Diana F.
Yelp
I was so excited about this place when it first opened. However, 3 unbelievably bad customer service experiences have lost me and my husband as customers forever, and lost this business hundreds of dollars of our continued business, as well as our recommendation, as former Bend restaurant owners, of this place to others.
The 2nd terrible experience was the worst, so I'll start with that. I ordered a grilled cheese sandwich with extra cheese, which I had ordered maybe 5 times previously because their standard grilled cheese comes with 1 slice of cheese on 2 large slices of Texas toast. Previously I had been served by a lovely middle-aged woman who was very nice and always accommodated the extra cheese for a $0.50 upcharge. However, this time there was an older man with white hair.
He rudely declared to me that he would not be able to add extra cheese because he can't get the cheese to melt properly and it would result in my complaining. I assured him I'd had extra cheese on my sandwich there multiple times before & it had always come out great! He refused, so we cancelled our order and went somewhere else.
As a former restaurant owner, I must say that if this man is the owner, he is in the WRONG BUSINESS, and if he is an employee, he should be FIRED. There are so many things wrong with the way he handled the situation...
1st... if you can't figure out how to melt a 2nd slice of cheese on a grilled cheese sandwich, especially at an American food truck, then again, you're in the wrong business or should be fired. Anyone who has ever had children, gone to college, eats cheese, or has been alive since the 1950s in the US knows how to make a grilled cheese and successfully melt the cheese. Here's a quick tutorial... you cover it with a lid and add a little water under there to melt the cheese before the bread burns... just like every diner has done since forever.
2nd... he missed an upsell opportunity! A slice of cheese cost him probably $0.20 and he can sell it for $0.50. This $0.30 might not seem like a lot, but upselling is a very important way for restaurants to increase the total amount a customer spends on a visit, which results in increased revenue, and hopefully increased profits.
3rd... he upset a customer and did not make any efforts to make it right. As a result, we cancelled our order. He lost our sale for that day, which was $14.50.
Now the 3rd experience... The next time I was at the Lot, I was craving a grilled cheese. I scoped it out to make sure the man was not working. There was a young woman with blonde hair. I ordered my and my husband's meals, paid, and then after exchanging money, she informed me that she would not be able to add a 2nd slice of cheese to the grilled cheese. So, again, I cancelled our order, got our money back, and went somewhere else.
Now they've lost us for good as well as every friend that we would have recommended the place to. If we went there once a week, just me and my husband, they have now lost $754 in revenue from us. And, now, instead of telling people they have the best fries in town, we tell them this story, about the worst service we received from someone who clearly does not know how to run a restaurant.
OK... now to the 1st experience. My husband and I were meeting a friend for lunch at the Lot. That friend rode his antique motorcycle slowly on the sidewalk in order to park it in a safe location off the street, which he should not have done. My husband and I were already first and only in line at Bend Burgrz N Dogz, in flip flops, with our 2 dogs on leashes. The older man with the white hair yelled at our friend out the window of the food truck, over our heads and across the crowd, that he should not be driving on the sidewalk. I was surprised to see this as it is terribly unprofessional and unbecoming a representative of a business.
Then he shut the window and ignored my husband and I. We waited a few minutes and then we knocked on the window, he opened it and asked us what we wanted.
"Some service would be nice," my husband joked.
"Is that your motorcycle?" the man asked.
"Um... no... we're standing here in flip flops with 2 dogs and have been here the whole time," my husband answered.
"Is that your friend?" he asked, referencing our friend with the motorcycle.
"Yes," my husband answered.
"He shouldn't be riding on the sidewalk like that," he said angrily.
We were flabbergasted. He wasn't going to serve us because of the actions of our friend, whom we have no control over. We then had to basically beg to place an order.
The nice middle-aged women spoke to him quietly, perhaps urging him to calm down. He turned to her and meanly stated "don't ever speak to me like that again," loud enough for everyone to hear.
Our friend, who was excited to taste Bend Burgrz N Dogz ordered somewhere else.
This 1 person's anger and ignorance about restaurant business management, customer service, and cooking has lost us as customers forever! Bummer!
