The One Commonality of a Bad Service Experience

As a restaurant and bar owner, I have discovered that there is one commonality between a bad service experience; whether it be that I have the poor experience myself,  I receive a complaint letter from a guest for one of my restaurants or I receive a bad mystery shop. That one commonality of all three is the fact that there’s no manager presence on the floor interacting with staff and the guests.

I always say that a manager’s job is simply this, to make things happen or let things happen. If a manager is not on the floor with the guests, then they are not able to influence the guest experience.  I ask my team all the time, what is more important while you’re working than the guests in your restaurant?  The only answer acceptable is nothing!

The guest is not an interruption of our work they are the purpose of our work.  If floor managers aren’t  present to oversee the experience their team is giving the guest and a guest receives a poor experience, then who is ultimately at fault for that bad experience?