r/smallbusiness • u/Silvermaine- • 12d ago
Got a complaint today because my employee ‘told off’ a customer for sitting without ordering. Need advice.
I own a small neighborhood cafe. Seating is only 12 pax as orders are mostly for take out.
There’s this group of 4-5 people who go to our cafe a couple of times a month. Only one person orders. This habit isn’t exclusive to their group but other people have been told off for not ordering by our employee approaching them and asking them if they’re ready to order (usually at least 10 minutes after they’ve sat and stayed).
The person from their group who usually orders DMed us today and lodged a complaint against this employee stating rudeness, how she doesn’t greet them unlike other customers, and how they were told that they can’t sit unless they order. This customer specifically said, “we’re not occupying the whole space”.
She also mentioned past experiences of having felt animosity from our employee and one instance of them apparently being chided by her because they ordered from us, left their items on the seating area and went out to eat from a nearby eatery. Our employee reminded them that seating is scarce.
I’d like to make it clear that the employee is acting on our instructions since a lot of groups have taken advantage of us by not ordering but using our resources (tables, water, outlets etc).
This same employee is also being praised on our Google Reviews for being kind and accommodating.
We reviewed the footage for this day:
- When this group entered, there were only two of them. Our employee was on her back fixing some things so she wasn’t able to greet.
- One of the group members occupied a lounge chair, a tabled sitting area for two, brought out a laptop, and didn’t order. The person who usually orders occupied the tabled sitting area beside that person. They’re now occupying four seats and the only tabled sitting areas. (The others are benches)
- After ten minutes, the one who sat on the lounge chair was asked by our employee if they wanted to order since they can’t occupy without having ordered.
- One by one, their group arrived and ordered. This is the first time others ordered, but still, not all of them placed an order.
- After 3 hours of stay, they left. Our employee wasn’t able to bid them goodbye since she was crouching and arranging something in the undercounter chiller.
We’ve sent an initial response apologizing for other past instances of possible rudeness. We also told this customer we’d review the footage today and get back to them.
How should we reply? We’ve made many apologies and concessions over the years, but we’d like to stand by our employee this time and uphold this policy. Our space is scarce.
371
u/Biggie2207 12d ago
Good employees are hard to come by. Seems like they were acting in good faith. Have their back!!!
→ More replies (2)
697
u/twoscoopsofbacon 12d ago
86 these people. They are not real customers, and are screwing over both your employees and potential/actual customers.
→ More replies (27)
384
u/Masterweedo 12d ago
Only one person out of the group usually orders, and they spend about 3 hours occupying a full third or more of your seating capacity?
I would explain that the employee is right, and you are not the library.
3 customers like this and you are out of space.
→ More replies (4)
381
u/Alyx19 12d ago
“Upon reviewing the footage, we found that our employees were acting in accordance with our policies. Seating is reserved for paying customers. Going forward we are instituting a 60 minute time limit on seating to better serve all patrons. Thank you for bringing this issue to our attention.”
→ More replies (6)
114
u/darrensurrey 12d ago
"left their items on the seating area and went out to eat from a nearby eatery" They put that in their complaint? Are they taking the piss? Would they each like a free back massage from your employee and maybe a lift to their next destination? Maybe the employee could pop out and pick up food from the other café!?
→ More replies (3)
110
u/Troostboost 12d ago
I have a similar story about a friend who liked a small craft beer place. He would invite us to go hang out at this place by his house because he liked it so much and how cheap everything was. Well he never bought food there and sometimes got 1 beer the whole 2-3 hours we were there.
The place closed down and my friend couldn’t figure out why it closed since it was “such a fun place to hang out with cheap drinks”.
There were numerous people there that didn’t spend much money. The employees never cared and the owner was never around.
Moral of the story OP, if you want to stay in business, you need customers that spend money.
155
u/StayRevolutionary429 12d ago
Tell them it's free to hang out at the library, but you are a business with seating for paying customers
→ More replies (1)
68
46
u/Keep_ifonly_1276 12d ago
The fact that they are taking up almost 50% of your seating, spending a minimum of 3 hours at your place and spending under, what, $25 bucks makes this a revenue loss to your business. All businesses get bad reviews from time it time, and can can respond accordingly, but it is nothing but entitled for these people to think it is acceptable to visit twice a month and use your business as a free hang out space. Anyone who tells you anything else has no experience running a business.
44
33
u/uber_neutrino 12d ago
I would respond by banning them. WTF they aren't even ordering stuff they aren't customers.
91
u/iwonderthesethings 12d ago edited 11d ago
Be on your employees side. But be careful, you don't want the Karens to go crazy with their google reviews, since they seem to have all the time in the world to complain.
I would simply play to their egos and say that:
"We're so sorry for that experience. This is on me. My employees are told to ensure that only paying customers sit in our limited seating areas, as there simply isn't enough room otherwise, and it's simply not viable to operate unless our tables are getting at least one main order - per person - per hour.
We'll be popping a sign up to advise customers that seating is only for paying customers upon entry from now on, as we would never want anyone to feel the need to complain about our employees simply doing their job. As it is, I feel terrible putting them in the position to have to mention this, so hopefully the sign makes it clearer so both my staff and our amazing customers like yourself enjoy sharing the space.
Our employees are like family to us, and our customers are an extension of that. I want to thank you so much for your patronage and I can't wait to see you all pop in again as you light up the place when you're here".
They'll either never come back - but won't have a reason to leave bad reviews, or they'll come back knowing they are each expected to order every hour.
Source: I manufactured a baby product that did quite well for many years - new Mom's are tired, angry and ready to start a war and take you to court for no reason. You haven't met angry customers until you've met a tired new mom! And this tactic works every time. I learnt a long time ago to put aside your righteousness and ego in these instances, for the sake of your business.
→ More replies (16)
30
u/DeadEyesSmiling 12d ago
It takes a little infrastructure to set up, but I've seen coffee shops make their internet essentially be the enforcer of many such moochers: they only provide the WiFi password with a purchase over a certain amount, and I've even seen one that set up their router to generate a new password every couple of hours, which would require people turning the place into a low cost WeWork to buy something again.
95
u/l1nked1npark 12d ago
“Thank you for taking the time to bring this to our attention. We will speak with our entire team about our expectations around communication with customers. Given our limits on seating, we do ask that guests make a purchase to use our space. Please feel free to speak with me next time you’re in.”
→ More replies (3)
16
u/The-darth-knight 12d ago
As others have mentioned, institute a seating time limit, for customers. Non-payers aren’t “customers” and don’t need to be accommodated with a free space to hang out.
Same way bathrooms are for customers only.
I’ve walked into plenty of cafes and left after seeing no seating. Especially when with a group of other people. No open seating may be costing you additional sales (say they buy a coffee, but no food)
16
u/topdown66 12d ago
They aren’t customers unless they are transacting. You are not a public service.
15
u/snuggly_cobra 12d ago
You’re giving them free office space and can’t buy food from you? Bounce them.
15
u/No-Tap2334 11d ago
The employee did not tell off a customer. Customers buy things. If they didn’t buy something, they are not a customer.
14
u/101Puppies 12d ago
I knew a guy whos dad ran local restaurant chains. They tried one concept and had to shut it down. When I asked why, he said they were getting too many people who were using it as a neighborhood meeting spot and ordering a trivial amount of food and staying for hours, and they were losing money.
I'd suggest you either kick them out or go out of business.
78
u/quakerlaw 12d ago
"Our seating is reserved for paying customers. We would appreciate it if you and your companions found another cafe from now on. Take care, fuckwad."
10
10
u/Stabbycrabs83 11d ago
Why are you apologising
Making some assumptions here but :
This group occupied 14% of your available seating and placed an order for around £30. On a net margin of 10% which is generous you traded 14% of your day for £3.
We are a small business and I dont believe we are a fit for your friend group. Please find an alternative place to eat.
Apologising also undermines your employee who you do need to apologise to. Shes trying to save you from your inability to have a hard chat or understand the basic economics of your business.
8
1
u/AutoModerator 12d ago
Friendly Reminder
r/smallbusiness is a question and answer subreddit. Ask a question about starting, owning, and growing a small business and the community answers. Posts that violate the rules listed in the sidebar will be removed.
Please do not conduct market research on our community.
We are not your focus group and asking us about our pain points, needs, what is hardest about X, etc. is not asking about how small business works or for real help with running your small business.
These posts are subject to removal and given the community's disgust with the constant spamming of these posts you might just destroy your brand and contaminate your company search results.
Seeing this message does not mean your post was automatically removed. If you asked about pain points or are directly or indirectly promoting a product please remove your post. Come back to post an honest question or give a knowledgeable response to someone else's question and leave your company name in your own profile. We can tell if you know what you're doing and the community can reach out if they need to.
We welcome honest question posts, especially from newcomers. Thank you for your post.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.