Hungry Howie's on Gratiot totally changed my lunch game

I run a small shop near 8 Mile and was stuck in the same sandwich routine for 2 years. Last month I walked into the Hungry Howie's on Gratiot for a quick meeting and saw the owner personally handling a line of 30 people during the lunch rush. He was calling everyone by name and knew their orders. That one visit made me realize I needed to get out of my office and actually talk to my customers face to face. Since then I've been doing daily walkthroughs of my own shop and my repeat business went up 20 percent in just 3 weeks. Anyone else have a random restaurant visit change how you run your business?

2 comments

2 Comments

miles27714d ago

Wait, did you really just say a pizza place changed how you run your business? Because I gotta admit I always figured stuff like that was just people getting excited about a good lunch or whatever. But reading your story about the owner knowing everyone's name and orders hit me different. I used to think customer service was just being polite and taking money, but seeing you break it down like that makes me realize I've been sleeping on the personal touch. I'm gonna start paying more attention to how the people running the places I eat at actually treat their regulars.

maxmurphy14d ago

You ever think about how simple stuff like remembering a name actually makes people want to spend more money? I watched a coffee shop owner do this with a small notebook behind the counter. He'd jot down a regular's order after they left, then say it back to them next time. People ate it up. They tipped better and came in more often. Might be a weird take, but I think most businesses overlook how powerful it is to just make someone feel seen.