Stephanie S.
Yelp
I've been here twice for different friend's birthday parties. They have some small rooms upstairs you can reserve, a Foosball table, and seating downstairs near the bar. The first time was fine, we had cake, drank pretty good beer, and had some cider on tap and wine for our carbonation-hating friend. The second time was also fine for the questionably stable chairs that creaked, couches that were definitely antiques from grandma's, cider, pretty good beer, and wine for our carbonation-hating friend. In general people are pretty prompt about picking up glasses as your group drinks, and their expensive plate of pretzels serves a need.
The problem, though, is my friend's boyfriend brought a little hummus platter. In the email he received confirming his reservation it hadn't said anything about not bringing outside food (which is good, cause birthday parties without cake are silly to us carbohydrate loving folks), and to go with his cake he also brought a hummus platter with veggies and a couple of those terrible little wrap sandwiches to balance out the booze.
After a couple people had picked at the sandwiches but we'd devoured a majority of the veggies to go with the pretzels we'd ordered so we could drink more, someone came in. Then, loudly and very publicly asked for our friend who made the reservation (our local math nerd), then stated that the platter wasn't allowed because they served food, which had been in the email (which we later checked, and either we're illiterate - which is possible, cause we did check it after beer and cider - or it didn't say anything), then walked away when our friend asked him what he'd like him to do with it then after making everyone pretty uncomfortable.
So while usually I think Outlander Brewery is fine, I think that was a pretty crappy way to handle the situation. For one, they had nothing to gain from publicly shaming our friend. We had already eaten the platter (except the nasty sandwiches), been there for a couple hours, and damage was done. So it's not like any of us who weren't already going to order things from the brewery for food were going to now beyond what we already had. On top of that, they'd come in and out to collect glasses for hours, so they could have said something much sooner. That, and we were already ordering a lot of drinks. So they weren't going to make short term gains from more food orders cause what we would have eaten of the platter was done with (which, again, mostly veggies), weren't going to make long term gains in more loyal customers, they had nothing to gain from it.
The only thing that could happen from publicly shaming our friend was putting a damper on our birthday celebration and making us feel uncomfortable. While those of us not publicly shamed were over it in about 5 minutes, it did bother our buddy a while longer, which makes sense, cause that was a shit thing to do. Any guesses on the chances of our group of 12 coming back again if we have negative feels? Pretty low.
As some advice in the future, if you have customers bring in food because birthday and more drinking when food happens, please do the following:
1) If you notice a math nerd bringing in a hummus & nasty sandwich platter, mention it as soon as he enters in a polite way that respects his dignity as a human being that you don't allow outside food in a 1:1 manner. "Oh, hey, sorry but we don't allow outside food, but feel free to bring in the cake since I know it's a birthday." OR "We can make food for your group though AND a cake" OR like anything but what you did.
2) If you somehow didn't notice the nerdy struggling with the giant platter and notice later, go talk to him earlier on - you know, within like 30 minutes instead of hours later, but when you do that do the following:
a) Ask him if you could talk to him outside of the group party room rather than infront of all his nerdy friends
b) Instead of coming at him in a confrontational way that's accusatory as though he's illiterate and just trying to be a thorn in your side, be polite. Like, you know, customer service is sort of something you know how to do.
c) If you neglect this for hours and the damage is already done, remember, he brought 11 people with him who want to drink. You may not have made $20 on selling your own okay sandwiches, but I'm pretty sure you made much more than that selling your pretty good beer. Maybe just let it go OR if you think it might happen more frequently, mention it to him on his way out. Again, 1:1, not in front of a group sitting around chatting and interrupting the party like a raging bull.
Pretty shitty to put a damper on an evening for absolutely no reason. Realistically, all he could gain from it was losing future customers, so a pretty bad choice on Outlander's part.
