I visited a new deli today with my family. I loved the fact it had a great deal of character. It was located in a greater older building in one of the downtown areas in which I live. The floors were older wood with great scuffs and scrapes and the decor was weathered to match.
Immediately upon arriving I noticed the staff were all dressed in a “grunge” type of dress. By this I mean one male and one female were wearing beanies, all four staff members had the disheveled hair look and their clothing could have been in better shape.
I feel the look of these particular employees falls into the same realm of my theory on piercings and tattoos. I developed a theory that if an employee can overcome these items with their personality in a manner in which all the guest remembers is their experience I would not require them to covered. In my experience, there are not many individuals that can actually pull this off. I could have gotten past the look of the employees at my visit to the deli today had they all had spectacular attitudes, but this was not the case.
One female in particular brought my wife to tell me that she would not return. It happened to be the girl with the beanie on, but that was not the issue. This girl seemed to have a fear of both personality and smiling. My wife is extremely personable and has no problems communicating with anyone. This female employee was not having it. She wouldn’t smile and actually made my wife feel uncomfortable enough that she would not return.
In watching the business and the employees I would have to guess the manager was there today. Generally, managers tend to hire individuals like themselves. The person I would have assumed to be the manager was dressed like the rest, explaining the look of the crew. If I were in a position to consult in this area I would recommend to the ownership group and management that they might take a second look at the appearance and attitude of their staff. This could only improve their bottom line and keep customers like my wife from being turned off. Unfortunately I am not in that position so they will just have to do without our business.
Thanks…..Seth
