Subject category:
Marketing
Originally published in:
2018
Version: 15-Jun-2018
Length: 6 pages
Data source: Generalised experience
Abstract
Rishi and his friends at Crossroads 4.0 ordered Sandwich and Salad from a recently opened restaurant - Salad Bar. Rishi was quite impressed with Salad Bar’s credo on its website. The credo had promised for quality food and on time delivery. This case is a story of a meticulous but difficult customer, Rishi, who repeatedly received erroneous orders. Magnanimous and empathetic to the travails of a start-up, he gave Salad Bar the benefit of doubt each time. The story repeated in the second instance too. Rishi felt over-promised and under-delivered. A series of events followed where again Salad Bar failed to keep the promise. Ridiculously, each time Salad Bar offered a refund and finally a huge discount. This perturbed Rishi all the more as it seemed that the organization had over assumed that any amount and any level of service failure could be recovered by discounts and coupons. Salad Bar failed to understand that when a customer orders for sandwiches, he wants sandwiches and not discounts and coupons. Salad Bar failed miserably on reliability, assurance, and empathy and was thus headed for failure. The case brings to the fore internal and external communication failure, HR issues and wrong focus. This case is an interesting read which tells that mere passion is not enough to run a business in the food industry, it requires delivering on the promise.
About
Abstract
Rishi and his friends at Crossroads 4.0 ordered Sandwich and Salad from a recently opened restaurant - Salad Bar. Rishi was quite impressed with Salad Bar’s credo on its website. The credo had promised for quality food and on time delivery. This case is a story of a meticulous but difficult customer, Rishi, who repeatedly received erroneous orders. Magnanimous and empathetic to the travails of a start-up, he gave Salad Bar the benefit of doubt each time. The story repeated in the second instance too. Rishi felt over-promised and under-delivered. A series of events followed where again Salad Bar failed to keep the promise. Ridiculously, each time Salad Bar offered a refund and finally a huge discount. This perturbed Rishi all the more as it seemed that the organization had over assumed that any amount and any level of service failure could be recovered by discounts and coupons. Salad Bar failed to understand that when a customer orders for sandwiches, he wants sandwiches and not discounts and coupons. Salad Bar failed miserably on reliability, assurance, and empathy and was thus headed for failure. The case brings to the fore internal and external communication failure, HR issues and wrong focus. This case is an interesting read which tells that mere passion is not enough to run a business in the food industry, it requires delivering on the promise.