How not to run a business....another one

As I've told you before, I live near a new retail development called Providence Marketplace. It's really booming and pouring lots of tax money into the City. For years this City has had very little major retail. The big ones were a huge Kroger Grocery Store and a Cracker Barrell, and that was it. The rest of the City was populated by small coffee houses, Lawyers, a Funeral Home and several Realtors and Banks and Mortgage Brokers. Now we have a Movie Theater, book stores, Department Stores, Best Buy, Red Robin, Logans, etc etc..... The problem I am seeing is that some of these stores are Chains and some are Franchises. Chain restaurants are consistently good because they are run by a Corporation and the Corporation tells the Management how to run the restaurant which translates to the same experience (usually) at each of the Corps restaurants. Francises are business models, supplies and name that are licensed to an individual or individuals to run on their own. If I wanted to open a Subway Sandwich shop, the company would tell me where there was space available, I'd invest some money, get all I needed to set up the shop, then order supplies from the Franchise supplier, etc. They'd give me a manual on recommended ways to run a Subway, but pretty much I'm on my own. That's why at some Subways and Quiznos you get a sandwich that looks like the one on TV and other times you get a sandwich where you are wondering where the meat is????? In Providence a new pizza place has opened. The buzz was that they would be selling New York style pizza by the slice. Sounded good to me. The last place that was like that was an independent little shop in Downtown San Carlos, CA called Spederia. Awesome pies and you can always get 2 slices and a drink for 5 bucks. Needless to say the guy was always busy. This place in Providence is called NYPD or New York Pizza Deli. The first time we went there about 3 months ago was a disaster. Yes they sell it by the slice, but it's also a sit down restaurant as well. Okay, good. I like those. North Beach Pizza in San Mateo is like that. You are seated, given menus, silverware and someone comes and takes your order and delivers said pizza and drinks to you. So we walk into NYPD and it's chaos. Okay, at that point they had only been open a few weeks and like I've mentioned before the folks of Mount Juliet aren't used to running a business like this. We are waiting and waiting to be seated when a young man on his way off of work (he had on a shirt with the restaurant's logo on it) says "You shouldn't have to stand here and wait, just go sit yourself and they will take your order." Should have known better, but we sat ourselves. As it was, Cathy had to go grab a waiter and she came over to attend to us. She explained that it wasn't her station (from what I could see this particular woman was doing all the work and the 5 other waiters were sitting and spinning) and that Michelle would be attending to us. Time went by, Michelle stopped by the other tables in the section, but didn't give us a second glance. Michelle's tip, which always starts at 15% went down to 10% at that point. Cathy again went and told someone that our waiter was ignoring us, the same woman that sat us. I will call her Biker chick as she reminded me of one. So BC comes over, apologizing profusely for Michelle's icompetence by saying that they are busy (I felt like saying, "no you are busy, they are slacking") and proceeded to take our order. Michelle brought us our drinks.....that's all Michelle did. The tip scale slid farther down.....5% now....it would rise if Michelle brought us our food. Michelle didn't bring us our food, someone completely different did. The pizza was good, but the service (except for BC who busted her ass) sucked. Yet a different person brought us our check. Now mind you normally when you are brought a slip of paper only and no tray or plastic wallet you go up to the counter and pay your bill. IHOP, Cracker Barrel, Denny's all bring you a slip of paper and you go up and pay. Red Robin, Logans, Olive Garden bring you a tray or plastic folder thing and they take your money/plastic and run it for you. I bring my check up to the counter and the woman behind it (this is the owner from what I gathered) asked if she could help me. I explained that I was there to pay my check and she said that my waiter was supposed to take care of that for me. I explained in honest and plain language that my waiter Michelle sucked big time. Michelle was called over and made to take my debit card and bill and go ring it up. The owner apologized profusely. Michelle didn't come back with my card or bill, BC did. At this point, Michelle was getting zero tip, which is what she got. This was three months ago. Cathy and I had waited because we figured give them some time to work their shit out. They still haven't and we aren't going back. We go in last night. The girl behind the podium asks how many and takes us to a table. She then says for us to wait as she has to clean it off. So far so good. She is gone a while and when she returns it's with a napkin (not a wet cloth like is usually used to clean off tables) and tries to make the table clean; it ain't happening. She then finds us another booth commenting how she wished the servers would clean their tables more often. Seeing as how they don't do much of anything else in NYPD, I can see her frustration. She brings menus and silverware then proceeds to tell us the following: "When you are ready to order, please go to the counter and place your order and one of us will bring it to you when it's ready." I thought to myself, WTF????? I could see the same question cross my Wife's face as well. We sat for a moment figuring that the person that sat us got confused thinking we were ordering for carry out. Another server sat another couple near us and said the same exact thing. Three months ago my order was taken and I was given service at my table. Now you have to wait to be seated, then get up and stand in line at the counter and place your order, go sit back down in your seat and wait for someone to bring you your food when it's done. Huh???? Mountain Mike's Pizza, Village Host, Round Table, etc all do this. They have now servers, just folks that work behind the counter taking orders and making pies. They have no printed menus except for paper ones that you can take home and order delivery from. The menu is a huge board on the wall behind the counter person and after your order is taken, you are given a number and when your food is done, you either go get it yourself or sometimes they are nice and bring it out to you. Never once are you given the impression that you will be helped at your table. At NYPD you are given that impression, Hell I was served (poorly but I was served) at my table 3 months ago, but this time around apparently the owners think that their staff can't handle anything more complicated than delivering food. Needless to say Cathy and I left; pissed as can be. It's a shame really, the development is nice and the food at NYPD is actually good, but the service is shameful. What the Hell do these people think they are achieving by this I'm not sure. They aren't saving any money by having you go stand at the counter and order your food because they still have 5-6 servers working plus kitchen staff. With this business model they are paying servers to sit on their asses basically. How can they get the order right when no one is assigned a station????? If they are trying to save money, then why pay to have all the menus printed and have servers on duty? I'd fire the servers, get rid of the menus, and put up a menu board and have a sign at the front that says "Please Seat yourself then order at the counter". No illusions as to what kind of restaurant you are in. We also noticed that where they used to be crowded, now there is hardly anyone in there. My prediction: if they don't get their heads out of their asses and figure out what kind of restaurant they are trying to run the will be the first causualty of the brand new mall. Why do people get into a business when they have no clue what to do? The service Cathy and I received was deplorable and inexcusable. I'm sure these "food runners" would have been expecting a tip on top of what the bill was too. If I have to do most of the work at a restaurant, then you aren't getting a tip from me. There is a buffet Mike and I used to go to back home called China Harbor. Good food, but everything was self serve, down to the drinks. There was a drink station with plastic tumblers stacked near it. So all the waiter did was clear my dirty plate and bring me the bill at the end. Sorry, no tip. Bus boys clear the dirty dishes usually and they never get tips. Daily's Buffet in Mount Juliet your are seated, silverware brought to you, drink orders taken and drinks brought to your table and promptly refilled when empty. They get a tip. The waiter actually did their job. At this point it's safe to say that if I eat another pizza from NYPD it will be delivered to my house. I won't ever go in to their restaurant again.