You’ve got to despair when the world’s best restaurant fails at the basics
I was told recently via a very reliable source of an extremely wealthy private equity player, one of the richest people in the UK, who had a despairing experience at the worlds best restaurant.
El Bulli, in Southern Spain is held by those in the know as the world’s finest restaurant. The sort of place where when you ask for a reservation they’ll tell you the date, sometimes months away, when they’ll fit you in, regardless of your social or financial status. The story is that the private equity player wanted to take some long-term clients to lunch at el bulli. Now, as you may expect when dealing with people of this stature, there is an awful lot of planning, airplane hiring, helicopter scheduling, diary management and triple checking. This private equity player has three secretaries who handle his various diaries and activities.
They had followed the due protocol and had made a reservation for el bulli. One of the secretaries was tasked with double checking to see if everything was confirmed with the restaurant and duly rang them up to be told that there was no record of the reservation. When told of the restaurant’s abject failure to undertake one of the central, and most basic functions of a decent retail-leisure establishment he hit the roof. He was heard shouting ‘Those F**@King amateurs!’ . Somehow I don’t think he’ll be returning to that particular restaurant, or telling his friends about how ‘great’ it is.
All too often organizations and websites, forget about getting the basic operational elements right before they leap ahead into peripheral esoteric marketing and branding messages. From the customer view they really want to get to the end destination, if the website becomes a hurdle on the journey then they’re less likely to convert to the action point that actually delivers business to the organization.
All Comments
I thought el bulli reservations were on a lottery system? ah well, shows how much i know about the best restaurant in the world (until next year when it closes due the loss making business model!)
Triple checking – might have wanted to get email confirmation from the restaurant – it’s not difficult.
F**@King amateurs – there’s only one amateur in that story and it isn’t El Bulli
How this is relevant to El Bulli’s website is beyond me and you don’t appear to know what you’re talking about. There is no online booking system and they’re an exemplary restaurant which I will miss for the two years it shuts (sorry matthew they’re re-opening the permenant closure is heresay)
Having worked in top restaurants allow me to synthesise the scenario – secretary couldn’t get the reservation (mainly because the waiting list / lottery is democratic and you can’t buy yourself in) and the “major player” went probably played the DYKWTFIA card, lost and is now making excuses to his clients…
Still article made no sense – normally you write so well
What a lazy piece of space filling….zzzzz
Matthew, El Bulli is not closing for losses but to restructure the restaurant format as it prides itself for being the most innovative of its kind and after over a decade of operating as it has been it needs to offer its punters a new challenge.
The restaurant is reopening in 2014. Fact.
I don’t think Ferran Adria has anything to worry about when it comes to cash flow.
Christopher, before writing a (rather pointless) piece poking fun at a business you clearly don’t know anything about I recommend you check your facts – reservations for El Bulli are settled with a lottery system: if you don’t get a confirmation email you are not in.
Baffles me how such a simple system cannot be understood/accepted by “Big Players” with supposedly “Big Brains”.
One ammendment to my comment: when I say “restaurant” I mean “venue”.
It is yet to be confirmed what it will reopen as.
But the point is that it isn’t closing due to lack of funds.
Carla – great point…
Here’s a link to a Caterer article where Adria refutes the permanent closure: http://www.caterersearch.com/Articles/2010/02/15/332238/Ferran-Adri224-denies-reports-that-El-Bulli-will-close.htm