So I went to pick up dinner from a local restaurant the other night and I bumped into the owner, who happens to be a good mate of mine.

She said, “boy, do I have a story for you” before launching into a tale that is becoming all too common in Perth’s hospitality industry.

Now this restaurant is one of my favourite places, because the food is amazing and the service is top notch.

And I’m not alone, pretty much everyone who goes there loves it.

You can tell, because the joint is jumpin, most nights of the week.

Anyway, on this particular occasion it was flat out too, but the owner had to take time out. from her busy night to tell me about an interaction she’d just had with a customer.

As you might be aware, the prices of things have been going up lately.

Whether it’s iceberg lettuce, petrol, or steel - a variety of factors, from COVID to Ukraine have been pushing up prices.

Unsurprisingly, the hospitality industry is not immune.

The cost of ingredients, from meat and veg, to cooking oil has gone up. 

Staff wages have gone up, with the worker shortage making it more expensive to retain staff.

All of this has meant that a lot of cafes and restaurants have been forced to pass on price rises to their customers.

Now contrary to popular belief, they don’t want to do that.

It’s very competitive out there in the hospo world and businesses can’t afford to drive away the punters by putting their smashed avo up too much.

So any price rises are generally the bare minimum a business can get away with and still cover their own increased costs.

And that’s certainly the case with my friend’s restaurant.

So she was forced to add - a whopping one dollar - onto the cost of some menu items.

And of course that meant printing new menus to reflect the pricing change.

Unfortunately, this customer had mistakenly been given an old version of the menu, and so when he went to pay he was angry that his bill would up being a couple of bucks more than he expected.

Now, I’m talking literally a couple of bucks.

But despite the restaurateur apologising and explaining how the error had occurred, this bloke wasn’t having a bar of it and continued to berate her.

The owner of the restaurant - who is famed for her fantastic service - offered to give the guy his entire meal for free.

But still he continued to carry on like a pork chop.

Eventually he left, but my friend was still a bit shaken by the encounter when I walked in moments later.

And she said this wasn’t the first time she’d encountered someone in the past few months who treated her and her staff like dirt.

And she said that talking to her friends in hospo, it was a pretty common occurrence.

At a time when the industry is facing massive challenges, from cost increases and staff shortages, it seems like customers have never been more selfish and inconsiderate.

No one in hospo is arguing against the old adage that the customer is always right.

Customer service is their bread and butter.

But when some people just can’t be pleased and seem to take pleasure in that… well, that’s pretty average behaviour.

So I went to pick up dinner from a local restaurant the other night and I bumped into the owner, who happens to be a good mate of mine.
She said, “boy, do I have a story for you” before launching into a tale that is becoming all too common in Perth’s hospitality industry.
Now this restaurant is one of my favourite places, because the food is amazing and the service is top notch.
And I’m not alone, pretty much everyone who goes there loves it.
You can tell, because the joint is jumpin, most nights of the week.
Anyway, on this particular occasion it was flat out too, but the owner had to take time out. from her busy night to tell me about an interaction she’d just had with a customer.
As you might be aware, the prices of things have been going up lately.
Whether it’s iceberg lettuce, petrol, or steel - a variety of factors, from COVID to Ukraine have been pushing up prices.
Unsurprisingly, the hospitality industry is not immune.
The cost of ingredients, from meat and veg, to cooking oil has gone up. 
Staff wages have gone up, with the worker shortage making it more expensive to retain staff.
All of this has meant that a lot of cafes and restaurants have been forced to pass on price rises to their customers.
Now contrary to popular belief, they don’t want to do that.
It’s very competitive out there in the hospo world and businesses can’t afford to drive away the punters by putting their smashed avo up too much.
So any price rises are generally the bare minimum a business can get away with and still cover their own increased costs.
And that’s certainly the case with my friend’s restaurant.
So she was forced to add - a whopping one dollar - onto the cost of some menu items.
And of course that meant printing new menus to reflect the pricing change.
Unfortunately, this customer had mistakenly been given an old version of the menu, and so when he went to pay he was angry that his bill would up being a couple of bucks more than he expected.
Now, I’m talking literally a couple of bucks.
But despite the restaurateur apologising and explaining how the error had occurred, this bloke wasn’t having a bar of it and continued to berate her.
The owner of the restaurant - who is famed for her fantastic service - offered to give the guy his entire meal for free.
But still he continued to carry on like a pork chop.
Eventually he left, but my friend was still a bit shaken by the encounter when I walked in moments later.
And she said this wasn’t the first time she’d encountered someone in the past few months who treated her and her staff like dirt.
And she said that talking to her friends in hospo, it was a pretty common occurrence.
At a time when the industry is facing massive challenges, from cost increases and staff shortages, it seems like customers have never been more selfish and inconsiderate.
No one in hospo is arguing against the old adage that the customer is always right.
Customer service is their bread and butter.
But when some people just can’t be pleased and seem to take pleasure in that… well, that’s pretty average behaviour.

If you enjoyed listening to The West Live for your daily news fix, then come and join us over on The Nightly Five.  Host Ben O’Shea continues to deliver punchy news and analysis, in a new podcast to get you in front of tomorrow’s news today!  Subscribe on your favourite podcast player and visit the thenightly.com.au

If you enjoyed listening to The West Live for your daily news fix, then come and join us over on The Nightly Five.  Host Ben O’Shea continues to deliver punchy news and analysis, in a new podcast to get you in front of tomorrow’s news today!  Subscribe on your favourite podcast player and visit the <a href="https://thenightly.com.au">thenightly.com.au</a>

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