Good to great

Here is an interesting story. Today we went to this Gujarati snack shop for the second time just because last time we liked their Thepla so much. And our expectations were already set at the taste of last time, so today we ordered the same. When we took our first bite, it caught us off guard. It looked and tasted nothing like last time. If anything, it looked like it was made from frozen stuff. My mood was off instantly.

So while eating it half-heartedly, we decided to tell them, not because we wanted a replacement but because we felt that feedback should be given. So after we had had our breakfast, we went to the counter and after payment, we told them we did not like the quality of the Thepla and gave them the reference to our last visit here.

They immediately told us to wait for a few minutes and upon our constant denial, they insisted on it. So we sat there for a while, they gave us Methi Gota as a complement (for which we tried to pay for but they strongly denied) and after a few minutes, she (the owner of the shop) packed freshly cooked Thepla for us. And man! I just ate those Thepla a few minutes ago and it was exactly as the first time we tasted them. At the end, they gave us an honest reason that Thepla is a kind of thing that cannot be prepared immediately in bulk order, so they keep things in a buffer.

At last, I am not sure what we did here, but I definitely know that they have found a recurring customer. And they might even recognise us the next time we visit there. One tweak on the story could have been that after we received our original unpleasant order, we were sceptical about whether we should tell them or not? But what could have happened if we had just walked away from there without telling them? Would we have gone there again? Would they know the feedback on their food? I don’t think so.

So it’s a two-way street. We found our restaurant and they found us.