Short staffed restaurants

Post Reply
BillyGr
Store Manager
Store Manager
Posts: 1579
Joined: October 5th, 2010, 7:33 pm
Been thanked: 58 times
Status: Offline

Re: Short staffed restaurants

Post by BillyGr »

storewanderer wrote: October 31st, 2021, 11:15 pm Well- it finally happened. Had an El Pollo Loco I had been going to in Reno during quite a chunk of this COVID period. The location kept its inside open the whole time (closed the tables when indoor dining was prohibited) regular hours until 10 PM, etc. Well, today, they had a sign up- dining room and take out closed due to short staffing, drive through only.

This labor shortage situation is only getting worse.

Also if I have to count the number of times I've seen the local Wendys open, close, re-open, re-close, their to go counters/dining rooms in the past five months... open some days, closed other days, etc. Today was one of the days where two different locations I attempted to enter mid-day were locked and had long drive through lines. A third location was open. All the same franchisee. Makes no sense.

When I look at the long drive through lines at these places I can't help but wonder if a more efficient model would be to CLOSE the drive through and only operate the inside to go counter. At least that way the customer who pulls in for a single meal doesn't have to wait behind the car of the Doordash driver trying to pick up 3 orders at once that all came in during a 20 minute time period so not all are ready yet, or the van that orders $50 of food and of course some component of the order is delayed for one reason or another.

This leaves In N Out as the only one who has had consistent operations and been consistently staffed throughout this period. But it is so overcrowded that I don't go there.
It sure seems that would be more efficient for the customers, but none of the restaurants want to think that way, apparently :)
Alpha8472
Posts: 3931
Joined: February 24th, 2009, 8:55 pm
Been thanked: 79 times
Status: Offline

Re: Short staffed restaurants

Post by Alpha8472 »

I went to a Jack In The Box in the San Francisco Bay Area and they were out of practically everything. No nuggets, chicken strips, fries, teriyaki bowls, etc. The lines were out of control. Do they say that just so they have less work to do?

They were also out of napkins.
storewanderer
Posts: 14396
Joined: February 23rd, 2009, 3:54 pm
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 298 times
Contact:
Status: Offline

Re: Short staffed restaurants

Post by storewanderer »

Alpha8472 wrote: November 23rd, 2021, 10:10 pm I went to a Jack In The Box in the San Francisco Bay Area and they were out of practically everything. No nuggets, chicken strips, fries, teriyaki bowls, etc. The lines were out of control. Do they say that just so they have less work to do?

They were also out of napkins.
This type of place concerns me. What if they are out of soap?

Another reason why I don't go for these mandatory drive through places.
DFWRetaileWatcher
Cashier
Cashier
Posts: 81
Joined: April 24th, 2021, 8:58 pm
Status: Offline

Re: Short staffed restaurants

Post by DFWRetaileWatcher »

‘Sorry!’ Customers with prepaid Thanksgiving meal orders find doors shut at Boston Market in Rancho Cucamonga

https://www.pe.com/2021/11/25/sorry-cus ... cucamonga/
Customers who showed up at Boston Market on Foothill Boulevard in Rancho Cucamonga to pick up their prepaid meals on a blustery Thanksgiving morning were in for a shock.

The doors to the restaurant were closed. A sign outside read: “No employees showing up today… we are unable to fulfill the orders! We are sorry!”

Boston Market is investigating why that happened, company spokesman Slaton Smith said in a statement.

“We are in the process of refunding the Thanksgiving order(s) of every guest impacted by our Rancho Cucamonga location. We sincerely apologize to every guest who placed an order and came to the restaurant today,” he wrote.

Rancho Cucamonga resident Joseph Amato called the situation “pretty disappointing.” He preordered his meal last week and came to the store at 9:45 a.m. Thursday to pick it up.

“No email, nothing about anything,” Amato said. “And there’s food sitting in there, food sitting in the truck on the side, just waiting to see if someone shows up. Now it’s just everyone out here without food.

“I was really hoping to take it easy this Thanksgiving, not have to make a whole dinner for the family,” he said. “Now I have to find a Plan B.”
Bradford011
Stock Clerk
Stock Clerk
Posts: 45
Joined: August 20th, 2021, 1:30 am
Status: Offline

Re: Short staffed restaurants

Post by Bradford011 »

DFWRetaileWatcher wrote: November 26th, 2021, 10:48 am[snip]Customers who showed up at Boston Market on Foothill Boulevard in Rancho Cucamonga to pick up their prepaid meals on a blustery Thanksgiving morning were in for a shock.

The doors to the restaurant were closed. A sign outside read: “No employees showing up today… we are unable to fulfill the orders! We are sorry!”
This is nothing short of a public-relations disaster...
Alpha8472
Posts: 3931
Joined: February 24th, 2009, 8:55 pm
Been thanked: 79 times
Status: Offline

Re: Short staffed restaurants

Post by Alpha8472 »

I placed an online order for Jack In The Box and now I just drove up and the restaurant is closed. It is after 9 PM. I have no idea how to get a refund as the app has no option. I guess I will have to call tomorrow. This is supposed to be a 24 hour restaurant. What a mess.
storewanderer
Posts: 14396
Joined: February 23rd, 2009, 3:54 pm
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 298 times
Contact:
Status: Offline

Re: Short staffed restaurants

Post by storewanderer »

Alpha8472 wrote: December 2nd, 2021, 9:55 pm I placed an online order for Jack In The Box and now I just drove up and the restaurant is closed. It is after 9 PM. I have no idea how to get a refund as the app has no option. I guess I will have to call tomorrow. This is supposed to be a 24 hour restaurant. What a mess.
Did you punch the "make my order" option? If not, go away from that screen and go to your order history, then go into the order history, select cancel my order, and it will cancel and you will receive an e-mail with a survey asking you why you canceled your order. This will cancel the preauth on your card for the purchase that was run when you ordered (it doesn't formally charge you until you hit the "make my order" button). Then you can tell it you canceled because the location was closed when you tried to do the pick up. This happened to me a 4th time over the weekend with one location; I should have learned by now but I was in the parking lot and the app said the place was open so I placed an order as I was walking over then got there and of course all locked up with some hostile sign out front to "be patient with the employees who chose to come to work today and we are having product shortages of various items" which is almost enough to make me want to walk away right there with the hostile tone of the sign. I don't disagree with what the sign says (in fact I agree fully with it) but the tone and message comes off as hostile.
Alpha8472
Posts: 3931
Joined: February 24th, 2009, 8:55 pm
Been thanked: 79 times
Status: Offline

Re: Short staffed restaurants

Post by Alpha8472 »

I already pressed "prepare the food." It was too late to cancel. I will probably try to talk to them tomorrow if they are open.

I went to another Jack In The Box and that one had no coins and could not give any change back. What bad luck. I received my order in an unbranded brown paper bag. They were running out of all kinds of supplies.

Walmart is also doing the rounding thing again. At least you get almost an extra dollar back.
storewanderer
Posts: 14396
Joined: February 23rd, 2009, 3:54 pm
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 298 times
Contact:
Status: Offline

Re: Short staffed restaurants

Post by storewanderer »

Alpha8472 wrote: December 3rd, 2021, 1:01 am I already pressed "prepare the food." It was too late to cancel. I will probably try to talk to them tomorrow if they are open.

I went to another Jack In The Box and that one had no coins and could not give any change back. What bad luck. I received my order in an unbranded brown paper bag. They were running out of all kinds of supplies.

Walmart is also doing the rounding thing again. At least you get almost an extra dollar back.
It will be interesting to see if they void the order in that case. I am sure your order wasn't the only one. I suspect they have a way to do so, when someone gets there tomorrow and sees a bunch of orders on the screen, hopefully whoever shows up knows what to do. Under that POS system if they go into their manager functions they can void out an order and it will automatically credit back the card used. Again big if, if whoever is there knows how that works.
Alpha8472
Posts: 3931
Joined: February 24th, 2009, 8:55 pm
Been thanked: 79 times
Status: Offline

Re: Short staffed restaurants

Post by Alpha8472 »

No refund was issued. The only option is to go to the restaurant and ask them to remake the food for you for free. This is a whole bunch of trouble.
Post Reply