How not to run a restaurant 101

[Brainonska511]

For some light entertainment - Boston restaurant owner has a meltdown -

https://twitter.com/x/status/1760768763694112882

It's like Amy's Baking Co from Kitchen Nightmares.

TLDR for Twitter: patron ended up in ER, restaurant told them to take cancellation fee up with CC, patron filed claim with CC's travel insurance, CC company chose to reverse the $250 cancellation charge, restaurant owner found patron begins drama by arguing with customer and unhinged posting on their social media.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

restaurant told them to take cancellation fee up with CC

Bad idea. CC lawyers are happy to go to bat for you because they exist for it. They publicly lost more than they would have privately lost. Jagoffs.

 

[Brainonska511]

Apparently, this restaurant owner has a long history of being an unhinged nut. Now the chickens are coming home to roost.

 

[thestrangebrew1]

That's a pretty astounding cancellation fee. $250 wtf?!! But yeah that guy needs to pound sand. Sucks because HIS actions are going to affect his staff when they have to close their doors for good (if they have to obviously).

 

[K1052]

Rule #1 of customer service is do not send shitty messages to the New York gays who will get your reviews bombed into oblivion.

This place's food looks ok but the super tight communal seating is giving me a stress reaction. If I'm paying 125 a head I want my own fucking table.

 

[Brainonska511]

That's a pretty astounding cancellation fee. $250 wtf?!! But yeah that guy needs to pound sand. Sucks because HIS actions are going to affect his staff when they have to close their doors for good (if they have to obviously).

Yeah, $125/person cancellation fee is nutso. Especially when you then don't include any exceptions. But the owner is apparently a known nut. She's closed off all her social media and makes her restaurant as permanently closed on Yelp and Google to stem the bleeding in of bad reviews. And there were some articles that this place was making $1 million + in net profit a year, so such a stupid thing to burn your business down over.

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[K1052]

Yeah, $125/person cancellation fee is nutso. Especially when you then don't include any exceptions. But the owner is apparently a known nut. She's closed off all her social media and makes her restaurant as permanently closed on Yelp and Google to stem the bleeding in of bad reviews. And there were some articles that this place was making $1 million + in net profit a year, so such a stupid thing to burn your business down over.

WordPress Bruteforce Prevention

She sounds like a not insubstantial number of chefs just has less filter for the public.

As far as cancelation policies go I understand the economic need for them. Ever since COVID there has been an epidemic of this according to people I talk to. 72 hours....is a lot though. This is a meal not a business class flight to Europe. People who no show/no call should not generally be entitled to refunds or credits IMO for what is effectively a prepaid experience. If a cancelation is requested beforehand because you spouse is literally in the hospital seems like something to have a little flex on.

 

[Brainonska511]

She sounds like a not insubstantial number of chefs just has less filter for the public.

As far as cancelation policies go I understand the economic need for them. Ever since COVID there has been an epidemic of this according to people I talk to. 72 hours....is a lot though. This is a meal not a business class flight to Europe. People who no show/no call should not generally be entitled to refunds or credits IMO for what is effectively a prepaid experience. If a cancelation is requested beforehand because you spouse is literally in the hospital seems like something to have a little flex on.

I have a feeling how the restaurant handles the cancellation fee could also have played a role into why the CC's insurance issued a charge back instead of just cutting a check via insurance policy.

If they collected the fee at the initial booking, and said you get a credit of that amount towards your bill (or refund if you cancel with appropriate notice), it might have been fine (ie, insurance keeps both parties whole). Instead, TABLE issued a charge, as a restaurant, in a window of time that the customer says they were in a hospital, so to the CC company and their merchant terms, they are like "we're going to look at our bottom line" and potentially view the charge as illegitimate or violating some other terms or laws (ie, excessively high cancellation fee).

Also, if they are so popular, but don't have any walk-ins, they could have had a waitlist to draw people from to cover some of the cancellations.

 

[K1052]

I have a feeling how the restaurant handles the cancellation fee could also have played a role into why the CC's insurance issued a charge back instead of just cutting a check via insurance policy.

If they collected the fee at the initial booking, and said you get a credit of that amount towards your bill (or refund if you cancel with appropriate notice), it might have been fine (ie, insurance keeps both parties whole). Instead, TABLE issued a charge, as a restaurant, in a window of time that the customer says they were in a hospital, so to the CC company and their merchant terms, they are like "we're going to look at our bottom line" and potentially view the charge as illegitimate or violating some other terms or laws (ie, excessively high cancellation fee).

Also, if they are so popular, but don't have any walk-ins, they could have had a waitlist to draw people from to cover some of the cancellations.

They're on Resy which if you are that popular people will have alerts set up for availability. If they can't fill the seats in three hours then they are not as popular as they claim.

 

[Brainonska511]

They're on Resy which if you are that popular people will have alerts set up for availability. If they can't fill the seats in three hours then they are not as popular as they claim.

I know, a real master class in how to do it all wrong.

Crappy cancellation policy, not using resy tools to limit potential losses if you're popular, publicly berating bad reviews, and sending nastygrams to potential customers. He had even rebooked the trip, and her moronic actions ensured they would never, ever step foot in her restaurant.

 

[Pohemi]

She's unhinged, and this isn't the first time she's lashed out at customers. Apparently she does it on a regular basis. Must think she's special.

I feel bad for her staff (imagine what they think of her?) but hope she sinks. She needs a good dose of reality where she's not always the main character.

 

[Mr.IncrediblyBored]

Yeah any business owner engaging with the public that way isn't going to end well.

Nutso restaurant owner aside, that person sounds like a passive aggressive prick. What's with the weirdly long replies.

 

[Pohemi]

Nutso restaurant owner aside, that person sounds like a passive aggressive prick. What's with the weirdly long replies.

Not how I read it. They might be lengthy, but I don't detect passive-aggressiveness from them. I saw it as trying to thoroughly and clearly articulate their side of the story and why/how it happened.

Considering the circumstances, I think the owner's reaction/response/behavior was completely unjustified, unprofessional, and juvenile.

 

[MrSquished]

Not how I read it. They might be lengthy, but I don't detect passive-aggressiveness from them. I saw it as trying to thoroughly and clearly articulate their side of the story and why/how it happened.

Considering the circumstances, I think the owner's reaction/response/behavior was completely unjustified, unprofessional, and juvenile.

I got the same vibe, he was being genuine but also just verbose. It could have been half the length to say the same thing.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Wow that's brutal. I get it can be annoying if this keeps happening, but it's the nature of running practically any business that deals directly with the public. People change plans, or in this case, have circumstances they can't control. Don't consider any reservation as money made until the day it happens.

When I saw title I thought this was going to be about Amy's Baking Company. That place is... special. I think it's one of the few episodes of Kitchen Nightmares where Ramsay gave up. What's funny is if you look them up on Facebook they still post sometimes.

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[Torn Mind]

Italians are an emotional bunch. I give them the accommodation.

The owner's interpretation of "screwed over" is that he probably had lost food or business to accommodate the cancelling patron.

Patron, on the other hand, is under the usual educated training that intent matters and can wash away actual loss.

The nature of the "Table Boston" business is that there is a considerable scarcity of seats. The establishment charges $125 for a seven course dinner. Seating is outlined as

SEATING:
32 communal seats

As such, the inference can be drawn that this is a high margin, low volume establishment.

Customers in general, are...very viciously unsympathetic towards restaurants and other similar small business. But, they are unintentionally and ignorantly so. Meaning they don't realize they cause harm, especially the educated who only did grunt work in a restaurant when paying for their college or HS. This on full display here.

Considering the "four corners" of the X(formerly Twitter) post, supposed victim customer did fail to post any reference to the cancellation policy of the restaurant or said seating limitations of the restaurant, displaying a degree of malice towards utter destruction of the business.

-----------------
However, the business should realize that no set of rules, policies, or contract can ever be absolutely enforced. If anyone uses the grounds that circumstances beyond their control, especially health, causes failure to perform an act, the credit card company will favor the customer for fear of enforcement or bad press against them.

Summary:
Restaurant owners were screwed over.
Customer did not understand the business and instead shows a malicious tendency towards destruction.
Restaurant owner should have "settled" for that one time because the unique circumstances of health and being out-of-state would not hold water.

 

[repoman0]

Customer did not understand the business and instead shows a malicious tendency towards destruction.

🙄

 

[MrSquished]

Italians are an emotional bunch. I give them the accommodation.

The owner's interpretation of "screwed over" is that he probably had lost food or business to accommodate the cancelling patron.

Patron, on the other hand, is under the usual educated training that intent matters and can wash away actual loss.

The nature of the "Table Boston" business is that there is a considerable scarcity of seats. The establishment charges $125 for a seven course dinner. Seating is outlined as

As such, the inference can be drawn that this is a high margin, low volume establishment.

Customers in general, are...very viciously unsympathetic towards restaurants and other similar small business. But, they are unintentionally and ignorantly so. Meaning they don't realize they cause harm, especially the educated who only did grunt work in a restaurant when paying for their college or HS. This on full display here.

Considering the "four corners" of the X(formerly Twitter) post, supposed victim customer did fail to post any reference to the cancellation policy of the restaurant or said seating limitations of the restaurant, displaying a degree of malice towards utter destruction of the business.

-----------------
However, the business should realize that no set of rules, policies, or contract can ever be absolutely enforced. If anyone uses the grounds that circumstances beyond their control, especially health, causes failure to perform an act, the credit card company will favor the customer for fear of enforcement or bad press against them.

Summary:
Restaurant owners were screwed over.
Customer did not understand the business and instead shows a malicious tendency towards destruction.
Restaurant owner should have "settled" for that one time because the unique circumstances of health and being out-of-state would not hold water.

That's a really long way to say you're delusional.

 

[Brainonska511]

Italians are an emotional bunch. I give them the accommodation.

The owner's interpretation of "screwed over" is that he probably had lost food or business to accommodate the cancelling patron.

Patron, on the other hand, is under the usual educated training that intent matters and can wash away actual loss.

The nature of the "Table Boston" business is that there is a considerable scarcity of seats. The establishment charges $125 for a seven course dinner. Seating is outlined as

As such, the inference can be drawn that this is a high margin, low volume establishment.

Customers in general, are...very viciously unsympathetic towards restaurants and other similar small business. But, they are unintentionally and ignorantly so. Meaning they don't realize they cause harm, especially the educated who only did grunt work in a restaurant when paying for their college or HS. This on full display here.

Considering the "four corners" of the X(formerly Twitter) post, supposed victim customer did fail to post any reference to the cancellation policy of the restaurant or said seating limitations of the restaurant, displaying a degree of malice towards utter destruction of the business.

-----------------
However, the business should realize that no set of rules, policies, or contract can ever be absolutely enforced. If anyone uses the grounds that circumstances beyond their control, especially health, causes failure to perform an act, the credit card company will favor the customer for fear of enforcement or bad press against them.

Summary:
Restaurant owners were screwed over.
Customer did not understand the business and instead shows a malicious tendency towards destruction.
Restaurant owner should have "settled" for that one time because the unique circumstances of health and being out-of-state would not hold water.

TLDR. Stop licking the restaurant owner's boots. If 2 empty seats are going to make or break your restaurant, you need to find a different way to operate.

Hell, even if the customer was completely wrong here, the business owner is a huge douche with a well-documented history before this incident. She brought this all on herself; you can see this in both people's reviews of the restaurant that were from before this public meltdown, and in many of the owner's responses to criticism. She could have completely deflected this incident by 1) not reaching out over social media DMs to start directly berating the person, 2) work with them to offer some form of credit for a future date.




On a separate note: I wonder if those 2 cancelled seats were filled by another party off a wait list (since it is Boston and not Podunksville, popular restaurants actually get their seats filled, even if they have to resort to waiting lists to fill for last-minute cancellations). If so, that cancellation fee would have been pure profit - almost like scam. It should only be there to mitigate losses if a table truly wasn't filled, not to act as an additional profit center that takes advantage of people.
He

 

[K1052]

I'm not known for my opinion that service establishments should be overly deferential to customers or even particularly friendly. The fake friendliness and high touch that is standard in the vast majority of US sit down dining is off-putting to me and I generally much prefer European style service where I signal if I need something. That is however different than being an outright asshole and a very public one to boot. Reasons why FOH staff exists in finer dining to not have some kitchen hothead take care of customer service. I've left maybe two negative reviews in my entire lifetime for way over the line situations at $$$ places. If we don't like a place for almost any reason we just don't go back instead of dinging them. I'll standard tip basically even the worst service under that scenario. If a place is not good they'll get a rep entirely on their own.

She owns the place and can obviously do what she wants but there are consequences for poor behavior and she's fairly reaping those.

 

[Pohemi]

The owner's interpretation of "screwed over" is that he probably had lost food or business to accommodate the cancelling patron.

Bullshit, "Mr. Landord".

In all likeliness, they DID fill those seats.

And do you believe that cancelation fees should be the same as the full price as dining there? Yeah...you're a bootlicker.

 

[Torn Mind]

TLDR. Stop licking the restaurant owner's boots. If 2 empty seats are going to make or break your restaurant, you need to find a different way to operate.

Hell, even if the customer was completely wrong here, the business owner is a huge douche with a well-documented history before this incident. She brought this all on herself; you can see this in both people's reviews of the restaurant that were from before this public meltdown, and in many of the owner's responses to criticism. She could have completely deflected this incident by 1) not reaching out over social media DMs to start directly berating the person, 2) work with them to offer some form of credit for a future date.

View attachment 94412View attachment 94413


On a separate note: I wonder if those 2 cancelled seats were filled by another party off a wait list (since it is Boston and not Podunksville, popular restaurants actually get their seats filled, even if they have to resort to waiting lists to fill for last-minute cancellations). If so, that cancellation fee would have been pure profit - almost like scam. It should only be there to mitigate losses if a table truly wasn't filled, not to act as an additional profit center that takes advantage of people.
He

She probably $144k a year in rent, assuming that the 6000 sqft space is accurate and that the rental rates are $24/sqft/year apparently Boston's average for commercial rent. It is a fact a residential space can go north of $3000 per month.

Likely unbeknownst to you, but LLCs require an attorney to be represent in court. Thus, part of the "war chest" must be available just in case a situation crops up.

Being a douche is not relevant if the work done by the business is good enough. While you post some negative reviews, the fact remains that it has remained in operation for five years. Given the cost of merely dining there and the high rents paid, it should have went under already if it was not up to snuff for the majority of the clients there.

The restaurant is complemented by a grocery store. There is no room for expansion given the roads that surround the space and the residential units above it. The company doesn't have the manpower to be run like a corporate chain.

 

[Pohemi]

 

[Torn Mind]

Bullshit, "Mr. Landord".

In all likeliness, they DID fill those seats.

And do you believe that cancelation fees should be the same as the full price as dining there? Yeah...you're a bootlicker.

You do realize that if someone is supposedly a landlord, the assumption is that they wouldn't be sympathetic to tenants, right? She's a tenant; the space used to be a clothing store and a massage place(old Google Maps photos). Why would me being a landlord do her any favors?
It isn't said she's a tenant, and that she's also a commercial tenant, she doesn't get the sympathies residential tenants do. (Framing by the complainant DeCaro)

If I'm a landlord, I'm the taking the tenants' money for profit and paying the commercial property taxes. I have no experience with commericial real estate, but the rates are higher and the protections less because it isn't life or death with commercial evictions. Continuing the hypothetical, if she goes under, I don't have to care and can evict for failure to pay and find a new business to replace her.

How about the customers? Is he not a 1%er such that $125 is a trivial amount to him and his husband. One makes about 115k a year and certain doesn't might traveling and spending. So, they have combined 200k in yearly income and their rent isn't $144,000 for a time-consuming commercial operation.

The unique characteristics of the restaurant, in which you can calculate the max take, thus makes the strict cancellation policy more reasonable than it first seems. A cheap chain store like McDonalds or Papa Johns, it's not big deal that few dollars of dough and cheap food is lost. But here, it's obviously different logistics than fast food. 8 meal seatings occur each week, and the Sunday meals are less at $98.

 

[manly]

TLDR for Twitter: patron ended up in ER, restaurant told them to take cancellation fee up with CC, patron filed claim with CC's travel insurance, CC company chose to reverse the $250 cancellation charge, restaurant owner found patron begins drama by arguing with customer and unhinged posting on their social media.

I rarely do fine dining, but this is weird. Certainly small businesses can be sensitive to chargebacks, so why did the restaurant encourage the consumer to go talk to the CC company? That is how NOT to do things. Secondly, travel insurance is a perk that's always contracted to a third party insurer. If the cardholder tried to file a claim, it wouldn't have resulted in a chargeback unless the CC issuer walked him down that path.

And finally if it's such a successful restaurant, WTF go nutso over $250? I'd understand if it was a 10 seat joint struggling to stay afloat, but like you said, this restaurant is asking to go under.