If warranted, fire the management team and bring in experienced staff with a can-do, customer oriented attitude. Reason Attitude, the ability to empathize, and the "feel" within an organization, particularly a restaurant, flows downward. If the management is lax, so will the employees. Clearly, with over 750 stores and growing, Oliver Garden has a comprehensive store and employee manual. In every other Oliver Garden, someone opens the door, greets the customer, and advises the wait time, or shows the group to their table. Water and a server usually arrive within 3 minutes. Above all, business owners, employees, and most especially, individuals who rely on gratuities to make ends meet must understand that there are hundreds of dining choices, people go out to eat so that they can be treated well, greeted with a smile, felt welcome, and provided a hot and tasty meal under time expectations. Indeed, if a specific beverage is ordered, within 2-3 minutes, the server should have been back at the table offering other choices if something is out of stock. Quality control exists to ensure that meals are not left on the plating or hot racks; and if the food is prepared under proper presentation. Once the server was advised the meals were cold, they should have been removed from the table, and new meals expedited. Finally, regardless of whether the manager thought the Walker's wanted a free meal, what the Walker's truly wanted was to have their concerns addressed...

With the plethora of choices, the least the manage could have done was to comp a portion of the meal and invite the Walker's back; or provided a coupon for a buy one, get one free, during the next visit. Further, the manager should have taken the Walker's personal situation to heart, assured them that he would deal with the employees involved in a private training situation. Instead, the manager showed the Walker's exactly why the employees have this attitude.
Comments/Thoughts -- One would hope that this experience is an anomaly, and not common. One would also hope that Mr. Magruder took it very seriously, and dispatched the district and/or Regional Manager to the restaurant for follow up, coach, and remediation. Without some work, it is now likely that the Walker family will ever visit this Olive Garden again.

REFERENCES

www.darden.com

Pedicini, S. (January 24, 2011). Darden tests combo Olive Garden/Red Lobster for Smaller markets. Restaurant News. Cited in:

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2011-01-24/business/os-hybrid-olive-garden-red-lobster-20110124_1_red-lobster-olive-garden-darden-restaurants

Ruggles, R. (October 19, 2011). Darden Aims for Growth Abroad. Nation's

Restaurant News. Cited in:

http://www.nrn.com/article/darden-aims-growth-abroad