Witnessing exceptional acts of customer service at Five Guys?

After doing 60-70 Five Guys, I've never seen "exceptional acts of customer service." I put down no for that question in my report every time and I'm just wondering what you guys have witnessed that would be considered exceptional service. I've seen good service but nothing special.

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One time I saw a guy come from behind the counter to aide a woman with four little kids in tow. He invited her to sit down while he got the condiments and drinks for them. That was the only time that I actually put exceptional service into the report.

One weekend afternoon recently, the outdoor patio was full of diners. A runner was stationed on the dining room side of the pick-up counter. She was taking orders outside to diners so they wouldn't all be hanging around inside crowding the pick-up window. Was it extraordinary or just good management? I considered it to be someone in the store being thoughtful and going above and beyond in customer service. I thought it was worth mentioning as exceptional service.

Shopping SoCal and Maui.

A gray shirt comped my meals (two diners) once because he was in a super good mood. He knew me as a regular and said they got rid of the Manager From Hell so he wanted us to celebrate with him! I couldn't report it (it WAs exceptional service to me, but probably not to the company!) because I didn't have a receipt. Instead, I just rescheduled the shop.

Doing what I can to enhance the life of my family! I LOVE what I do

ShopSouthTexas --sounds like the manager knew you were the previous mystery shopper from a review of videotapes and now he is schmoozing you to keep him in your good graces when writing your reports. Why else would he have told you the manager from hell was terminated???

@Arch Stanton wrote:

ShopSouthTexas --sounds like the manager knew you were the previous mystery shopper from a review of videotapes and now he is schmoozing you to keep him in your good graces when writing your reports. Why else would he have told you the manager from hell was terminated???

I don't think that was it at all. They always did well at this location (I am going back after a long gap due to a recent move back to the area). He had also given me a free drink once and I reported that since it was not on the receipt. Had he known I was the shopper, he would be setting himself up for a big fail right there! I think he was just a friendly guy who appreciated his regulars, but who knows! It will be interesting to see if he still works at this location. Comped items aren't a bad thing when they aren't done excessively but in moderation. That's my opinion of course, but I know many bar locations that allow their employees to comp a certain amount of drinks each shift.

Doing what I can to enhance the life of my family! I LOVE what I do

When someone comes out to the dining room to deliver a meal to seated customers or walks around in the dining room speaking to seated guests, I find that to be exceptional. Most of the time someone just stands behind the counter and calls a number and only about 1 out of 20 times does someone come into the dining room to chat with customers or deliver food.

@JASFLALMT wrote:

When someone comes out to the dining room to deliver a meal to seated customers or walks around in the dining room speaking to seated guests, I find that to be exceptional. Most of the time someone just stands behind the counter and calls a number and only about 1 out of 20 times does someone come into the dining room to chat with customers or deliver food.

You must live in a friendly town Jas! I have never seen food delivered into the dining room.

Shopper in California's Bay Area

I shop 8 or 9 locations semi regularly. I've seen food delivered to people with obvious mobility issues. Is it exceptional? Maybe not, but it is super thoughtful. I do report those when the happen. I was given a free meal voucher once by a friendly manager as I eat bunless burgers, and that location had run out of lettuce wraps two times in a row. I reported it as it was sweet (as well as reporting I obviously wouldn't use it, as I was being reimbursed for my meal by the MSC).

I will report small acts of exceptional behavior and the MSC or client can decide if it truly is exceptional or not.
For example:
opening the door for customers going in or out.
going around the dining room, asking customers if they need more ketchup, napkins, trash removed from their table
arranging booster seats around a table when they see a family come in with small children
take an order out to a family seated outside when they can not hear their order being called.

I was doing a dinner shop and a lady with two kids came to the shop, after she picked up the order and was walking back to her table she dropped the bag, losing quite a few fries. She had two burgers which she kept since they were well wrapped. Though the lady was just going to make due with the few fries that didn't spill, the shift leader told her not to worry about it, and the crew made them a fresh order of fries, and brought it to her table it to the table.

I shouldn't be surprised though, before I ever started mystery shopping for them, a store manager had told me that at least in his store the lead is given freedom to comp items at their discretion. He said his entire crew also knows that if a new customer is balking at the pricey menu, the crew can offer to make the meal for free so they at least try it.

At a recent shop, a crew member brought my meal and those of a pair of diners out to the dining room. I reported that as an exceptional act--especially since I'd never seen it done at a Five Guys before.

Before that, I did a shop where I mentioned to the manager (who was cashiering) that I loved their peanuts. She invited me to scoop up a bag for myself to take home. I put that as an exceptional act in my report, too.

These might not be overwhelmingly exceptional acts of customer service, but I thought they might qualify for purposes of the report.

I learn something new every day, but not everyday!
I've learned to never trust spell-check or my phone's auto-fill feature.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/04/2016 07:57PM by BirdyC.

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