71dine

Terry: From Across the Pond [London Calling]

• 71dine • Episode 11

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Ever passed by an establishment and wondered what stories it holds within its walls? We're setting out on a fascinating journey, guided by our friend Terry, a London local with a unique perspective on customer experiences. We're spilling the beans on the power of online reviews and how they shape our choices. Ever think about the impact of a stellar first impression and the role of a "shameless plug"? We've got you covered!

We're turning the spotlight to the local businesses that form the lifeblood of our communities. Come with us as we explore one of our favourite spots in Colorado Springs - Slice 420. Unearth captivating tales like the history of a 90-year-old restaurant that has withstood the test of time, or a restaurant that was once a part of a mafia's moonshining run. Meet Terry, whose website brings to light the narratives behind establishments rather than just offering reviews and ratings. Ever considered how much customer service impacts a business's survival? We're tying it all together in an engaging discussion that will leave you with a newfound appreciation for the essence of every establishment. You can catch all this and much more on the 7 One Dine podcast, available on all major podcasting platforms.

Speaker 1:

You're listening to Joe and the 7 One Dine podcast.

Speaker 2:

Yes, this is Joe. This is the 7 One Dine podcast, a very unique, a very special 7 One Dine podcast episode for you. Today I am talking. Well, last night I was talking to my friend Terry from the UK, from London, and I'm just going to jump right into it because his voice is way better than my voice.

Speaker 3:

Hello, so would anybody care to have a discussion? Who wants to come over and chat? Hello, joe, I have a guest. Who can this be? Oh, joe, a few times I've had Joe as a guest, ever before.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I'm not sure if that's happened before.

Speaker 3:

I think this is the first. I've been a guest for you a few times. I know that for a fact. But yeah. The tables have turned. The tables have turned, Joe.

Speaker 2:

Yes, they have right, Right. This is where Terry and I kind of shift the conversation to reviews, online review sites, ratings, stuff like that, basically.

Speaker 3:

Oh, the star system, isn't it? Five stars, four stars, you know, right. And if I see lots of good reviews, I think, oh, I bet that this looks legit, you know. And if I see people saying, oh, terrible service, and blah, blah, blah, I think, right, I won't bother using them, I'll find somebody else, you know, yeah, as they say, you never get a second chance to create a good impression, or?

Speaker 2:

a first impression. Yeah, I mean not to promote myself. You know, in radio we called it a shameless plug, but you know, I started a podcast and it's something that I worked on for quite a bit and then I kept putting it off and then I finally met someone here on Wisdom and we talked offline and he gave me a lot of it, Like he truly became like a mentor. Not that anybody on here isn't, you know, daryl with the dashes I would call a true mentor, but it was interesting to, you know, have that conversation with him on the outside. And we have so many Yelps and so many Google reviews and you know, here in Colorado Spring they do the paper does a best of the springs and it comes across sometimes as a popularity contest.

Speaker 2:

So I started this website. I focus only on Southern Colorado and what I do is I go out and find the stories from the people who are going to this restaurant. They've been going there for breakfast for 30 years. I want to know why. I want to know the history of this restaurant and how it came to be and it's passed down from generation to generation. And the other thing is that my site isn't a review site. I want to tell the stories and have people go and visit these establishments based on what they hear about. But can I tell you about a restaurant that's been around for 90 years? You know they've lasted almost a century. There's nothing. I mean they're there for a reason.

Speaker 3:

They're there for a reason, and they're there for a reason, and they tend to hand it down in the family, don't they? Yeah, I mean, I fall into some, and you know to their son.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I'm going to read this message that I got through social media and I thought it would take about six months of having this podcast and website going to get someone to reach out to me.

Speaker 4:

Yeah, Thanks for reaching out, thanks for the message and a. If there is any way we can collaborate, let me know.

Speaker 2:

So I looked into it a bit more. There was a big, huge moonshining run down here with the mafia. One of the mafia groups down here had ties to Al Capone out of Chicago, Huge bootleading business. They had underground tunnels where they would move the stuff. But unless you ask the questions, a lot of the places their grandfather was part of the mob and it's still under their name. They're not part of the mob. That's been there for 90 years. But they also have an amazing history and you obviously there you go.

Speaker 2:

It's like hey, the older customers remember this stuff fondly. That's the story you want to hear. You don't want to. Hey, I gave this three stars. Well, maybe you don't like the food, Maybe that's not your type. It's like movie reviews Everybody's got their own taste. They've got their own preferences. I just wanted to put this together. They're like here's the story, Go or don't go. I don't even put out there like, hey, this is the best pizza in Colorado Springs. I'll say, hey, here's what they offer. And when I go into these restaurants and I say here's what I want to do, it doesn't cost you anything. I just want your story and I'm going to put it out there. And when someone comes back and says oh yeah, it was a dishwasher at this restaurant, that's a great story. But when they say oh yeah, they were going to kill my grandfather if he didn't stop bootlegging so he opened a pizza place and it's been there for 90 years, I mean, what else can I say?

Speaker 3:

But that's right Now. I had an interesting experience only a month or four or so ago Because just on the road from where I work in London there's like a calf and sandwich bar sitting nothing fancy. In America you don't really call them calves, you call them diners, and yeah. So I've been going there a few years and always friendly, on a chair, reasonable prices. The food isn't anything high cuisine, but it does the job, joe, it's cooked okay and things like that.

Speaker 3:

So I used to, sometimes in the morning, if I had time, I'd pop in there and get myself. I can't eat anything first thing, so sometimes when I'm nearly at work, I might start feeling a little bit like hungry. So I thought I would pop in. I'm about 20 minutes early. I'll get myself a fried egg roll, right, yeah, so yeah. So that's what I did, and again, I'll pop in, get myself a fried egg roll.

Speaker 3:

Anyway, I noticed it was shut, joe, for nearly a week. I thought, oh, I'm on a holiday. Anyway, the next week it was open again and apparently it was under new management that you added word Joe, under new management. So they must have sold up, like you know. So anyway, I purchased. I normally paid £2.50 for a fried egg roll. You know which is. You know it's not cheap. Cheap but it's not like extortion and if I didn't mind paying it, you know you got a nice big roll and anyway I went in there for a coffee. I was thinking of getting a fried egg roll, but when I found out it was under new management. I looked up at the prices, joe and I have a guess how much that fried egg roll, within a few weeks under new management, had gone up from £2.50 to. I have a guess how much it went up to.

Speaker 2:

I don't know at least doubled.

Speaker 3:

Well, not quite, but close £4. It's like 60%. Oh, hang on, 40% increase.

Speaker 2:

I just plugged it in the quadratic formula and it checks out.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, and I thought, okay, you know what, joe, I've never been back since. So just think of the clientele, the customers who used to be regulars, you know, through their hiking up the prices, and they didn't seem to be overly friendly either, joe, or something like that. Yeah, I wonder how long they're going to stay in business. What do you reckon?

Speaker 2:

Oh man, I don't suspect they'll be in business that long.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, now, daval was in the audience. I don't know if he's still here, but he did a great talk of last year, was it? And he was talking about an experience he had in this dyno restaurant in America and I think it was a parsley on top of something or other, and anyway, I think he called his talk what is the garnish, or something like that. He'll probably send a message to you if he still doesn't. Anyway, you know, they go that little bit extra, joe, to make it like that.

Speaker 2:

So here's another pivot that Terry and I went through. This is basically us talking about customer service, really understanding that and understanding the lifetime value of a customer.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, and if a customer is upset, or maybe the food didn't arrive as expected, right, you know, if they go out of the way to pull it, right, you know. Oh, hey, we're done it for you again, and so they're on the house. Now that is a great gesture, isn't it?

Speaker 2:

You can go on Google or Yelp or whatever review site is out there and if you were to get that, you're like hey, this is a good restaurant and it serves the cuisine we're looking for and they were to drive over there and it's like a cinder block building with a door and it looks kind of shady. People may just drive off, but if they hear from the owners and the restaurateurs about their history and what they offer and how they came to be, then there's that trust.

Speaker 3:

Yes, yes, trust and integrity. Just reminding me of another story actually of all of them going back probably more than five years, right, I went in another like cafeteria in the area where I work. Anyway, I went in. I don't want nothing fancy, joe, a cup of coffee and a cheese and sweet pickle sandwich. I don't know whether you're familiar with sweet pickle. It's like it looks brown, it's got small chunks of onion in it and various vegetables with molasses and that sort of thing. No, no, okay, well, if you go on, you can Google it, you know, just say sweet pickle UK. Bronsten pickle is a brand name which a lot of people in UK are familiar with, anyway.

Speaker 3:

So I said can I have a cheese and pickle sandwich please and a coffee? Right, anyway, the sandwich comes out, me coffee comes out. It's just plain cheese sandwich, joe. I said oh. So I said to the waitress oh, excuse me, I asked for a cheese and pickle. And so she looks at me because I'll take it back says to the guy behind the camera. He looks at me.

Speaker 3:

So, anyway, he gets out of jar of sweet pickle, Joe, he gets a knife and he makes a big thing right of scooping out Huge amounts of this sweet pickle, spread it on the cheese at nearly an inch thick or half inch, something like that. And then it comes back to me, Joe, and it's like there's more sweet pickled in cheese in this sandwich, right? And I thought, oh, I see what's going on here, awkward customer, I'll show you, okay. So I made a point, joe, of eating every single bit of it, and when I left, joe, after a pay, I said thank you, that was delicious, and I never darken their doors again. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you can pop back up, joe.

Speaker 2:

I do have another guest waiting and Terry did have another guest waiting, so I kind of took a backseat for two reasons. One, obviously he had another guest waiting and I basically hijacked his live talk last night. However, I'm glad that the subject of food and customer service came up and that we got a perspective from across the pond and this officially makes the 7 1 dine podcast an International podcast. Terry one of my favorite people in all of this world One small bit of housekeeping.

Speaker 2:

I am taking next week off because of the Thanksgiving holiday, so I really, really, really hope you and your family enjoy Thanksgiving. I do want to say that tonight I was at one of my favorite spots in Colorado Springs. That is correct, slice 420. I had their Thanksgiving pie. I have to tell you, get it while you can, because once it's gone, I suspect it's gonna be Close to a year before it comes back. Thanks to everyone who has supported 7 1 dine and the 7 1 dine podcast and, like I always say, until next time where can you find the 7 1 dine podcast?

Speaker 1:

Well, you can find the 7 1 dine podcast wherever you look for and find podcasts. Don't forget to visit us online at 7 1 dine calm.