My wife is a coeliac which means she can’t eat foods containing flour because of the gluten in it.
That means she rarely gets to eat pasta when we dine out because so few restaurants offer a gluten free pasta option
So we were pretty excited outside a restaurant when we saw the menu board proudly proclaim “Gluten free pasta available”.
We were inside and seated at a table faster that you could say, “That’s what a pining for pasta coeliac’s dreams are made of!”
Sipping our drinks (which took sometime to come but I’ll talk about that folly another day) we waited quite a while for the menus to arrive.
Finally they did and, trembling with long denied pasta anticipation, my wife took in the menu voraciously.
“I’ll have the gluten free bacon and mushroom pasta” she told the wait person with enthusiasm and happily took another sip of her drink… and another…and another… and…
After an interminable wait (other diners had come, ordered, been served, eaten and departed) the wait person appeared to announce, “I’m sorry, we don’t have any gluten free pasta. You’ll nave to choose something else”.
That was it. Ker plunk! All over red Rover, no gluten free pasta, tough! No offer of something special, no real apology, no nothing… choose something else or else!
What could they, what should they, have done to make the disappointment, the hurt, a little less painful?
A special dish the chef could whip up… rice in lieu of the pasta, maybe a filet of fish grilled without flour? That divine chocolate extravagant dessert (that my wife would kill for). And free, with lots of really sincere, heartfelt apologies!
But nothing (and charging me for my meal) doesn’t cut it. We won’t be back but obviously they don’t care.
The lesson here for all of us is, quite simply, how do you and your team make good when you get it wrong. Have you sat down and discussed it with them, thought about ways to do it and empowered everyone to do so?
That way you can turn tragedy into triumph!
Carol Jones and I had this discussion about this article.
Carol Jones…
Morning Winston. I think you were very polite. Can’t say how I would have reacted. But sometimes my New York City, growing up playing on the streets with the neighbourhood boys persona takes over. I often wonder why everyone doesn’t kno…See More
about an hour ago · Like
Winston Marsh…
Thanks Carol and we find that most restaraunts overpromise and underdeliver when it comes to helping coeliacs. They think its trendy to say that they cater for them but, when it comes to the crunch, they know precious little and do even less! More and more I’m convinced that retail businesses, restaurants, in fact, any business, could make heaps if they just delivered cheerful, knowledgeable and helpful service.
Hi Winno,
wanted to share an experience with you, and a testimonial for a great restaurant.
Recently, I took some of my team to Melbourne for a management seminar. We went for dinner to Tsindos in Lonsdale Street. One of my team has a wheat allergy (a true allergy, so bad, bad if exposed). Anyway we rang & asked if they had gluten free? Yes, they replied, no worries. We figured they may just be placating us. When we were seated, we reminded the waitress of the wheat problem. No worries, she made sure the chef prepared a seperate meal. Well, my friend enjoyed a meal superior to us in quantity & quality! When we thanked the waitress, again & again, she said her mother was coliac and she know how hard it was to get good gluten free food, so she made sure she looked after us. we had a great night out, and I will definately return, gluten free or not!
That’s fantastic David and I know how he must have felt. Gee its great when you really get looked after!
Sorry about the delay in my response David but what fabulous service. My wife is also a coeliac and we got exactly the same fantastic service that you experienced when we went to Choi’s in Hawthorn, Melbourne. Isn’t it great when they care… and we want to tell people about it!
David, did I ever say thank you for this contribution? We’ve got the restaurant on the list for my wife and I to try.