Although there is truth in the thought, it can be misleading.
The meal was great, but there was something "off" at this restaurant. Admittedly, I'm a restaurant junkie. I overanalyze them. I am them.
The "off" was the music. There's only two things worse than no music in a restaurant. Playing a commercial filled radio station with jock-talk every twenty minutes is second worse to what this restaurant did. And yes, it's worse than playing the radio.
Then I started to think about the bathroom thing.
Servers clean bathrooms. Cooks clean kitchens. So why does a dirty bathroom give credence to a dirty kitchen?
What does one have to do with the other?
There are several ways to figure out if a kitchen is clean.
Here are some of my favourites:
1. Light bulbs are burnt out.
2. Gum under the tables.
3. Spiderwebs coming down from shelves.
4. Accumulated dirt in the corners before the rush of the day starts.
5. Walls needing paint.
6. Menus falling apart and needing to be replaced.
7. Music is inappropriate for the environment.
And see, none of these indications requires the customer to go 10 feet past the front door. They all deal with the same issue.
Management. The manager is responsible for all things, including systems to guarantee none of these happen. If the manager cannot implement and inspect these little things daily, then he/she is not inspecting the cleanliness of the cooks and kitchen. This I will guarantee.
For today, the restaurant felt that heavy metal was a good musical choice for its average customer. Although I like heavy metal, it isn't the type of music I want during lunch break.
There was also a wall needing paint, a server needing a clean uniform, a light bulb needing replaced, dirt in a corner that hasn't been swept in a few days and menus were frayed. Management is turning its eye and despite an open kitchen, I could see some real problems with cleanliness on the kitchen side.
I might have missed the other things if the music hadn't caught my attention.
My ears were being raped.
I've heard business owners say the best marketing is the operations. Roy Williams says that marketing speeds up the inevitable.
From an irregular customer's perspective, I believe the choice for a repeat visit starts with the last visit.
Marketing internally to the customer requires the business to use as many of the five senses as possible.
This stuff isn't just for restaurants.
Are you ignoring taste and smell?
Are you raping ears?
Are you not allowing them to touch the product before buying?
Are you not merchandising your product inside the four walls?
A retailer shouldn't smell like tires, when they advertise they are most than just tires.
A plumber shouldn't smell like crap, although his last job had him up to his knees in the stuff.
A real estate can give away a restaurant gift card for choosing him.
A contractor can bring a coffee to his first meeting with a new prospective client.
A restaurant can play happy music.
But all these things come down to one thing: management and the systems they implement to be consistent.
Consistency is the key to fulfilling expectations. Underfulfillment leads to dissatisfaction. And dissatisfaction creates customer erosion. Customer erosion hurts business and ultimately leads to failure if not addressed properly.
A dirty bathroom is the responsibility of management as is all aspects of an operation. So you can evaluate a kitchen based on a bathroom. But if you don't want to look like the fool that walks out after being seated. Just look for burnt out lightbulbs. One or two could've burnt out today. Three is too many. So either the business doesn't have enough money to fix them or the manager doesn't systemize the inspection processes.
And if the business doesn't have enough money to replace them, don't get too attached. Either way, its bad news...
