On Turning People Away

My wife and I were traveling recently and on our second to last night, we went to a seafood restaurant we researched and were very excited about trying. We navigated the narrow streets and quiet alleys and as we approached, the liveliness of the restaurant and smell of the frying fish and fresh herbs washed over us.

We stepped in to the small sitting area before the room set for maybe 20 people at 4 or 5 tables. We asked for a table for 2 and he shook his head. “We’re all booked for tonight. Try tomorrow early. We open at 5.”

We’d be gone by then.

But what struck me as interesting was how different it was from restaurants in The States. We weren’t told to wait indefinitely and they’d squeeze us in to make sure they got a little bit more money and served another tourist who would Instagram their food.

They weren’t interested in turning over tables as fast as they could.

Instead, they wanted to focus on serving their existing customers by giving them a relaxed environment to be with their friends and family and delicious food and local wine that came steadily all night. And the truth is, I was at the door at 5 the next day to get a table. (It was amazing and worth it.)

As business owners, we too often jump to the assumption that more is better, that bigger is more desirable. That unless we serve everyone all the time, we’ll fail–that if we turn people away they won’t come back. But they didn’t lose me as a customer. People respect boundaries and want to be a part of companies that take care of their customers, even if it comes at the expense of non-customers (or future customers).

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