A construct of reality travels through conversations, evolving along the way.
A while ago I visited an exhibition with some friends. Afterwards, we wanted to grab a bite to eat. Since we had quite a drive ahead of us, it seemed like a good idea to choose somewhere near the highway, preferably a roadside restaurant.
Everyone agreed with the idea of stopping at a roadside restaurant, however one of the passengers was resistant towards the hotel-restaurant chain VDV because of a bad food experience.
Although his experience did not match mine, this is something to take seriously and so I tried to find us a different restaurant. With no luck unfortunately. Google Maps showed me some other restaurant chains but their reviews weren’t so great, the menu was mostly rather meager and the pricing wasn’t an advantage.
In the meanwhile we had already driven quite a distance and were getting hungrier. So I circled back to suggesting VDV, opting for a different location than the one from the bad experience and that was on route.
I knew this location myself as I’d visited it a couple of times before. My experiences with the chain VDV in general are mixed, varying from mediocre to good, but this specific location had been fine. I shared this with the others and we all agreed to give it a try.
When we got inside the place was absolutely rammed. Luckily we managed to get seated. The waiter told us it was much busier than usual. Nevertheless, he remembered our entire order without writing it down. I found that impressive.
Despite the crowds, we didn’t have to wait too long. Our food was served timely. We got the correct dishes, they were properly cooked and they were fresh. The waiter was friendly and even thoughtful enough to place a candle on our table that was supposed to be there but wasn’t yet. In short, I personally found it to be a very positive experience.
When I checked in with the others how they felt about it, everyone was more than satisfied, including the person with the previous bad experience.
From a professional perspective
You know, one single experience is just that, an experience. We all have them. However it’s also a construct of reality that travels through conversations, evolving along the way. When an experience like this gets more traction on scale through online or offline networks, possible risks are that an entire brand chain might get hit by one experience from one kitchen’s mistake, by one cook, from one branch out of 100+. The balance gets lost through collective outrage.
Reputation always gets fueled by conversations and stories; online, offline, in public places and in hidden groups. These dynamics are not always easy to track, let alone control. In this case I was happy to see that some trust was restored because of this second chance, but not every brand gets one.