The lost art of complaining

EARLIER in my life, before attempt ing to become a hot elier/restaurateur, I earned my living by making and selling engineering products throughout the globe.

A side benefit of this was that I travelled to more than 40 countries and was able to explore the pleasures of gastronomy on a world- wide basis.

By the nature of business contact, my host companies were my guide to the food and restaurants of their countries. Many of my observations during these trips stayed with me and eventually became part of what I tried to create in the business I set up on my first entry into the hospitality industry.

One experience in Milan in the 1960s left an impression which has lasted to this day. We had just concluded a deal and our client suggested lunch to celebrate. At the restaurant one menu was handed to the host, none to the other guests.

A lengthy discussion ensued between the head waiter and our host. From time to time each member of the party was consulted about likes, dislikes and preferences. This was a meal being planned with great care - nothing as haphazard as each of the nine being given individual choices.

How sensible, I thought. A meal was being constructed which was going to satisfy the palates of all the guests, and yet give the chef a greater opportunity to cook well as he would be cooking the same for all. Almost unheard of in this country.

The first course was outstanding, the party was going well. The second arrived at the table and was served. A few quiet words passed between our host and the waiter and then, without fuss, the entire course was removed in such a professional manner that there was barely a break in the conversation.

After an interval the same course was served again and, as expected, it was truly delicious. The whole luncheon party was a resounding success and the little hitch had not caused one tiny jot of a problem.

On the way to the airport afterwards I couldn't resist asking my host what the problem had been.

"Oh, I was not happy with the sauce," he explained.

What was so impressive was the way it had been handled, without fuss, embarrassment, awkwardness or interruption to the social occasion.

When I opened Rombalds 13 years ago, I translated this experience to ensure we handled problems with equal competence. But I hadn't reckoned on the difference between the Italian and the British public. The following will illustrate what I mean.

Four ladies, all dressed up and ready for an evening out, had come to the restaurant for a "meal experience".

On serving the main course the head waiter noticed that one lady's main course was not as ordered. He told me immediately.

Quietly and without fuss we apologised and said it would be rectified at once. We started to clear all four main courses so that we could correct the fault and re-present the four meals together properly as ordered, and so that all four ladies could eat together. After all, that's what they had come out for.

As we started to clear, one guest asked why we were taking away the unaffected dishes. I explained that we wished to present all four dishes together correctly.

She reacted strongly and said: "There's nothing wrong with mine." She placed both hands firmly on the plate to prevent the waiter removing it. The other two did likewise.

We were left with no alternative but to remove the one offending dish for rectification, leaving three guests to eat their meal while the fourth looked on. As they were nearly finished we served the fourth lady who then ate while the other three looked on.

Our original mistake, which could so easily have been put right without disturbing the pattern of the evening, as in Milan all those years before, had now been magnified and the major disruption to the meal would probably be what the party remembered most about the evening.

Two isolated incidents, but they are indicative of a fundamental difference between the UK and the Continent in the way restaurateurs and their patrons behave. How often have you had a guest complain as they paid the bill? You say how sorry you are, but why did they not say something at the time? "We didn't want to make a fuss in front of our guests," they say.

Why on earth should the rectification of a mistake be presumed always to involve a fuss?

We can train our staff to handle problems, but however much we do so, will we ever be able to train the customer? o