Scenic City Scandal

The Scenic City is all astir. Recently an e-mail chain between an unhappy restaurant patron and the restaurant owner has been circulated extensively, which has prompted all sorts of backlash in the community towards both the restaurant and the patron.

Long story short, the patron and his extended family went out for dinner on Father's Day. They picked up McDonald's on the way to the restaurant (which does not really have a great menu for kids) for their 3 year old, hoping to keep the kid happy while the rest of the party dined. After a wait to be seated, the patron was approached by a restaurant employee and told that the McDonald's meal that they brought in could not be consumed because it was a health code violation, and that they would have to leave the restaurant if they insisted on their child eating it. The family packed up and left. Upon further investigation by the patron, he was informed by the state health department that it was not actually a violation of the health code, but that it was up to individual restaurants to enforce the policy of not allowing outside food in their own establishments.

The patron then forwarded this information, along with an e-mail summary of his complaints, to the restaurant's e-mail address. The patron received a response from the owner of the restaurant which in fairness did not address any of his compliants and instead made some insinuations about his parenting style and choices. The patron and owner went back and forth one more time exchanging e-mails, with the owner again asserting the same sentiments that he had made in the first e-mail. In the interest of full disclosure, the owner has since sent an e-mail apology to the original patron, and he is apparently forwarding it to anyone who has since taken the time to contact his restaurant concerning the incident.

You can read more about the incident here. The incident has prompted a "boycott" page on Facebook and was the primary topic for a 3 hour local talk radio show yesterday, not to mention the fact that the e-mail has been forwarded over and over and many responses I've read have sworn off the restaurant forever. Additionally, another restaurant in town is cleverly cashing in on the publicity by sending out an e-mail to thier distribution list offering families a free child's meal with the purchase of an adult meal, as well as indicating that they welcome all patrons, even if they decide to bring in outside food that would cater to a child's palate.

Clearly, opinions are heated on this issue. I have heard attacks on the patron and his wife for allowing the child to have McDonald's, or for their gall in bringing food from another establishment into a restaurant. On this particular point, I tend to agree with the criticism I've heard - if the parents knew their child would not eat the food on the menu at the restaurant of their choosing, I would probably think about trying another restaurant, or I might pack some snacks from home that I knew my picky eater would accept.

However, I think the main issue for me is the restaurant owner's response to the patron's complaint. If you read the e-mails, the owner chooses not to take the high road not once, but twice, and instead of explaining his restaurant's policy or even acknowledging the patron's complaints, the owner fired off some insulting one-liners, which made it seem as though he had zero interest or respect for the opinion of his potential customers. I do think the owner regrets what he did now, and is trying to reach out in the best way he can to apologize, but it almost smacks of too little, too late.

Either way, this little incident has certainly made waves in Chattanooga and has prompted a lot of interesting discussions. Your thoughts?