OLIVE GARDEN RESTAURANT CASE

SUMMARY
Mr. Martin A Wallace and his family, loyal customers of Olive Garden Restaurant visited one
of its franchise on a Tuesday night. They were expecting the usual experience from them,
but it turned out to be the total opposite. In order to make the president of the chain aware
of what happened, he wrote a letter to him. In the letter, he mentioned various unpleasant
experiences he had to face from the very moment he entered the restaurant. Unwelcoming
staff, serving cold food, sarcastic/annoyed behaviour of the manager and many more
incidents occurred. In order to seek redressal for his problem, he approached the president.

IMPLICATIONS
The whole ordeal implies a level of unprofessionalism which does not reflect the company’s
standards. All the staff at the branch made the customers and his family feel unwelcomed in
their place of business. The manager’s behaviour implied that he didn’t care about the
customer at all. The waitstaff being late, the cold food and the unavailability of wine just
added to his woes. They were inconsiderate to him and his family. This experience would
definitely lead him to think twice before choosing this place to eat in the future.
This incident if publicised can seriously hurt the revenue of the restaurant. The lethargic
behaviour of the staff implied that they were not motivated to work at the restaurant. It
also seems that the manager also doesn’t care how the restaurant is functioning. The way
the manager behaved indicated that he didn’t think his conduct with customers wasn’t
important at all. Considering this, it is expected that the waiters would behave the same
way. It also seems like staff in this branch were not at all worried about the upper
management. The delayed services indicated that they weren’t prepared to receive the
guests. The waiter forgetting to bring the food implied serious communication problems
among the staff. The unavailability of the wine shows that the restaurant had poor
inventory management. The restaurant being almost empty on a Tuesday night shows that
there might be some reason people are not going to this restaurant

RECOMMENDATIONS

S.No Actions to be Taken By Whom When Mode

1. Apologise to the customer in Area supervisor Within 2 In Person
person for the inconvenience and days
offer him a bottle of
wine/chocolates. Thank him for
bringing this issue to the
management.
2. President should handover the President The same In Person/
situation to the area supervisor and Day Call
ask him to get detailed information
of that particular branch
3. Supervisor should go through the Area supervisor In a week In person
branch statistics, Revenue,
Customer flow, food options
available, availability of different
menus (lunch/dinner/children’s)
inventory of foods, Supplies,
Customer feedback (if any), and
staff behaviour with the help of his
sub ordinate
4. Manager should be suspended for Area Supervisor After the In Person
a week and should undergo investigation
training
5. Staff should undergo training to Area Supervisor In a week In Person
improve their customer service.
6. Customer feedback form should be Manager In a week In Person
provided after the meal, a drop box
should be placed for the feedbacks
7. Feedback forms to be reviewed and Manager Weekly Letter
a report should be sent to the area
supervisor every week.
8. Employee of the month Awards Manager Monthly In Person
should be given for the top
performer
9. To increase the customer base, Manager In a month In
combo offers on food should be Restaurant
provided, food festivals to be
organised and the concept of
‘happy hours’ should be introduced
10. Advertising campaigns to be Manager In a month In
undertaken. Tie ups with food Restaurant
bloggers should be explored to
increase their online presence as
well

Submitted By:
Group R2
NAJIA TASLEEM 19F332
NIRMAL RENJIT 19F335
TOMIN GEORGE 19F357
HARSHIT RASTOGI 19F323
PRAGYA GOENKA 19F340