Customer Service, London style
"To inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup, and one neighborhood at a time"
This is the mission statement of an international coffee house chain based in Seattle.
09:58 hrs
Here we were in Old London town; 'the home of The Beatles' as I overheard one American tourist stating the day before. It was a crisp, sunny September morning with the muffled sounds of traffic on the Thames and on the nearby streets. People were gathering around the doorway to one of London's coffee houses, close to Tower Bridge. The shop was due to open at 10am and because it was England, people were beginning to form an unofficial queue.
The small group of coffee enthusiasts included a couple of joggers, a man walking his dog (I presume it was his) and an elderly couple who had probably been up for 5 hours already, gasping for some fresh coffee. It was the nearest thing to a 'community' you're likely to see in central London.
10:05
Things were getting abit tense because the coffee shop remained unopened. The queue of coffee drinkers became a little agitated as people began to purse their lips and check timepieces while nodding their heads. It was a massive mistake to make people wait for coffee in the morning but I was certain common sense and good service would prevail...
A good first impression creates rapport and trust
10:06
An employee popped his head up from under the counter inside the shop, where employees can hide if they're having a bad day. He noticed the queue outside and rolled his eyes, his body language betrayed him saying, "Bloody customers, they're here again!" He gave a stern, dismissive look at the small gathering awaiting their morning pints of latte.
You choose to give great service
10:08
When he eventually deemed us worthy to let us in, to our disbelief, he walked to another door (a 2nd entrance at the other end of the shop for invisible customers) and opened that one first! Having executed part one of the opening up process he strolled over towards us, head down, and opened 'our' door like he was doing us a massive favour; like letting the dog out for a run in the garden. I was at least expecting a, "Good morning everyone! Sorry about the wait, I'll be as quick as I can!" He didn't say a word and he didn't make eye contact with us.
Positive Attitude, Courtesy, Timeliness, Trust, Reliability, Quality...
These are just some of the values and emotions that companies want their clients to experience.
In a world in which companies compete fiercely to offer very similar products, customer service will make the difference. That's why organisations spend so much time and money recruiting and training the right people. Our man failed to provide a basic level of service on this occasion. I'll call him Derek because it's not one of my favourite names.
So what happens when a service provider fails us? As consumers we can simply choose to move on to the next one.
10:10
Some people get more offended than others and when we got inside the shop, I overheard one of the joggers threaten to his partner, "I'm gonna buy two coffees and tip one of 'em over that guy!" (then run, presumably).
The human spirit, eh? One person, one cup, and one neighbourhood at a time, tipping their coffee all over Derek. That's what bad service can do for you.
by Nick Vertigans
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Friday, April 23, 2010
Gordon Ramsey opens Maze in Melbourne
Ramsay puts bite on our suspicions
MICHAEL HARDEN April 24, 2010
MELBURNIANS, more than a little proud of our home-grown dining scene, tend to view imported restaurant concepts with suspicion. Add Gordon Ramsay's name to the equation and this innate wariness of by-the-numbers international-chain restaurants becomes even more pronounced.
Being taught to suck eggs by a notorious celebrity chef with nearly 20 restaurants on several continents is not something we readily embrace, which is why dining at Ramsay's first Australian outpost can be such a disarming experience.
Ramsay already has several maze restaurants on the go - in London, New York and Cape Town - and the two-headed Melbourne version, in a cavernous but cleverly divided space on the first floor of Crown's new Metropol hotel, sticks to the same basic structure. The dimly lit headliner, maze, has a casual, carpeted and upholstered fine-dining feel with a menu of exclusively small dishes.
The second restaurant, maze Grill, is brighter, noisier, open-kitchened, New York-style steakhouse that does a good line in simply cooked comfort food.
Ramsay has obviously done his homework - he rattles off Cutler & Co, Cumulus Inc and Bar Lourinha as local faves - and is well aware of the Melburnian suspicion of blow-ins.
Probably his greatest weapon in breaking down the preconceptions of what he terms a ''unique, finicky, hard-arse and highly competitive'' scene was appointing Josh Emett (pictured) as head chef.
Emett, a New Zealander with Melbourne runs on the board (he cooked with Donovan Cooke at est est est), has worked for Ramsay for about 10 years and so has a good understanding of both his boss's approach and the local scene. He's also quite brilliant technically and produces food that's always lovely to look at.
In maze, the modern European and occasional Asian flavours are polite rather than robust but there's plenty of strength among the subtlety. You might find delicate slivers of marinated baby beet sandwiching goat's curd and sprinkled with earthy toasted pine nuts ($12) or a superb dish of coral trout, wrapped in salty, just-crisp chicken skin sitting in a sparkling lemon thyme consomme ($23).
Maze Grill has a list of seven char-grilled steaks ($34-$58) alongside crowd pleasers like perfectly fried, soft-shell crab served with a harissa mayonnaise ($15), roasted barramundi on a colourful warm potato salad ($33) and a chocolate and pecan brownie ($12).
There's a level of care and attention in the food, the service and the wine list at maze that goes a long way towards dispelling suspicions of this being just another link in a chain.
MELBOURNE'S RESTAURANT IMPORTSNOBUPart of a worldwide chain of more than 20 restaurants, Nobu Matsuhisa's Melbourne branch at Crown has not taken Melbourne diners by storm despite - or perhaps because of - celebrity partner Robert De Niro.
WAGAMAMAThis London-based noodle chain bringing Asian food to Melbourne found itself in an ''ice to Eskimos'' situation and suffered accordingly.
LONGRAINInitial suspicions about Sydneysiders were quickly cast aside when locals realised Martin Boetz's modern Thai restaurant was giving us something we hadn't had before - brilliant Thai flavours.
ROCKPOOL BAR & GRILLA chicken-and-egg scenario that turned out happily. Neil Perry's first Melbourne venture brought a Sydney name but pioneered an upmarket steakhouse and seafood concept that worked so well he imported it back to Sydney.
Source: The Age
MICHAEL HARDEN April 24, 2010
MELBURNIANS, more than a little proud of our home-grown dining scene, tend to view imported restaurant concepts with suspicion. Add Gordon Ramsay's name to the equation and this innate wariness of by-the-numbers international-chain restaurants becomes even more pronounced.
Being taught to suck eggs by a notorious celebrity chef with nearly 20 restaurants on several continents is not something we readily embrace, which is why dining at Ramsay's first Australian outpost can be such a disarming experience.
Ramsay already has several maze restaurants on the go - in London, New York and Cape Town - and the two-headed Melbourne version, in a cavernous but cleverly divided space on the first floor of Crown's new Metropol hotel, sticks to the same basic structure. The dimly lit headliner, maze, has a casual, carpeted and upholstered fine-dining feel with a menu of exclusively small dishes.
The second restaurant, maze Grill, is brighter, noisier, open-kitchened, New York-style steakhouse that does a good line in simply cooked comfort food.
Ramsay has obviously done his homework - he rattles off Cutler & Co, Cumulus Inc and Bar Lourinha as local faves - and is well aware of the Melburnian suspicion of blow-ins.
Probably his greatest weapon in breaking down the preconceptions of what he terms a ''unique, finicky, hard-arse and highly competitive'' scene was appointing Josh Emett (pictured) as head chef.
Emett, a New Zealander with Melbourne runs on the board (he cooked with Donovan Cooke at est est est), has worked for Ramsay for about 10 years and so has a good understanding of both his boss's approach and the local scene. He's also quite brilliant technically and produces food that's always lovely to look at.
In maze, the modern European and occasional Asian flavours are polite rather than robust but there's plenty of strength among the subtlety. You might find delicate slivers of marinated baby beet sandwiching goat's curd and sprinkled with earthy toasted pine nuts ($12) or a superb dish of coral trout, wrapped in salty, just-crisp chicken skin sitting in a sparkling lemon thyme consomme ($23).
Maze Grill has a list of seven char-grilled steaks ($34-$58) alongside crowd pleasers like perfectly fried, soft-shell crab served with a harissa mayonnaise ($15), roasted barramundi on a colourful warm potato salad ($33) and a chocolate and pecan brownie ($12).
There's a level of care and attention in the food, the service and the wine list at maze that goes a long way towards dispelling suspicions of this being just another link in a chain.
MELBOURNE'S RESTAURANT IMPORTSNOBUPart of a worldwide chain of more than 20 restaurants, Nobu Matsuhisa's Melbourne branch at Crown has not taken Melbourne diners by storm despite - or perhaps because of - celebrity partner Robert De Niro.
WAGAMAMAThis London-based noodle chain bringing Asian food to Melbourne found itself in an ''ice to Eskimos'' situation and suffered accordingly.
LONGRAINInitial suspicions about Sydneysiders were quickly cast aside when locals realised Martin Boetz's modern Thai restaurant was giving us something we hadn't had before - brilliant Thai flavours.
ROCKPOOL BAR & GRILLA chicken-and-egg scenario that turned out happily. Neil Perry's first Melbourne venture brought a Sydney name but pioneered an upmarket steakhouse and seafood concept that worked so well he imported it back to Sydney.
Source: The Age
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