Hubby and I weren’t together this Valentine’s because I’m house/dog-sitting at my parents’ place here in a little town called Lemoore, California. I had a craving for pizza, so I thought I’d call up Me-N-Ed’s Pizza and order take-out...
Busy Signal? What business only has one line? I called again thinking I had dialed the wrong number. Yup, another busy signal.
After ten minutes of trying to get through, I decide to go down and place an order in person. Well, apparently everyone in town had the same idea. There was a line out the door and get this, only one cash register! Even if I had called in, I would have had to wait in line just to pick up my order. I noticed that the restaurant had remodeled making the joint much bigger than it was the last time I visited, but installing another register wasn’t part of the plan, I guess. Well, after ten minutes I decide maybe I could drive across town (five minute drive) and check out Boston Pizza...
Oh, good, it didn’t look too busy. Wrong. Apparently there were many calls for take-out so I had to wait about 30 minutes for a personal pizza and a salad. I had nowhere to be, so I waited. The line wasn’t that long to pay, but apparently if you called for take out, know the owner and can speak Portuguese, you can cut in line. Yes, they too had just one register.
I don’t know if this was just an unusually busy night, but here are a couple things small-town restaurants and businesses - especially pizza places - can learn:
1. Always have a back-up register for busy times or take-out orders.
2. For the love of all that is good - have a phone system set up to take multiple phone calls. Busy signals for ten minutes = lost business.
Yikes! This place actually sells pizza? Amazing! One register is unbelievable in this day and age. Very interesting story though. I don't think I'll be checking out this pizza place anytime soon.
Posted by: Phil Gerbyshak | February 16, 2007 8:57 PM | Permalink to Comment