Sunday, May 6, 2007

Get rid of the red ketchup bottles.....PLEASE

OK, maybe I am a little, well a lot outspoken, but certain things just bother me.....like red ketchup bottles. I don't have a great appreciation for Teresa and now have even less appreciation for another Heinz, the red ketchup bottle.
Between the two of them I don't know which is more annoying!
Restaurant owners....think of US, not YOU, when deciding what ketchup bottle to put on the table.
In a not so very scientific survey of restaurants I frequent (serving ketchup on the tables) within the last couple of months....65% of them with the red bottles were empty or near empty, they looked good and full though.
When polling owners as to why they chose the red bottled Heinz, they felt the bottles "LOOKED better on the table". Of COURSE THEY LOOK BETTER and that makes the owner FEEL better but it does nothing for the CUSTOMER.
Sooooo, I mentioned this to the owner of Bobby G's the Chicago Style Eatery in Alpharetta GA...TRUE Chicago style thin and crispy pizza with REAL Vienna Hot Dogs "Dragged throught the garden" REAL Chicago Style Italian Beef sandwiches "dipped" in his secret "au jus" to die for (a favorite grazing spot of the Fatman) who had the annoying red bottles on the tables of his fine establishment and yes, he (like others) felt the red bottles "looked better", however, he actually polled 10-12 customers (while I was sitting there) and he received a resounding 90%+ that felt they would rather have the bottle they could SEE (if there was enough ketchup) as opposed to guessing the weight of the bottle and then tracking someone down to get more.
The moral is Bobby changed and customers were happier (needless to say he was shocked at the response).
"The servers are supposed to check the condiment bottles regularly" owners remarked in my survey..... and they do..... in "fantasy land", not in reality.
Yes, the red bottles makes servers lives easier, yes they look nicer on the table, but, in reality it is only the customer that suffers....be gone red bottles from Heinz!!!! Let's return to good old fashioned customer service....please. It really does make us happier. I promise. I hope you care enough about us the "great unwashed" (and about 90% of the dining public) to make the change. Unite ketchup loving Public....and I will make you this offer, get a restaurant to take off the red bottles and send me the name, address and web site of your restaurant and I will give them a free plug on-air and on the web site.
Have a happy "Hunts" kinda day!

xoxoxo,
The Fatman