Good Intentions Gone Bad...

I am not typically a person who jumps at every sales gimmick I see on tv or that gets past my SPAM filter in my email, but when I got an e-vite to a “Guest Appreciation Day” for my favorite pizza joint I could not pass it up.  (I will not disclose the name of the pizzeria until the end).  I gleefully texted my husband and told him we had dinner plans for Monday night!

The pizzeria had great intentions for their Guest Appreciation Day.  They utilized their patrons email list as well as Social Media outlets, such as Facebook, to advertise the day.  Any patron who visited the pizzeria location and “dined in” would receive a gift card for the amount that they spent that night so they could return another night.  Great idea!  Great intentions!  Bad implementation! 

The pizzeria was not prepared for the popularity of this event.  Guests waited 2+ hours to enter the restaurant even though numerous tables sat empty (they did not have enough servers working that night).  They made so many pizzas that the ovens went down and there was a back up of 65+ pizzas waiting to be made.  The worst part was the lack of communication between management and the customers.  My husband and I sat for over an hour as three managers walked past our table but never acknowledge the fact that we had now been waiting three hours to eat, or that the ovens were down, or that it would still be another hour before we were served our pizza.  Managers and servers walked past patrons several times with no explanation, no apologies, no service.  We watched as a table of eight got up and left in disgust.  Their waitress came about 15 minutes later with their pizza in hand only to find the empty table…I chimed in and told her they left about 15 minutes ago.  She was flabbergasted and said “they ordered 6 pizzas”…I was flabbergasted that she did not know they left 15 MINUTES AGO! 

The pizzeria is still my favorite.  I know from my frequent visits to several locations that the service is normally good and the pizza is outstanding, so I will return.  I urge others to go as well~ 

For any other business planning a similar event – take caution!  Social Media allows the word to spread faster and to more people than you might expect.  Be prepared for the masses~ Also, Social Media outlets allow those that are unhappy to share their stories with the world – they have a world wide platform!