Dumb Waiters

Dumb Waiters! I have just been venting in my Business Blog. Why do restaurants spend a fortune advertising a service that frankly isn’t fit for purpose?

Nadia and I had earlier dined so a bottle of wine and a couple of glasses would do fine. Taking our seat we explained this to the waiter. What an abrupt change in attitude! The table-clothed tables were for diners only we were haughtily told. We were then directed to an area set apart with bare little wooden tables and chairs. If I wanted an analogy I would say it was like ringing the front door bell and being told to use the tradesman’s entrance.

Needless to say, neither we nor our friends will visit again. Nor will we recommend it. I also predict that as soon as the holiday pressure is off the restaurant owner who engages dumb waiters will be spending the high season’s profits on advertising. As the Americans say, ‘you can’t fix stupid.’

 Whats the food like in this restaurant?

 Hi Mike,

I suppose you are aware that it is very unusual for people to go to a restaurant and just have wine. The Spanish don't do it. What time of day was it? Because if it was after nine it would have taken a table away from their dinner servings and the Spanish aren't well known for turning tables, so you would be taking up a dinner table for the price of a bottle of wine...somthing they wouldn't be very happy with.

The least they could have done, however, is set up a table in conditions instead of sending you off to the corner so to speak, it's no different than having a drink at the bar, but that said it is standard practice in Spain only to use tablecloths if you are eating, and dinner areas and bar areas tend to be defined in most restaurants, and they tend to define them by not putting table cloths on the bar tables 

:)  I don't know how the waiter treated you but the scene you are describing sounds very typical :)

Thanks Ian, I appreciate what you say. A key maxim in the book of good salesmanship is, ‘find out what the customer wants and sell it to him.’ Another favourite of mine is, ‘you’ll get what you want when you convince your customer he is going to get what he wants.’

We would never take up a diners table but there were vacant tables and not a lot of passing trade. Restaurant 1 (in my blog) was a very good salesman and ambassador for his restaurant. Restaurant 2 and 3 I would have sacked. It was the god-sent opportunity to form a relationship with new clients and they sniffily turned them away. Pride comes before a fall.

Just reading in this week’s RTN. Because the man’s wife was a light eater the couple suggested her portion be half the husband’s - but didn’t expect a reduction in price. They were actually charged an extra €6 for ‘violating the terms of the offer.’ Oh, the stories I have heard! One day!

 I agree i've been in that situation so many times, it is unfortunately typical in Spain, but the Spanish have a long way to go in customer service, which is surprising given the country survives on tourism. The restaurant owners will eventually come round due to necessity. Up until now restaurants worked just by opening the door, they didn't even print up menus they just told you what they had, so professionalism in the sector wasn't that widely spread, any Tom, Dick and Harry opened a restaurant, but times are hard and they will have to come up to speed to make the experience special and memorable for every customer, repeat business is their only route to success now, before customers came and went and there were always more to follow, now they have to build a reputation. I am generalising though, there are and have always been many professional establishments all over Spain but predominantly over a specific spend per head. Now what ever they charge they have to fulfill. Let's hope the message gets home sooner rather than later. My feeling is that it is improving but time will tell.

 
And what exactly do you suppose they waste the 11% costs on?
Rent, wages, wine and food costs (I presume these commodities aren't free in Spain) , laundry, insurance, licences, power (for cooking and fridges and for light and heat when required) cleaning materials, wear and tear on fixtures and fittings including cutlery and crockery, VAT and............if they make a profit.........income tax.
 

A Restaurant which made 89% gross profit, as you suggest, would be a miracle with the most cost conscious of chefs, unless of course it had 3 Michelin stars and the chef was Marcus Waring or his ilk.
In an average decent restaurant an overall gross profit of somewhere in the region of 50-70% is achievable with a taxable net profit in the region of 25-35%.

I know where the term 'Dumb Waiter' originates and it is not taken from someone's derogatory reference to a hard-working, low paid member of the restaurant staff. If you meant this as a joke then it is a very hackneyed and dated one and your attitude to the less fortunate of your fellow men is, quite frankly, deplorable.

Did you not ask the waiters their reasons for moving you? The profit from a bottle of wine does not cover the cost of laundering a table cloth and I suppose you expect a fresh and clean one when you dine? If they habitually sold just wine/drinks then there's the possibility of having no tables available for diners, especially if they are situated in a busy location. I think the waiters were being diplomatic in not offering you an explanation.

The waiter who 'implored' you to stay was obviously trying to save the cost of laundering yet another cloth and/or not wanting you to sit in one of the prime dining locations I.e., near to a window or the entertainment.
In restaurant No. 1 they obviously catered for non-diners and perhaps the drinks-only custom made up a large part of their clientele.

I think your so called attempt to rate a restaurant without actually dining there was a cheap and arrogant ruse to avoid drinking in (or being seen sat in or outside) a more down market bar or café. If wrong I apologise. Quite honestly I would recommend that you remove the piece. I find it quite offensive.

I think the issue is not what happened but how it happened! Is that right, Mike?

I had an experience a couple of weeks ago, not in Spain, which cheesed me off no end, all over a jug of water.

We just sat down to await our ordered food which arrived late,I was thirsty and asked a young waitress for a jug of water and the moment I asked I knew it was not going to materialize. After some time I asked her again and she told me they did not have enough jugs, so there. Thinking that surely there must be at least a jug per table I approached her colleague which I assumed to be running the sitting area. No, sorry, no jugs. We try to do our best to get you one, though. That statement proved to be a lie since she asked me immediately to get my own water at the bar. They most certainly did not try to do their best. Would it have killed them to say, sorry no jug, here is a nice big glass, though?

No, what they told me in not so many words is that I, as a customer, am not valued enough for the effort.

After giving it some thought I had decided to give my usual tip since I felt it to be petty not to do so.

Then the bill came and I was charged fifty cent extra for some vegetables I had requested in lieu of the chips and potatoes. Hardly an effort on behalf of the kitchen personnel and something thay had never been done before.

A good waiter says sorry, I have to give you another table, makes you sit by the toilet door and you think that is reasonable. Or brings you the water in a tea pot together with an extra flower in a vase and explains the situation and you love it. A bad waiter strikes a chord when he/she says hello and you will never visit that place again.

It's called the feel good factor, an essential part of any business. I mean, who goes to a place to be made feel bad? And it may take surprisingly little to influence a persons feeling, either way!

You are so right, Robert. You cut right through to the crux of the matter; service. I identify perfectly with your experience, most do. Is it the waiters philosophy that we are there for their convenience, not ours? It often seems that way. Do they think only their money is hard earned, not ours?

Allergic to egg so I always tell waiting on staff, no egg. Only once was the egg removed without an alternative offered. Imagine my expression when I was asked what I might like in place of the egg. I told her a sausage would do fine.

She then said, that will be 20c extra as that is the difference in the price of an egg and a sausage. Needless to say we have never returned.

Well you lot must have a bad attitude or explain what you want to the waiters in such a bad way that it rubs them up straight away, or either that have gone out of your way to find the worst eating place in town.   I / We and many friends have eaten in many (to many to count) restaurants in Spain over the past many years of going to Spain, during the off peak season, full peak season, winter,  even Xmas day, and have never ever had one bad meal,  one bad waiter, lucky or not maybe, i don't know.

Well you lot must have a bad attitude or explain what you want to the waiters in such a bad way that it rubs them up straight away, or either that have gone out of your way to find the worst eating place in town. 

Funnily enough, no to all above. Not sure how I could have my wish for a jug of water  made any clearer. It's not as if I asked for some H2O in a carafe of amorphous solid material containing also a slice of citrus fruit and some water in its solid form.

‘Find out what the customer wants and sell it to him.’

Or maybe:- 

Find where you like (understand) the customs and go to that country.

A couple of weeks ago my husband and I wanted just a beer and a coffee, it was 2.30 pm on a Sunday.  We asked a waiter at a busySpanish beach bar if it would be alright as we knew it was lunch time.  No problem what so ever, smiles and friendly attitude.

A few years ago in USA after we had spent about an hour in a restaurant, and the tables around us had changed a few times, the waiter said (sarcastically)  “So nice to see you folks enjoying your food”  (USA waiter speak for eat up and get out).  He still expected 15 to 20% tip. And we spoke 'American' in USA.  We have no intention of visiting USA again as we do not like the customs in general there.  Now that's our choice, go where we like the way they do things !