Lawrence Kansas is situated approximately 30 miles from the Missouri border just outside of Kansas City. My wife and I are attending a wedding at the Eldridge Hotel.

Last evening the wedding couple requested all in the party meet for a cocktail social at a local microbrewery called Front Street. As my wife and I approached the front of the building we were greeted by 500 of our closest friends, the place was packed! However, the wedding party had rented a room, so we were immediately escorted to our location.

After ordering some wine and settling in, the evening manager requested to speak to the bride to be. In front of close to 50 guests the manager told the bride that our room privileges were being revoked in 30 minutes time. It appears the restaurant is one of the busiest places in Lawrence. The manager insisted that since the establishment gets so busy that she would rather have 50 existing paying customers leave the restaurant so that she can seat others that might, just might be waiting to get in.

As I surveyed the room, all 50 guests had a drink. Averaging seven dollars per drink the establishment was already 350 dollars in the black and we had just begun. Others wanted food. This restaurant was going to make over 1500 dollars without breaking a sweat.

However, the manager held fast, she wanted us gone. She was betting our current bill on premise that she might seat other parties waiting to get in. I believe she may be an ex hedge fund manager.

The manager would have had good grounds if we were not ordering or rowdy. We were none of the above. She obviously is a millennial with poor manners, crappy people skills and poor service focus.

As I reviewed the restaurant before leaving I realized that this establishment exemplified all that is wrong with organizational customer service; short-term profit focus rather than long-term customer retention. While the restaurant even during the recession appears profitable, what are the long term prospects considering its succinct focus on service and quality?

What are you doing to ensure you remain focused on your number one asset?

Copyright 2009. Drew Stevens PhD. All rights reserved.

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