I’m of the opinion that the best branding in the world can be erased by one bad customer service experience. On the other hand, when a company goes out of its way to provide above-and-beyond customer service, I think it’s worth noting.
My Mom and I had dinner this evening at Carrabas, on 15-501. Barry doesn’t like the chains, but my Mom lives down that way and she’s not a culinary adventurer, so she and I have tried most of the restaurants along that corridor at least once. This is our second time at Carrabas and we’ve enjoyed the meals both times (good house red; excellent garlicky croutons in the salad).
But what stood out as bloggable was something I’ve never experienced before. It was sunny when we arrived, but as we exited the restaurant, the storms that have been threatened all weekend had finally arrived in earnest. It was pouring rain. We were parked up front in a handicapped space, so we didn’t have far to walk. But a Carrabas employee accompanied us to the van with an umbrella over our heads the entire time.
I could not draw Carrabas’ logo for you, and if they have a tag line, I don’t know it. The food is good, but not outstanding. But they will stand out in my mind as the restaurant that walked my 87-year-old mother to the car door with an umbrella.
2 responses so far ↓
1 Dana // Apr 28, 2008 at 7:23 am
You’re right about that chain. We visited a different location and found a similarly gracious and friendly attitude in customer care. I agree too about the food… not remarkable and creative, but it’s fresh, well prepared, consistent and generous. And we enjoyed our meals.
On our first visit a few months ago, it was packed. There were no tables and a long wait, and we chose to sit at the counter in front of which food was being prepared. Think of a seat at a sushi bar, where you can watch the chefs.
Throughout the meal, the chef would occasionally put a plate with a taste of this or that in front of us or someone else seated at the bar. We were interested in watching the food prep, and at some point had a short conversation with a man who was apparently a supervisor. We chatted about the wood/gas ovens, which I admired.
As we were leaving, he handed us a box with a pizza in it…he said they had made it for a different customer and it was wrong, so would we want it?
I thought it was very gracious.
It must be the attitude of upper management. I hope they are a resounding success. They have the right attitude for a company in the service sector.
2 Elizabeth Clement // Apr 28, 2008 at 4:50 pm
Wow. That’s impressive!
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