The Great Restaurant Fiasco - The Argyle - Don't Go

You know...there are places you can go to eat in Halifax, and
be all but assured that you will have a great meal with good,
service - a fabulous way to either start or end any evenning.
Well, the Argyle Street Bar and Grill is not one of those !
While guilty often of making rash assessments of people,
establishments, comments and sentiments, I feel I am
well qualified to pronounce harsh sentence on the Argyle.
Saturday night we had reservations for the Argyle -
despite my protests because we had been tricked before
and I quite frankly got the feeling that while serving adequate
food - anything beyond that was a pleasant accident and
if you were treated to anything resembling good service
it was your good fortune indeed.
So, Saturday night we arrived at the Argyle to be told that
they did not have our reservation...but we were welcome to
wait until a table came open. While I ran next door to OPA
to see if we could get in there, they shoved the other people
in our party into a booth - we had reserved a table - when
I returned they were seated. A table was set and ready not
ten feet from our booth and our requests to be moved were
ignored.
Upon my return I was fairly insistent to the others in our party
that we either order a full meal and leave or that we just leave -
because this was second consecutive time that we had had a
reservation at the Argyle that never got recorded - or that
got dumped when they found themselves busy that night.
I have never, ever, anywhere seen such a disgusting display
from a business within the hospitality industry.
The above is offered only as a public service - there are so many
good restaurants in Halifax I shudder at the thought of someone
from out of town happening upon the Argyle Street Bar and Grill
and thinking that is the standard that Metro offers.
As it turns out the evenning did have a happy ending. We strolled
two minutes down the street to the Economy Shoe Shop where we
were treated to a delightful meal and good service and another
positive story to tell...if you like curry - try the Shoe Shops curry
with chicken and rice dish or the curry shrimp pasta...
Fantastic !
By the time we got to Neptune Theatre we were all in the mood to
laugh...and laugh we did...I have no idea if "The Love List" by Norm
Foster is still playing - but what a riot !?! Bill Carr was a scream
and shone..and it is plain to see why Foster has gained a reputation
as Canada's top playwright. Congratulations to Neptune on another
great production !
Back to the Argyle for just a moment...I very much get the feeling
that the Argyle Street Bar and Grill is run by Air Canada..
I will share my latest Air Canada story in my next offering...but
Ad Moment...
You know having been in advertising the last couple of decades - one
of the things that only began discussing with my clients and potential
clients recently is " customer experience." I mean, I have always
insisted that clients tell the truth, and have told them that the worst
thing you can do is build up some potential customers' hopes or
expectations and them let them down. But something new that
I find very worth discussing is what new customers find when they
visit a business for the first time. Advertising will bring new customers
into your business - but if they don't have a good experience - not
only won't they buy - but they won't come back - and they won't come
back with everyone who will listen to them.
If you are going to invest in advertising, please make sure that you are
offering a shopping experience of which you will be proud...If your
ads bring people in and your staff send them away mad, you're likely
not getting full value out of your ad budget...Sadly, it doesn't usually take
much to make a good impression...get your staff to act like they care,
treat your customers with the kind of courtesy, manners, and style that
you would like, and listen to what the customer wants. If you're clean
and you look good - that's often enough - but there is so much more
you can do. Bottom line - under promise and over deliver is a mission
statement that always works.
Kinda like the Argyle - and Air Canada...If all their advertising were to
end with -" Bring your business to us - we'll aggravate the hell out of
you !" No one would ever be disappointed - and some people might even
be pleasantly surprised.
Speaking of which...Charlene and I and a couple of friends spent this
Saturday in the valley....with Eagles and the Lookout and a great
restaurant in Canning....More next time....
Banff, Banff, Banff, Banff, Banff, Banff, Banff, Banff, Banff, Banff...
For T-Bone whose miserable Father used to insist that he
correct spelling mistakes by writing the word ten times and I
did,as he so eloquently pointed out, butcher the word in my last
offering...I will say in my defense that I am extremely proud of Tyler's
communication skills both verbal and written and that if he would just
ease off and let me win at golf occasionally he'd be the perfect son.
Both his Mother and I miss him alot and the phone is no substitute.
Til we meet again - Hittem long and hittem straight..
Bless.
Don

Free Cable

Cable has freed up all it's channels this month...goes to show
that as your parents so often told you - you get what you pay
for...Confirmation once again that I have more cable
services than I want right now...
the Phoenix Open is on this afternoon on existing services
and hockey's on tonight - so...what more is required ?
I'm starting to get the bug...it's happening again...I'm about to
shift my golf clubs from the spot they maintain in the garage
in the off season to the trunk of the car. I almost phoned around
today to see if all the simulators in town were booked. I was out
to Costco yesterday and almost bought golf gloves - I have to
have eight or nine unopened gloves in my golf-gear bag from last
year so I know that compulsion is starting to take over.
Golf...can't wait.
I'm in the planning stages for this year's Golf Shop Radio Program...
In the next couple of weeks I expect to map out the format for the
coming season, introducing a couple of new wrinkles to the broadcast -
and there is the possibility that the Golf Shop will be expanding
to include the print media which might be very cool indeed...and...
I fully expect to be doing a weekly newletter - so if you're interested
in golf tips, vacation ideas, course reviews, contests, and industry notes
as they relate to golf in the maritimes - email me and sign up...it's all free
and your email address will be used only to distribute the newsletter.
I'm excited about the upcoming season. I met a couple of golf pros late
last season who I'm going to invite to be regulars on the show this year -
I have recruited a couple of western correspondents - more on that later -
and we'll be watching closely the battle in Metro on the retail front....
We know now that Golf Town is opening up in Dartmouth's new
Mall/Park - Jo Mac is switching his signs soon to Nevada Bob's - and a
couple of smaller independents - are starting to inch their way into the
logjam over equipment dollars and I think it's going to be interesting to watch...
Who will be the winners be ????and who will the losers be ? I'll tell you
one thing...I've shopped both Nevada Bob's and Golf Town in other markets -
and unless they have a corporate strategy for new stores - there will be no
big saving to be enjoyed by Metro golfers. Golf Town may, and I'm not
convinced this to be the case, may, offer more variety and more choice than
Golf Central and Jo Mac - but today where an increasing number of players
I know are opting for having clubs custom made at the Village Golf Shop
or even Precision Golf or shops like those - I don't see the retail climate
changing a whole lot - except that the National chains have national advertising
budgets and buying power to give them leverage to play the bully to an extent...
interesting times await.
Part of the reason that I'm itching to scratch that golf thing so early this year
is that I missed my mid - January Phoenix fix this year.
Only so many vacation days in a year - and with a June flight to Alberta in
the offing ( Bampf, Kannanaskis so many others ) there was just no way to make
Phoenix fly...instead Charlene and I met son Matt, and Eli and Kathy in
Toronto a couple of weeks ago and buzzed off to Cuba...Holgein was the city...
what a wonderful vacation ! Very relaxing, very healthy, very laid back and
educational...did you know for instance that there is a limit to the number of
fruit juice based tropical cocktails you can consume in three or four days at
the swim-up bar if you are not a fruit juice drinking person to begin with.
It's true. I won't go into details on the symptoms - but you will know when you get
there...gives a whole new meaning to "all inclusive."
Couple of sports notes....the Raptors are starting to play like a team that beleives
they can...
The Leafs will re-sign Darcy Tucker although it will cost them more than it
should have - and the same holds true for the Oilers and Ryan Smyth.
I want to vomit everytime another baseball player signs a new contract.
Part time players making 2-3 million dollars a season is just wrong !
Ad note...for those of you running small businesses, trying to sort out your
advertising...
Ask yourself the question ? How many customers can I possibly serve over the
next year ?
Are you advertising in too many mediums, spreading yourself too thin, and despite
spending more than you ever have before being less effective than ever before ?
Fact...there are more and more vehicles for advertising everyday.
But how many more potential customers are there where you do business ?
Don't lose focus.
Fact...even a little AM radio station in a market like Halifax in all likelihood has
25-30 thousand adult listeners every week. What percentage of that audience
has to be customers of yours for you to be busy ? How much is it going to cost to
convert those listeners into customers ?
Don't lose focus.
I know of at least a couple of dozen businesses who could trim
their advertising expenditures by 50 %, and still bring in more customers,
if they knew what to say - and who to say it to -
and if they developped a plan and stuck to it.
Just because you hear your competition somewhere you are not is no reason
for you to go there. Before you spend your first dollar every year on advertising,
you should decide what you want it to do and how it's going to do it.
Make your plan - stick to your plan - plant your seed and tend your fields -
and the harvest will be bountiful.
Off to Neptune tonight...Superbowl tomorrow...don't you wish one of coaches was green ?
It's a sad comment that every Super Bowl report this week dealt with two black
coaches instead of two very good, very dedicated, very intense, very smart, very commited
coaches - and two good ball teams...not perfect ball teams but good ball teams. Could be
interesting....Go Colts !!!!
Til next time...Bless
Don