The Victory of Marketing Over Common Sense
The Victory of Marketing Over Common Sense
Manager
Red Robin Restaurant
10005 NE Cascades Parkway, Ste. A
Portland OR 97220
No one makes a burger quite as good as Red Robin, and none of Red Robin’s burgers is quite as good a the Bleu Ribbon Burger. This is not just my opinion, by the way, but an absolute fact.
Also, we have visited Red Robins all over the place, and the stores are consistently clean, cheery, enthusiastically decorated, and always have good service. We seldom have to wait very long, but not because the restaurant is empty … quite the contrary, it seems that Red Robins are always pretty busy.
Your store is no exception to these observations. Your wait staff was prompt, efficient, and courteous, and your store was quite pleasant.
But. You knew there was a “but” coming, didn’t you?
When we came to your store a couple of weeks ago, it was raining. As you probably know, this is not a novelty in Portland. We approached the door from the parking lot, as virtually every customer must do, and stood under the entry canopy only to be confronted with a sign that said we would have to walk around the building to enter from the other side. Which we did, getting even wetter in the process.
We were seated at a table very near to the exit door we were unable to enter. As we sat enjoying our lunch, we observed at least a dozen parties, probably close to fifty people, do the same thing we had done. They exited their car, scurried through the rain to the locked door, saw the sign, shook their heads, and then scurried in the rain around the building to the entrance on the opposite side.
I know the building “fronts” on NE Cascades Parkway, but during the time we were there, we saw no one enter who had parked in the very limited number of spaces on the street there. In point of fact, your customers virtually all park in the ample lot provided on the north-east side of the store.
Why in the world do you insist on making the majority your loyal customers walk entirely around your store to enter? Often, in the rain. And yet again when they leave.
Someone at corporate probably told you that the “entrance must face the thoroughfare.” Pshaw! The entrance must face the customer. There are many excellent locales with successful restaurants which enter from the parking lot side, away from the major street frontage. Among those that come quickly to mind are several in Bridgeport, virtually all Olive Gardens, the Red Robin in Sherwood, and several restaurants in our home town, Tualatin. Each of them has a “presence” on the street side, but also has a cheerful and well-lit entrance on the side where virtually all customers enter … from the parking lot.
In your particular store, it would take little or no effort to simply open the north-east door and allow patrons to enter and leave there freely. Why not?
Anyway, we still had great burgers that day! Keep up the good work!
Your loyal but soggy customer,
J. Michael Riley
8720 SW Tualatin Rd. #223
Tualatin OR 97062
jmyke2000@comcast.net
posted by Mique @ 4:36 PM
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