What's YOUR backup plan?

The one negative/funny experience that my wife Kari and I had in San Fran happened to be our "romantic dinner night".

We were highly recommended to dine at Cafe Kati in the Pacific Heights Area.

A quaint little restaurant with eclectic taste, narrow hallways, dark exotic walls and the faint aromas of delectable dishes. We even got the best table, with the best view, thanks to reserving online. We ordered a nice bottle of Merlot, some peanut crusted prawns for appetizers and I ordered the miso glazed black bass in a dashi broth for my main course.

Yum!

Watching the other dinners come out and be delivered to the other guests was purely teasing and only builds the hunger pains.

The wine was excellent, and the prawns were to die for.

NOW we were really looking forward to the main course.

Until...

BANG! CLANG, CLATTER, BANG

Pots and pans went a flying in the kitchen area, someone could be heard screaming in frustration. Something BIG was up.

Not quite sure what was happening, we kept enjoying our wine until I noticed a mass exodus of our fellow patrons. Just then the waitress comes over and says...

"You have to leave NOW! Our chef/owner is having a really bad day and is closing up for the night."

Then she gave us the bill for the wine and appetizers!

So we had to guzzle our $50 bottle of wine - and walk out in search of some dinner.

Not impressed.

Now, what happens to a business that has no backup plan in this kind of situation?

#1 someone like myself goes online and tells the world about our bad experience remember http://www.cafekati.com - who knows how many people may read this, or hear of this from others.

#2 they have received a formal complaint from us

#3 I have told everyone we know this story... yes, it is funny, but I would never go there again

#4 10 tables x 2 at each table = 20 people who each tell 10 people = now you have 200 people at a minimum who know the chef at this place is a flake!

and...

#5 the person who recommended me there (all the way from Calgary Canada) now knows and will never tell anyone else again about this place. And he knows a lot of people!

Total damage done = massive.

What could they have done?

They should have had a backup plan in place. Backup staff, chefs, whatever... find a way to keep the doors open and serve your guests. And NEVER ask them to pay for the crappy service you gave them. You should bribe them to come back not charge them for abusing them.

What do YOU have in place for your business for backup?

What would happen if your computers disappeared over night?

What would happen if you fell ill for 3 months?

You must think about your backup plan - if you don't the damage can be massive and take you years to overcome.

Think about what COULD happen... then make sure it doesn't!