It’s a fact of business life that unexpected problems are from time to time going to affect day to day operations. For example, when employees can’t work due to sickness or injury. This becomes a serious problem when the absence of an employee means a business can’t operate and has to close.
Such a scenario occurred at the end of June to 288 Bar & Wok, a Cheltenham Noodle Bar, when their Head Chef was injured in a car accident. This resulted in the restaurant having to close for two days resulting in loss of revenue and disappointed diners. The Head Chef is now fully recovered from a stiff neck and minor injuries and is back in work.
Deciding to make the best of a difficult situation, owner Pak Wai Hung came up with a plan using the 288 Bar & Wok Facebook Page. He would explain the closure to disappointed customers who had booked and for a bit of fun encourage them to upload ‘sad face’ photos onto the Facebook Page in return for a voucher. The good humoured customers duly did so thus helping raise awareness of the closure and providing publicity for 288 Bar Wok.
As you would expect the closure was announced on the window of the restaurant, on their website as well as a statement on Facebook but the uploading of photos was an innovative way of spreading the message whilst engaging the customers.
A great example of a business remaining positive in the face of a very difficult situation.
Thanks for Bryn Williams aka @BWMPromo for pointing out this example out to me.