Restaurants Temporarily Pausing Takeout and Delivery Orders Is Actually Great Customer Service

Despite living in a world where everything is at the tip of our fingers and delivery services are as common as a cold, sometimes you just can't get what you want. Last week I was craving a hamburger from the restaurant I had worked in for 10 years. It’s two blocks from my apartment and I knew all day that’s what was for dinner that night. The hand-cut fries were calling out to me like Sirens luring me to a sea of ketchup and mayonnaise. When the time came for me to order, I was so hungry, but even more grateful to not have to cook anything. I didn’t bother with ordering through an app, because having worked there, I knew that the restaurant makes more money when an order is placed directly. I called the restaurant.

“I’d like to place an order for pickup, please,” I said.

The slight pause in their response told me everything I knew, but then the words cemented my concern. “I’m sorry, we’re not doing any takeout right now.”

My brain froze. How can this be? This is what I want to eat for dinner and there is no Plan B. What kind of restaurant gets my hopes up that I can eat their food in the comfort of my own living room and then smashes that dream on the rocks? And then I remembered that I used to work there and knew exactly why they weren’t accepting any takeout orders.

It was a beautiful day in New York City, one of those days where it finally feels like spring is here to stay. Restaurants with outdoor seating were teeming with customers, desperate to say goodbye to winter. I pictured the patio where I’d waited tables for so many years and knew that all of the tables were full. Inside the restaurant was probably packed too. It’s a small restaurant with one chef in the kitchen, a server, and a bartender. A full restaurant meant that all three of them were operating at a hundred percent. When I worked there and it was that busy, the chef-owner would sometimes make the call to turn off the delivery apps and not take any to-go orders. “We need to focus on the people who are in the restaurant before we focus on anyone else.” 

He was right, of course. Trying to do more than we could handle only led to mistakes, longer wait times, and disappointment. The priority had to be the customers who had made the effort to come to the restaurant. It’s really about customer service and making sure the guests are happy. Allowing too many orders is going to lessen the experience for them. 

Despite my intense desire for this hamburger, the owner didn’t want to bite off more than he could chew. My voice probably cracked a little bit when I said, “I totally understand. Y’all have a good night.” 

The relief in the voice on the other end of the phone as he said thank you told me that others who had called were probably not as understanding as me. When I worked there, I was always surprised how upset people would get when they’d call complaining that we weren’t showing up on Seamless and they’d want to know why they couldn’t order takeout. The explanation that we were making sure the people in the restaurant were our priority at that moment didn’t appease most.

I hung up and reevaluated my dinner plans. Within two minutes I had ordered my second favorite burger in the neighborhood. I’ll eventually get my first-choice burger again. I’ll order takeout another time just like everyone does, even those who feigned anger with me when I would occasionally deny them takeout. We can’t always get what we want when we want it, but we can, in fact, get satisfaction. The timing just has to be right.