Food Chain - Issue 199 - April 2024 | Page 57

________________________________________________________________________________ Gibsons Restaurant Group
“ We also operate several locations through various partnerships . We ’ ve got The Boathouse at Disney Springs in Florida in partnership with Steve Schussler , the creator of Rain Forest Café . There ’ s Bazaar Meat in Chicago , a carnivorous celebration of all things meaty , which we established with the help of the José Andres Group . We also worked with them on Bar Mar , a more casual dining spot , focused on seafood dishes .”
Customer care
With over three decades of success under its belt , Gibsons shows no signs of slowing down . Steve ruminates on the secret ingredients that have kept the company thriving : “ There are a whole host of factors that have contributed to our success over the years , but if I had to distill it down to the single most important item , it would be our extreme commitment to the customer . We say that there is no length to which we will not go for our customers . We have served food from other restaurants to our customers because that ’ s what they wanted . We have picked up the check for customers who left and went elsewhere because they waited too long . We ’ ve catered events at their homes and have delivered difficult to obtain tickets to events for customers .
“ In this business , it is literally impossible to be perfect . There are no ‘ six sigma ’ specialists in fine dining . We do our absolute best to be perfect , but this is a people business , and people make mistakes . It ’ s about showing the customer that we care . That means going the extra mile , even when we mess up . My father used to say , much to the chefs ’ chagrin : ‘ You can mess up the food and save it with great service , but if you give a customer bad service , you ’ ll lose them forever .’ We ’ re fortunate to have great employees who take this to heart .”
foodchainmagazine . com 57