Apparently Burger King Can't Tell Time
The text below is copied from a letter I mailed today:
February 2, 2005
Mr. Greg Brenneman
CEO
The Burger King Corporation
5505 Blue Lagoon Drive
Miami, FL 33126
Re: Customer Service (or lack thereof)
Dear Mr. Brenneman:
Your biography on the Burger King webpage indicates that you are a turnaround expert. I am sure this is true in business and in the corporate world, but my recent experiences indicate that what may be needed in your company is a turnaround in the level of customer service.
There is a BK location on El Segundo Boulevard in Hawthorne California. It is on my way home from my current job which involves working evenings as the manager of an H&R Block tax preparation office. Last week we were there later than usual on Wednesday and I suddenly realized that it was getting close to 11, the time that your location mentioned above is scheduled to close. So I rushed to get there ahead of 11 and arrived at around 10:55. The place was already closed. I called your consumer relations office and was told that if the posted hours of a Burger King location say it is open until 11 then it should be open until then. The woman on the phone apologized and promised to send me some coupons as a way of apologizing.
The next night, the same thing happened. Now I should have known it would take more than 24 hours to deal with this kind of issue, but I was still upset and called your consumer relations office again the next day to express my displeasure at again being forced to go elsewhere to eat when I had arrived in advance of the closing time.
In my life I've worked at both McDonalds and Jack-in-the-Box and at both of those fast food companies, when a store is scheduled to be open until a certain time, it does stay open until then. We may have done some advance closing work, but we served customers who arrived prior to or even at the appointed closing time. Perhaps those companies, like the one I am working for presently understand something that Burger King apparently doesn't. Without our customers, we have no reason to exist.
So, last night, after a very long and trying day I was really in the mood for a Whopper, because it does taste better than any other fast food burger (in my humble opinion) and I got to that aforementioned location even earlier, at 10:52. But once again, the lights were dimmed, the chairs were up on the tables and the drive through board was darkened. When I pulled around to the window, the young lady inside shrugged and said "Sorry, we're closed."
Right then and there, Burger King lost a customer. Not just for a night, but for a lifetime. Oh, there's another Burger King that is open later within a 20 minute drive but I'm not driving 20 more minutes out of my way no matter how much better a Whopper might taste. It isn't worth it. It especially isn't worth it when one has gone to the trouble to point out to a business that it has a problem and the business isn't doing anything to solve that problem.
Now I am sure that losing one customer is no big deal to someone at your level, but it should be. It is indicative of a fatal flaw in your corporate philosophy. Particularly when one analyzes just how much of the fast food business is repeat business. Perhaps someday you'll add to that huge list of Senior Vice Presidents on your executive team page a Senior Vice President of Customer Service and put that person to work educating your employees on just how valuable an asset your customers are. As fierce as the competition is for the fast-food client, I don't think you can afford to just let your lowest level employees continue to achieve their goal of walking out the door earlier at the expense of losing business.
Ray Kroc (I'm sure you know who he was) expected his employees to practice QSC and it seems like the S in that equation has been lost at Burger King. Then again, that's why they are who/what they are and why they are number one.
Sincerely,
February 2, 2005
Mr. Greg Brenneman
CEO
The Burger King Corporation
5505 Blue Lagoon Drive
Miami, FL 33126
Re: Customer Service (or lack thereof)
Dear Mr. Brenneman:
Your biography on the Burger King webpage indicates that you are a turnaround expert. I am sure this is true in business and in the corporate world, but my recent experiences indicate that what may be needed in your company is a turnaround in the level of customer service.
There is a BK location on El Segundo Boulevard in Hawthorne California. It is on my way home from my current job which involves working evenings as the manager of an H&R Block tax preparation office. Last week we were there later than usual on Wednesday and I suddenly realized that it was getting close to 11, the time that your location mentioned above is scheduled to close. So I rushed to get there ahead of 11 and arrived at around 10:55. The place was already closed. I called your consumer relations office and was told that if the posted hours of a Burger King location say it is open until 11 then it should be open until then. The woman on the phone apologized and promised to send me some coupons as a way of apologizing.
The next night, the same thing happened. Now I should have known it would take more than 24 hours to deal with this kind of issue, but I was still upset and called your consumer relations office again the next day to express my displeasure at again being forced to go elsewhere to eat when I had arrived in advance of the closing time.
In my life I've worked at both McDonalds and Jack-in-the-Box and at both of those fast food companies, when a store is scheduled to be open until a certain time, it does stay open until then. We may have done some advance closing work, but we served customers who arrived prior to or even at the appointed closing time. Perhaps those companies, like the one I am working for presently understand something that Burger King apparently doesn't. Without our customers, we have no reason to exist.
So, last night, after a very long and trying day I was really in the mood for a Whopper, because it does taste better than any other fast food burger (in my humble opinion) and I got to that aforementioned location even earlier, at 10:52. But once again, the lights were dimmed, the chairs were up on the tables and the drive through board was darkened. When I pulled around to the window, the young lady inside shrugged and said "Sorry, we're closed."
Right then and there, Burger King lost a customer. Not just for a night, but for a lifetime. Oh, there's another Burger King that is open later within a 20 minute drive but I'm not driving 20 more minutes out of my way no matter how much better a Whopper might taste. It isn't worth it. It especially isn't worth it when one has gone to the trouble to point out to a business that it has a problem and the business isn't doing anything to solve that problem.
Now I am sure that losing one customer is no big deal to someone at your level, but it should be. It is indicative of a fatal flaw in your corporate philosophy. Particularly when one analyzes just how much of the fast food business is repeat business. Perhaps someday you'll add to that huge list of Senior Vice Presidents on your executive team page a Senior Vice President of Customer Service and put that person to work educating your employees on just how valuable an asset your customers are. As fierce as the competition is for the fast-food client, I don't think you can afford to just let your lowest level employees continue to achieve their goal of walking out the door earlier at the expense of losing business.
Ray Kroc (I'm sure you know who he was) expected his employees to practice QSC and it seems like the S in that equation has been lost at Burger King. Then again, that's why they are who/what they are and why they are number one.
Sincerely,
posted by me at 8:43 AM
0 Comments:
<< Home