- Dec 13, 2005
- 2,589
- 27
- 91
I own a small hole-in-the-wall type restaurant. I don't really run the place, I've hired people to take care of it, so for the most part it's a low hassle source of some extra income. I'm not making bank, but I'm pretty pleased.
However, it seems that issues are bound to pop up. I received a call from the manager there yesterday. I was a bit worried when I picked up the phone, since I normally go over and check up on things on Saturdays; usually things can wait till then, so I thought there must be some urgent matter.
It turns out we had one of "those guys", a dissatisfied customer who likes to nitpick at every little detail. The kind of customer you'd just as soon turn away as seat at a table. Too late for that. Apparently this guy was complaining about our daily special. Our menu is pretty standard, steak, salad, burgers, fries, and so on. In addition, to keep things interesting for our chefs and customers, we have a rotating daily special. Something that normally isn't on the menu, but we offer for that day. Yesterday, that special was chili.
Since the chili is a special item, we don't have an ingredient list for it like we do with normal menu items. I wish the customer would've asked before ordering, because apparently he believed chili does not have beans, and as you can guess we prepare our chili with beans. He was none too happy when he took his first bite and found beans in the mix. He complained, so we offered to comp his meal and bring out a new chili dish prepared without beans.
He would have none of it. He claimed that our menu was something like false advertising, since chili does not contain beans, and that we could not advertise it as such as long as we included beans in our recipe. I don't know what he's expecting us to do. We're not going to rename it, "Bob's special spicy meat, bean, and vegetable delight." A name like that is just too cumbersome, especially chili well known. We weren't about to budge on the name.
So he leaves angrily, claiming to be a lawyer and how he's going to file a lawsuit or something against us. A story we've heard so many times, we initially just laughed it off. But apparently this clown is for real. I was notified by the FDA that there is a claim against my restaurant, and that I will be given further information if the claim is accepted as valid, at which point I can defend myself.
Should I be worried? Can I really get in trouble for calling chili...chili? Should I start thinking up some alternative names, and if so, what would you suggest?
However, it seems that issues are bound to pop up. I received a call from the manager there yesterday. I was a bit worried when I picked up the phone, since I normally go over and check up on things on Saturdays; usually things can wait till then, so I thought there must be some urgent matter.
It turns out we had one of "those guys", a dissatisfied customer who likes to nitpick at every little detail. The kind of customer you'd just as soon turn away as seat at a table. Too late for that. Apparently this guy was complaining about our daily special. Our menu is pretty standard, steak, salad, burgers, fries, and so on. In addition, to keep things interesting for our chefs and customers, we have a rotating daily special. Something that normally isn't on the menu, but we offer for that day. Yesterday, that special was chili.
Since the chili is a special item, we don't have an ingredient list for it like we do with normal menu items. I wish the customer would've asked before ordering, because apparently he believed chili does not have beans, and as you can guess we prepare our chili with beans. He was none too happy when he took his first bite and found beans in the mix. He complained, so we offered to comp his meal and bring out a new chili dish prepared without beans.
He would have none of it. He claimed that our menu was something like false advertising, since chili does not contain beans, and that we could not advertise it as such as long as we included beans in our recipe. I don't know what he's expecting us to do. We're not going to rename it, "Bob's special spicy meat, bean, and vegetable delight." A name like that is just too cumbersome, especially chili well known. We weren't about to budge on the name.
So he leaves angrily, claiming to be a lawyer and how he's going to file a lawsuit or something against us. A story we've heard so many times, we initially just laughed it off. But apparently this clown is for real. I was notified by the FDA that there is a claim against my restaurant, and that I will be given further information if the claim is accepted as valid, at which point I can defend myself.
Should I be worried? Can I really get in trouble for calling chili...chili? Should I start thinking up some alternative names, and if so, what would you suggest?
more like meat soup..
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