You cannot plan to fail

A recent news headline caught my attention.

"Xmas Eve dinners ruined when roasts did not turn up" (TST, 27 December 2007)

Summary of the news is as follow:

~~At least 10 dinner parties on Christmas Eve when the roast pork roulade – a slice of meat rolled around a minced meat filling ordered from a caterer, Espirito Santo Gourmet, did not turn up.
~~Some orders have been placed two weeks before.
~~Two upset customers whose roasts never turned up – and who never got a phone call informing them – said the no-show ruined their Christmas Eve dinner parties with family and friends.
~~A customer had wanted to pick up the dish herself at the outlet at Great World City but received a call at about 5.30pm to say it would be delivered to her house instead.
~~When contacted, Espirito Santo Gourmet owner said that 3 kitchen ovens had overheated and had broken down at about noon. As it was Christmas Eve, it was hard to find a technician and when she did, it took three hours to fix them. As there were 3000 orders that day, they could not catch up on the delays.
~~They (Espirito Santo Gourmet) did not even call to apologise that night after no no-show.

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In the Food And Beverage business,

1) One should have a contingency plan. A backup plan in case of emergency. Contact numbers of suppliers, technicians, etc from more than one 'source' should be kept handy.

2) Making empty promises to customers in a big no-no. You do not over-promise and
under-deliver.

3) As manager of F&B outlet, you can not plan to fail. As the saying goes, "Hope for the best and Plan for the worst".

4) Basic courtesy is to apologise to customers and to appease them. In this case,
customers were at no fault yet the service they received were below average.

To the owner and the reputation of the caterer mentioned above, you have my deepest condolences.

My 2 cents worth... ... ... ...