Unfortunately there isn't really anything positive to share about our experience. My friend and I have both been in the service industry for decades and are usually pretty grace giving and understanding. But this was beyond chaotic with no sense of urgency or communication of what was going on.
When we came in the place had heavy smell of weed, never the best sign. I put my order in, was not told that there was a long wait. The card reader was down, thankfully I had cash to pay for my friend behind me.
I started to notice there was quite a few people waiting around, with no ice cream and they did not look happy.
That's when I noticed about 15-20 cups (orders) sitting in front of ours... as someone in the industry I would be hustling in a panic. There was absolutely no hustling, multiple people left to go into the back, no one rolling the ice cream or anything. There was one time where there was just one girl standing out there, not doing anything, 30+ annoyed people waiting. Was something broken? Were you out? No idea what was happening there was plenty of people staffed. No one communicated what the hold up was.
We started chatting with the table next to us, they had already been waiting 20 minutes. We kind of just sat back and watched the ship sinking. I felt bad, but they sure didn't seem to be too phased. Again no hurry, no apologizing, no explanation.
They also got all the cups mixed up, so some of the people that had waited 20 minutes got served before the people that had been waiting 40. Many were very heated. Apparently standing at the glass and hovering for your order is the way to get it made.
At 45 minutes I went up and politely asked for a refund. We needed to leave. They said 'we'll make yours right now.' I said no I did not want to have our name jumped ahead that wasn't fair. They insisted. So we waited... 15 more minutes we got our melted ice cream. The time between when it was rolled to when it got the toppings was too long and it just wasn't good now.
Ideas that maybe could help. I would start putting the time on your cups, so your people are aware of the order. Have one person dedicated to restocking and getting what is needed. Have people either dedicated to one order, start to finish or completely glued to their own station-they don't move. Communicate what is happening and do not lie about the wait time! (We left at an hour and people were still being told it would be 10-15 minutes) If something is broken just yell it out to the waiting customers so they can have opportunity to be understanding of your situation. Have a coupons for a free order, to help people to come back after stuff like this happens. Don't serve it if it's not up to your business standard. The hour wait wasn't worth what I received and unfortunately will now never try it again. read more