Originally Posted by
HawaiiTrvlr
That always puzzled me too. It's happened at several similiar restaurants. You can see that it is half full/half empty and are told to wait 5-10 minutes. Uh, I can see plenty of open tables. The only thing I thought about is that they were waiting for a service person for that section to be ready.
To be clear, if a half-empty restaurant has an ancillary revenue opportunity (bar, gift shop, etc) and makes you wait, it is probably part of their strategy to get more revenue out of you. If they don't then it's probably because they were not in a position to serve you efficiently. In either case they're trying to balance their profitability and your satisfaction.
Originally Posted by
BamaVol
I have no patience to begin with. I usually spend my additional money at the place across the street. If i even suspected a restaurant of pulling that crap, i'd be out of there and a long time gone...
Exactly. The point of the investor presentation is that false waits were hurting Olive Garden's business, not helping as apparently it is not a place for which people were willing to wait. (Snide comment regarding OG's atmosphere and menu redacted per moderator request...
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