Today I  visited a long time burger franchise with my wife. You know the type, been around for years still serving the same product from assets that look a little bit tired from team members that, well lets put it this way, I am really happy that none of them are in my family! I don’t want to mention names but it was real HARD to EES right on by that store

Let’s start with the good part, the product was great. Good fries. Good burger!! Looked just like the menu panel which is something that rarely happens. The young lady behind the counter tried real hard to make things happen as per her training and was courteous and efficient with a big smile. Oh, and the coke was good too.

Hey, there are four or five positives in that last paragraph which is good, but unfortunately that is where it stopped.

Well you knew I had to list the negatives didn’t you?  We can all learn from negatives as well as positives. OK here goes and I will do this as a franchise rep would list it.

1. Server ran out of paper cups and had to ask another team member to get some and give one to the customer (me). It didn’t happen. I had to ask again for my cup.
2. Off duty team member sitting at a table 20 feet away, wearing a disgusting uniform talking loudly to other team members behind the counter as server is trying to get orders from customers. Two other team sitting in the restaurant in uniform on break or waiting to start.
3. Team members wearing hats so dirty that you can’t make out the logo.
4. Entire team was wearing jeans. Most of them dirty, ripped and either too loose or too tight, if you get what I mean.
5. Three or four tables were dirty and still dirty twenty minutes later.
6. Garbage bins overflowing inside the restaurant. When finally emptied no one wiped around the top so it was still covered with sauce and grease. Disgusting!
7. Windows with more than a full days fingerprints and grease marks.
8. Floor so covered in grease that we saw customers skating down the walkway. Probably an oil spill back of house and not enough detergent used or the mop cleaned properly. And yes they should have different mops for front and back of house.
9. Seats ripped.
10. Furniture and décor package out of date and tired.
11. Dangerous and badly marked parking lot.
12. Team members so slow they were holding up the customers trying to leave the restaurant

Anyway that’s enough, you get the idea.

The problem is that just next door is a McDonalds that does everything right. The team are all in clean uniforms that all look the same and fit correctly. The store is clean from top to bottom and the design is up-to-date.

I can just see the declining sales figures, the manager and regional ops team pulling their hair out and trying to stem the flow of customers to their competition.

Wake up guys! Your product is twice as good as your neighbours. While you may not be able to compete with the money McD’s can throw at their sites and the technology  they can afford, you can do the basics right and that is the key to sales.

Start with hiring the right team and ensure your uniforms are clean and reasonably new. Train them well and ensure they stick to standards 100% of the time. If they don’t want to do it or just can’t then maybe they are not suited to the food business.

Quick tip: If you want to be trendy and allow your team to wear jeans make sure they are clean and fit correctly. Torn and faded jeans do not give your customers a sense that all is right with your standards.

It doesn’t matter if your décor is old as long as it and the rest of the store is clean. Dirty front of house means dirty back of house. Every time.

This store needs someone to give it a good shake and see what sort of vermin falls out. If they did this and got back to basics they would see their sales improve. It looks as if they have given up.

Sorry to rant but I hate to see a perfectly good business go to the dogs when all that is needed is a little pride, hard work and training.