Internet Applauds The Way This Restaurant Was Kind To Their Staff Member Who Gave A $5,740 Wine Instead Of A Cheap One
Jahtomisin Afonja Updated in Nov 2021
Hawksmoor Manchester is a popular steakhouse known for its warm, open-hearted service to customers. It successfully refines our view of what the restaurant environment is like behind the scenes.
If you are familiar with cooking shows or movies, restaurants are often portrayed as a pretty tense environment. It is often a place where tempers flare as sparks of fire used in cooking. Hawksmoor let us know that it isn't always a scary, angry place.
With chefs and waiters always in a scurry to serve and deliver top-notch service, making mistakes in such a high-pressure environment is unavoidable. The question is, how do they handle it when it happens?
Hawksmoor Handles A Costly Mistake
Well, at Hawksmoor, a "chin up, we all make mistakes" replaced rage and swift termination when one of its managers made a costly mix-up.
A group of three businessmen sat for a meal and ordered a $300 bottle of wine. That definitely is not cheap, but they got way more than what they ordered. They became the lucky recipients of wine worth $5,470! This rare bottle of wine is the Chateau le Pin Pomerol. Wine-Searcher rates it among the top 10 most highly rated Pomerol wines.
It happened that a manager grabbed the wrong bottle and gave it to the server to pour. Hawksmoor had an opportunity to demonstrate some top-class attitude. Their staff seems to be recipients of the same warmth delivered to customers.
The manager was absolutely mortified, but Hawksmoor's tweet about the incident earned them the internet's applaud. After the incident, they tweeted a picture of both bottles side by side with a mock-serious show of support for the manager.
An Unfortunate Human Error
In an interview with Washington Post, Beckett, the owner of the restaurant said:
"When they told me about it, I thought, 'oooh, that is an expensive mistake'. At the same time, I thought it's the same kind of I'm-not-concentrating thing I would do. It's just an unfortunate human error."
He further said something that confirms that the popular view of restaurants being uptight, high-pressure environments is true.
"The restaurant industry is a place where you can get hammered for making mistakes but we don't want to be that place"
Well, Kudos to Hawksmoor!
Reactions To The Incident
The incident positively influenced the restaurant's image. It provided them the exposure that even influencers might not have been able to accomplish. The restaurant also fully utilized this opportunity. They posted many funny, good-natured tweets that went viral.
Many were impressed by Beckett's support for the manager whom he described as an "otherwise brilliant employee." But of course, we know the internet. It never gives you 100% support on anything.
Some questioned the fact that such a luxury wine exists in the first place. Others questioned why the establishment sells such an expensive item when homelessness remains a problem in the city. Well, these comments just gave Hawksmoor more opportunities to prove itself.
It turns out that the restaurant does not just offer top-notch service to its customers alone. It treats its staff well and even supports the community.
Some talked about how the customer could not notice the difference in the taste of the wine served thus the question: "Why are such wines so expensive? What exactly are you paying for if there is no noticeable difference in taste? The rarity?" Well, an ardent wine taster might think differently.
Hilarious comments filled the comment section but it was marketing at its finest for Hawksmoor. Here is a couple of them.