Laziness Leads To Losses

I had a nice brunch over the weekend at a little restaurant in a bedroom community outside of Iowa City. After our meal ended, the four of us sat at our table chatting.

At 1:30 p.m., we were one of two tables in the restaurant, and the staff was starting to relax from their day’s work. Then one of them got up from the table they were sitting at, walked over to the window, and flipped the sign from “open” to “closed.”

This struck me as odd because I had checked their hours earlier that day, and I could have sworn they were open until 2:00. I looked at the sign on their door, and sure enough, it said “Sunday, Brunch: 10:00 – 2:00, Dinner: 4:00 – 8:00.”

Not five minutes after they had prematurely closed, a car pulled up out front with a couple from out of town. The couple looked at the closed sign, then looked at each other for a minute or so, shaking their heads. They were probably deciding where else they could eat now that their chosen destination was closed, even though there were people inside and the time was within the restaurant’s stated operating hours.

How Laziness Leads to Losses

You may be thinking that this is no big deal, the restaurant probably only lost $25 in sales. True, but do you think that couple will jump at the chance to drive out of town to try this restaurant again? Probably not. What’s more, I imagine they will tell their friends the restaurant was closed, which will make their friends think twice about dining there.

But let’s look at the larger picture. By closing the restaurant early, the management sent a message to the staff that it is okay for them to not follow through on promises the restaurant makes. Lack of follow through is one of the main reasons why many small businesses struggle, especially in the service industry.

Now, I’m sure the restaurant manager or owner, whoever was in charge, thought they were doing a nice thing for their employees by closing early. While the workers might be happy in the short term because they were allowed to sit in the dining room and eat 30 minutes before they thought they would, no one in that restaurant will be happy for long, because over time they will cut more and more corners, and lose more and more business.

What the restaurant management failed to remember is that everything your company does should add value for your customers.

What value did closing early and having family meal in the main dining area add to the two tables in the restaurant, or to the couple who drove away disappointed? None. Instead of eating early, they could have taken the opportunity to clean or learn more about the food they serve.

The short of it is that if you break promises to customers once, those promises are broken for life. I guarantee you that next Sunday the restaurant will close early as well, and if they don’t, some of the staff will complain about why they can’t close early. In fact, I may have witnessed a pattern that is already ingrained in their culture. Regardless, this attitude will eventually infect all of the staff, and they will soon lose interested in working Sundays altogether.

This is an example of how letting your business and your staff be lazy can ruin a brand’s culture and will keep you from building a healthy one. And businesses with a lazy culture will never grow, and rarely succeed.

photo credit: Joe Shlabotnik