Truman Capote once said, “Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor.”
Clearly, Capote never worked in a restaurant.
It’s not that failure can’t be tolerated in the hospitality industry. Oftentimes an error can turn into a constructive lesson and help improve restaurant operations management. However, when a failure is so big that it could easily be avoided by taking time to think it through or by following a standard procedure, that’s when restaurants run into serious problems.
Restaurant fails can occur in a number of ways and for a number of reasons. Perhaps they set up shop in the wrong location, perhaps they didn’t have a clear identity for their brand, or perhaps they didn’t properly plan out their spending. These issues often stem from inexperience or lack of knowledge about the industry.
But what about the chain and franchise restaurants who should know better?
Let’s take a look at six of the biggest offenders of late:
1. Chipotle
News about the Chipotle E. coli outbreak is still going strong. They’re now being sued for supposedly knowing about their faulty food safety practices. News outlets continue to recap the food contamination issue from start to finish as there is still no identifiable source for the outbreak. And now Chipotle itself has announced it will close all locations on February 8 for a food safety review.
Their #Fail?
- Food contamination
- Lack of responsibility
- Too little, too late
2. Applebee’s
You’ve got to cringe whenever you hear about a company mistreating their employees. Why? Because it could happen to anyone—you, your mother, your best friend. So when you hear that Applebee’s failed to pay an autistic kitchen employee for a year, you laugh and assume it must be a joke. Nope. It really happened. Granted, they did eventually compensate him for the unpaid 480 hours of work, but not until news outlets got ahold of the story.
Their #Fail?
- Employee mistreatment
- Lack of responsibility
3. Starbucks
Starbucks’ coffee cups tend to make for great fodder—from their choice of seasonal designs to their horrible misspelling of customer names. What happens when Starbucks tries to take itself too seriously and gets involved in the discussion on race? Obviously, nothing good. After pulling the Race Together campaign, it was clear that “Starbucks did not spend time discussing how it would look for a white billionaire to front a national dialogue on race.” Oof.
Their #Fail?
- Lack of foresight
- Poor taste
- Disconnect with audience
4. Domino’s
Any successful business knows that one of the ways to truly get into the hearts (and stomachs) of millennials is through social media. That’s why you see chains like Burger King and Wendy’s going to (Twitter) war. Domino’s may have done a good job in maintaining its social media presence, but it failed really hard when the person (or machine) responsible for monitoring Facebook confused a genuine compliment as a customer complaint.
Their #Fail?
- Improper marketing techniques
- Lack of responsibility
5. IHOP
In a case of having the wrong person managing your social media, IHOP has had three major flops recently. Whether they’re referring to women’s flat anatomy, their butter faces, or their status as a side piece, the jokes are bad… and not really “joke”-y at all. They either need a new writer or a new marketing strategy because this bad publicity is worse than no publicity at all.
Their #Fail?
- Improper marketing techniques
- Bad hiring
- Poor taste
6. Wendy’s
The topic of security breaches is nothing new. However, when it hits a restaurant franchise as large as Wendy’s, it’s going to get a lot of attention. They’ve taken very quick action to investigate and resolve the issue, but it still leaves a lot of customers wondering whether their credit card information has been compromised.
Their #Fail?
- Improper security techniques
No matter the size of your restaurant, the number of locations, or the years in business, mistakes are inevitable. It’s just the reality of the industry. However, with a well-trained team and procedures established to mitigate for “risky” behavior across all of your restaurants, you can decrease your chance of running into these business fails. Just remember:
“A man must be big enough to admit his mistakes, smart enough to profit from them, and strong enough to correct them.” – John C. Maxwell
Having control of all your restaurant operations has now become a larger than life process. To assist you, Better Chains has developed platforms that successfully manage your time, money and employees. Take a look now!
