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In a study conducted by Alex Susskind of the School of Hotel Administration at Cornell University in upstate New York, a subject group of customers was asked to describe a recent dining-out experience where they experienced some dissatisfactory element that caused them to complain.
From this list, Susskind’s researchers compiled a list of the errors, the remedy (if any) that had been offered to make up for the flub, and if that remedy influenced customers’ decisions whether or not to return to that eating establishment.
Tellingly, the vast majority of offenses that upset the guests had to do with specific elements of service, not the condition or quality of the food. Complaints such as “Waited too long to get food,” and “Server was unfriendly/rude” outnumbered objections like “Food quality low” by a margin of greater than two-to-one.
The other pertinent result from the study was that poor-service incidents often prompted the decision to never go back to the restaurant, rather than give it a second chance. Reactions like “Restaurant isn’t good anymore” significantly outnumbered forgiving comments like “It was only a mistake.” The suggestion is that poor service makes a serious and lasting impression on guests-and one that’s not always correctable.
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