OUTBACK Steak House, Kansas

Traveling through Kansas, I stopped for dinner at a local Outback Steak house in Kansas. Upon arriving at the restaurant, I am greeted by the maitre d'. After asking how many in my party, I was politely informed "We are running a bit slow due to being short staffed, but we will do everything we can to give you a good meal." I was seated in the family section of the restaurant. This was a nice place with t.v.'s located around the dining room for entertaining the guests. As I waited for the my dinner, I noticed the different shows on the t.v.'s. After my dinner arrived, the t.v. close to my table changed to a new show. CSI came on the t.v. and started to show a brain dissection, not quite the best dinner show. I looked around the restaurant and noticed in a different part of the family section, one of the t.v.'s was interviewing an adult star about her career. I watched as a family of 4 children waited for their meal and watched the show (a very adult show).

After my meal was over, the manager came over to my table to ask me about my service and the meal. I asked him if he was open for some input? I explained what I do for a living and the value of a customers experience with a business.
I asked him if he knew what was on the t.v.'s for his guest to enjoy? He did not know what was being shown and when we discussed my experience and my observations, he was shocked. Not what he was wanting his guests to experience. Then we talked about the message that was given to me by the maitre d'.

What if when I arrived, I was told that due to a overwhelming amount of great customers, we are running a bit behind, but we will make sure you have a great meal. This would have made me feel lucky to even get a table, let alone quick service. Rather than telling me that their staff was unreliable and possibly that I would not get a good quality meal. Why start out my experience with the restaurant on a negative.

Sometimes you need to create and paint the right image of the level of experience the customer will have at your business even before they spend their time with your business.

Customer Experience Rating: 7