My partner works at his family’s restaurant and they have a delivery/to-go order portion. A local business ordered about $100.00 in food. Well, the business sent a person to pick it up and that person went to the deli counter to get their grub and got annoyed by the fact that they had to wait for 5 minutes (actually, they should have gone to the restaurant side and would have picked it up right away). Nonetheless, the customer left without taking the food nor paying for it. So, his restaurant ate the cost. Now, obviously there is a civil suit they could file against the business, but could there be criminal charges (like as in the case of a dine and dash)? (I’m thinking no, but thought I’d ask too).
It would cost them more to file against the business than they could collect. No, the best option is to just refuse to do business with that company in the future, and bad-mouth them to everybody who comes in the door.
I could mention something about a Van Wilder-esque revenge plot involving doughnuts filled with yak come, or lemonade that’s not really lemonade, or an order of Phillipine fish cakes salted with dandruff and crotch lice - but this would be highly illegal, unethical, and immoral.
Or in the movie “Waiting…”. I’m unbelievably polite to restaurant workers after seeing that movie.
Speaking in the broadest possible terms, bear in mind that in property crime, a dishonest intention is usually key. When they ordered the food, their intention was to have it & pay for it. When they didn’t take the food, it was because they were pissed off and considered themselves free from any contractual obligation they might otherwise have had. I understand that may have been unjustified, but nonetheless, it’s a near cert that they never formed the requisite intention.
That’s not very mature. Rather than burning all bridges and shooting the survivors, why not send the company a non-confrontational letter outlining the problem. You might get an apology and/or reimbursement for your losses.
Better yet, fix the problem.
Which seems to me to be in the restaurant’s procedures.
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How is the customer supposed to know which ‘side’ (restaurant or deli) he is supposed to pick up his order at? Do they have signs telling this? Or do they have a statement on their to-go menu? Personally, I’ve picked up food to-go at a deli much more often than at a restaurant (not counting fast-food drive-thrus). So I probably would have gone to the deli side, too.
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If this is a problem, why doesn’t the restaurant management have procedures so that both the deli & the restaurant sides know about pending to-go orders? Shouldn’t be hard; the orders come out of the same kitchen, don’t they? The customer shouldn’t have to understand the internal organization of your business just to pick up his order.
Tell your partner his family needs to look at this from the customer’s point of view, and make it easy & convenient for them, even if that takes more effort from the restaurant. Or they’ll have fewer & fewer customers to worry about!
P.S. About the bad-mouthing – too late!
That pick-up person already bad-mouthed the restaurant when he got back, and he and all the hungry people waiting there have been busily bad-mouthin this restaurant ever since.