As a nation the British are generally not ones to complain, this is borne out by the findings of a new ‘eating out‘ website which suggests that although 66% of us have been served a substandard meal, 50% are accepted without making a fuss.
Diners in the south east are the most reluctant to complain and whilst those in the West Midlands, Scotland and Northern Ireland are more vocal, we still pay for a quarter of all poor meals.
The survey of 1,000 respondents designed to establish how often diners have cause to complain saw poor service coming in second to an overwhelming dissatisfaction with the temperature of the main courses which are often served cold.
TV Chef Richard Phillips hit the nail on the head with his comment; “We Brits generally aren’t ones to complain, but diners who grumble all the way through meal, then tell the waiter “Very nice, thank you,” at the end and tell all their friends how bad the restaurant was aren’t doing the industry or themselves any favours. If there is something wrong we want to know.”
And that is where the new website wheresgoodtoeat.com comes in, Managing Director Gordon Lloyd West said;
“The survey has confirmed that as a nation we still don’t like to make a fuss but the only way standards will go up is if restaurants and cafes have customer feedback. wheresgoodtoeat.com gives diners the chance to share their experience when they eat out and also for restaurant owners to monitor their own performance and respond if things are not up to scratch. This is about enjoying and sharing the whole business of eating out. If in the process we can help restaurants to improve standards then it can only benefit not only customers’ experiences but also the business.”
In the Isle of Man where the site was launched 17% of the entire population now use the website to report on meals out, search for restaurant openings or even to just share food news, taking the risk out of special occasion or spur of the moment dining out experience.
