Hourlong waits, frazzled servers and irritated customers were a few of Sloopy’s Diner’s problems during its inaugural week of operation.
“I’m not going to blame anybody,” said Fred Fotis, assistant vice president for Student Life. “Part of the blame is mine, part is the fact that it is a brand new business opportunity.”
Ohio State administrators urge students to be patient because the Ohio Union restaurant is a “learning environment.”
When the Union opened at the beginning of Spring quarter, students flocked to the new building and found three dining options available. One of them was Sloopy’s Diner, open 22-hours a day.
To the dismay of many, the initial impression left much to be desired. Patrons not only waited close to an hour to be seated, but once at a table, they sometimes waited more than an hour to be served. There seemed to be confusion among staff while hungry customers quickly became agitated.
Assistant vice president and director of the Ohio Union, Tracy Stuck, said the whole ordeal was a “headache” and had “kept her busy for the past week [following the opening].”
However, Fotis, also chief housing officer, remains confident that although the missteps taken during the diner’s initial days need to be addressed, there are legitimate reasons for them.
He said the sophisticated software system that is used to communicate between staff and manage tables was not working.
“The waiters had to do it the old-fashioned way,” Fotis said.
He also added that the rush of crowds was tough to keep up with, considering Sloopy’s had nearly 5,200 patrons in its first week.
The diner employs student staffers and is used as a teaching venue for the hospitality program at OSU, Fotis said. This alone poses a challenge to the diner because it must work around student schedules.
Fotis mentioned that staffers who had been trained prior to the opening did not start working until the second week of the quarter, meaning those who served and cooked the first week were training on the spot.
Abby Hertzfeld, associate director of Campus Dining Services, said they “didn’t have the luxury to train [employees] months in advance,” so it made it all the more difficult for staff.
Fotis added that many international students are employed through OSU and that language barriers, coupled with rushed or quick job training, can account for some speed bumps in operation.
“[International employees] have to get used to the job and the culture at the same time,” Fotis said. “They don’t always have the knowledge of slang if English isn’t their first language.”
Part of the difficulties Sloopy’s encounters is that it is open 22 hours a day and needs to hire staff to work the late-night shift, Fotis said.
“Finding people to work the third shift makes it a struggle to stay open,” Fotis said. “They have to try to get ready for the morning rush while at the same time taking care of the customers. Things that are supposed to happen overnight, aren’t [happening] … but we signed up for that.”
Hertzfeld said the most important thing about Sloopy’s is that it is “fostering a learning environment.
“[Employees are] learning life skills,” Hertzfeld said. “That’s what makes it Ohio State. It’s not just a restaurant.”
She added that they are “moving in the right direction.”
Fotis agrees. He said the diner is “doing better everyday and taking feedback seriously.”
For customers who waited an unusually long time for meals,
Sloopy’s has been offering food compensation. Fotis said it is something that is accounted for when opening a new dining business.
“When things like this happen, the best that we can do is say that we’re sorry. We do compensate meals,” Fotis said. “I’m sure it does have an effect on the bottom line, but we don’t expect to make money the first half of the year. We are going to do better than this.”
He said their goal is to serve patrons meals in less than 20 minutes after they are seated. They have “been successful more times than not,” Fotis said.
“In a couple of weeks we should have the data to back this up,” he added.
With service improving, patrons might be enticed to start leaving tips. However, as OSU employees, Sloopy’s waiters work on fixed wages and cannot accept tips. Any tips that are left are given to the hospitality program development fund, which allocates the money to china and silverware replacement and other facility needs, Hertzfeld said.
“Although it is state dictated, we didn’t want to add the additional stress [of getting minimum wage plus tips] to employees,” Hertzfeld said. “We want them to learn skills that they can take somewhere else.”
That being said, Fotis urged present and future customers of Sloopy’s Diner to have faith in the establishment and understand its position as a new dining service.
“[Students] need to be patient,” Fotis said. “We’re not Bob Evans.”
