Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Happier Waiting at the Inn?

“NoWait” is One New Way We Are Striving
to Improve Our Service to You


We love you and appreciate that you are willing to wait to eat at the Franklin Inn on busy nights, but we want to do better by you if we can. Most of you don’t mind chatting in the bar with a margarita until your table is available. For others who have children (I know....we have three!) or places to go, a wait can be more difficult.  Folks currently seated need time to enjoy their meal from appetizers to dessert without feeling rushed but we also know that you are in our door way waiting to be seated too. Enter “NoWait.”  A cool new ipad tool developed locally to help better manage the seating list resulting in a happier wait.

Now, when you visit the Franklin Inn on a night where a wait list has developed: 
You’ll check in with the host as usual. In addition, she'll ask for your cell phone number to text you when your table is ready. The host will send you a text with your estimated time. This gives you freedom of movement! You can enjoy a margarita at the bar, wait on our patio, read a magazine article in your car, take the kids for a walk along Oakleaf Lane, etc.  You may even have enough time to run a quick errand or return to your nearby home to pick up the teen who was still fixing her hair when you left! You don’t have to worry about missing the host yelling out your name or have the nuisance of holding on to or being out of range with one of those traditional clunky restaurant pagers.  Just keep your cell phone on and handy (and keep in mind the host’s estimated time before you go too far!).  When you get the table-is-ready-text, return to the host to be seated. Or, you can text back and say that you’re not ready to be seated. We'll return you to the list and seat the next group. It's that simple. I'm told that any cell phone or smart phone with texting capabilities should work.

After your meal, you’ll receive another text from us asking you if you'd like to opt into our text message service to receive updates and other special offers.  If you decline, your phone number is wiped out of the system. If you do opt in, however, you may receive additional goodies from us occasionally. (The best deal is to join our email program, the Inn Crowd, where you'll receive the eInnSider Update, birthday certificates and more.)  We will never ever misuse or give your contact information to anyone else.  

What happens if you don't have a phone with texting capability? No problem. Just stay close by and the host will call out your name when your table is ready. Our intent is simply to serve you better.

“NoWait” offers you more freedom of movement with a more pleasant wait. We'll be testing this program for the next six months to see if you are better served through the use of it.  Bear with us as we work through the initial kinks and all hosts are trained. Let us know what you think of it once you’ve had the opportunity to experience “NoWait.”  We appreciate your input.

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