handling the situation right the first time my visit was a fail. I don't like that. Believe me, I have been beating myself up about it since the call came in. I'll need to do a better job and I need to make sure the customer is happy before I walk away from them the first time. I thought they were but apparently I was wrong. In my head for the rest of the day I heard Chris Farley saying: Let me tell you why I suck as a salesman... . I will do better the next time though I expect there will not be a next time with this chicken problem.
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