A brush with Excellence

I took a trip to McCall, Idaho yesterday. I went to attend a meeting related to business but I left with some lessons in customer service.

I'm going to blog about the first lesson at http://acmetechworks.blogspot.com/. You may want to look for it later today.

The meeting ran to lunch. In fact, lunch was provided, but I wanted to visit one of the local restaurants. I have history in McCall. I worked there for about six months a number of years ago. I was hoping that Panda Restaurant was still serving their spicy mandarin chicken.

The owner of Panda is Daniel Niu. He has no idea who I am. If you're planning on opening a restaurant, go to Panda, buy a meal and watch him!

He does so many things right:

Daniel takes pride in his product. I truly wasn't hungry--I had a sandwich at the meeting earlier, but I wanted a taste of the spicy mandarin chicken. My wife was with me and she hadn't been to the restaurant before. I wasn't sure if she'd like what I would order, so she ordered a "safe" item on the menu. I took a couple bites of my dish (it was what I remembered!) and then ended up swapping plates, since my wife liked the mandarin. Daniel noticed the exchange and made sure we were happy.

Nearby, another customer asked Daniel what "Snow White Chicken" is. Daniel's explanation was more than giving a description. His passion for his food came out when he talked about the dish.

Daniel invests in relationships. One of the tables was occupied by some young ladies. Daniel knew them and asked about the kids that normally came. Later on, he brought a big bag of fortune cookies for the kids at home. Wow!

Daniel also knows when to give his customers space. My previous visits to Panda had been alone, with a book. The view of Payette Lake is great from the restaurant or the patio. Panda was an escape from work where I could enjoy the food, the view and some peace. Daniel was great about respecting my space.

I measure Daniel's success as very high. McCall isn't precisely a resort town, but things are expensive there. Restaurants have gone within a few months of opening. Yet Daniel serves economically priced lunches ($7 range) and has done it consistently for years. His service left a big enough impression on me that I came back...after five years.

Thanks for a great experience, Daniel!