I once again experienced one of my personal pet peeves on my latest trip through the drive-thru at a fast food joint. You’ve likely experienced this yourself…

I pull up to the microphone and am promptly greeted by a cheerful voice welcoming me and asking if I’d like to try their latest feature item or special. “No thank you” I say and then I’m greeted by an entirely different, and notably less friendly, voice. Darn it! Duped again.

Whoever started this trend, or anyone that helps perpetuate it, should be looking for new career opportunities.

I understand the motives behind this tactic. Every customer should be greeted promptly. They should be greeted with a clear, friendly and welcoming voice. The restaurant should also be trying to sell their latest feature or special. The recorded greeting accomplishes all of these goals. Then reality kicks in and destroys everything.

If you can’t trust your employees to deliver the proper experience over the drive through speaker, using a pre-recorded greeting should not be considered a good alternative. This fails for several reasons:

• Customers still need to deal with the employee you cannot trust to deliver the right experience.
• Customers may have a high first impression, but the bar set from that first impression is not met through the rest of the experience, adding an exclamation point to the poor service that follows.
• Customers feel “tricked” by the fake experience. Your brand suffers more damage by not being genuine.

The first place I remember this happening was at Kentucky Fried Chicken, but several others have done the same to me. Raising Cane’s does NOT do this – their drive thru personnel always greet me with a cute jingle and keep the energy up throughout the order.

It is important to be genuine with your brand. If you can not be confident your employees can deliver the proper experience, address that issue head on. This isn’t an area that should be solved with technology.

At my place of work, we have a fun tradition of “Friday Breakfasts” together, with breakfast responsibilities rotating through the employees. We have around 20 employees, so this is not as daunting as it might be to supply breakfast for all employees as say, someone at IBM.

Friday Breakfast Menu

For some employees, “Friday Breakfast” responsibilities mean swinging by Panera Bread for bagels, or hitting the local grocery for a box of donuts. Other employees really get into this tradition and deliver more than breakfast. Last Friday, we were treated to menus printed on card stock and cut into narrow cards. These menus arrived on Thursday morning with instructions to circle the ingredients you would like on your cooked to order omelet, along with bread choices, meat choices, and hash browns. Breakfast was served on china with stainless flatware.

While the food was good, it wasn’t the taste of the food that made the experience. It was the details that went into the service that set this breakfast apart – the menus, the flatware, and the team of 3 people that helped prepare the food, including a runner that personally delivered your breakfast to your desk and picked up your plates 30 minutes later. These are the memories that will be remembered from last Friday’s breakfast.

Last night, I had the opportunity to enjoy a dinner at one of Roy’s Hawaiian Fusion restaurants. Dining alone, I was asked if I’d like a seat in the bar area, a regular table, or a kitchen side seat. I opted for the kitchen side seat as that sounded like a great experience. The hostess struck up a conversation with me while escorting me to my seat. No fewer than 3 people greeted me by name within the first 2 minutes after being seated: one for my beverage order, one bringing me a plate of Roy’s Edamame to enjoy, and one delivering a complimentary appetizer. My waiter and one of the chefs in the kitchen followed within the next 2 minutes. I was seated in front of the salad and sushi prep lines, and they greeted me and struck up polite conversation with me as well.

I love cooking and have worked in a kitchen under a Culinary Institute of America trained chef, so I really enjoyed watching the kitchen work together at Roy’s. Every one of the 7 people in the kitchen worked together, with simple vocal queues and gestures to let the others know what was needed and what they were doing. Simple statements like “behind you” or “knife” helped orchestrate their movements about the kitchen. Every person took a high degree of attention to detail to deliver not just food, but an artistic presentation and extraordinary service.

As I was walking out of the restaurant, taking my time and looking around to take in every detail of the place, I was noticed and approached by someone who asked if I was looking for the washroom. Every person at Roy’s was focused on delivering an unforgettable experience. They weren’t simply serving food and they all knew it.

Coming off the experience from last week’s Friday Breakfast, my mind was spinning with ideas for my next turn. I won’t share my plans as they are still being developed, but I will definately be focusing on the presentation and delivery of an experience…