Desicritics Comments on Of There and Here: Customer Service Fallout in India

Comment by Shalini

Mon, 4 Sep 2006 00:13:16 EDT

I'm all for a fast food chain of udipi restaurants. I'm sure they'll do fantastically well and really give the Subways and McD's a run for their money.

Comment by balaji

Sun, 3 Sep 2006 13:12:25 EDT

deepti not yet. will see if i can get a vcd or a dvd. :)

Comment by Deepti Lamba

Sun, 3 Sep 2006 12:52:02 EDT

I miss Chipotle and Qdoba so much..those hefty burritoes are so tasty that I could eat the whole thing with guilt tripping and those lobsters from Maine in Boston were scrumptious. I found Quiznos to be better than Subway as far as food went but in terms of service Subway was better in the US. However, till date the best service I've got was from Starbucks especially from the 24hour one in Milwaukee which we used to frequently haunt for midnight lattes. Gawd, I'm having major food withdrawl symptoms now and I just finished dinner;) BTW, Anerican food servings are way too big- thank god MikeyD had to do away with the 'Supersize' deal. Balaji, have you seen the movie Supersize Me? Its quite an eye opener.

Comment by DesiGirl

Sun, 3 Sep 2006 12:19:34 EDT

balaji, great idea re 'udipi' franchise worldwide. i, for one, would love to be able to eat idlies 'fast'!!

Comment by balaji

Sun, 3 Sep 2006 11:10:38 EDT

shalini thanks for the post. i guess at the base all 'businesses' need to make a profit. the large portions have nothing to do with 'genorisity' in my humble view. real estate as it is in most cities is expensive. the franchise 'royalties' i guess are expensive. i can empathize with the businessmen/women. i do agree that indians yet do not know the 'service' mindset. especially the 'yuppies' who own these restos. the traditional businessmen/women are more polite and more 'service-oriented'. i do agree with DG that the portions are too much for non-americans. there is a big difference about 'fastfoods' in india and US or other countries. they are neither fast or great food. the fast foods in india i consider are the 'udipi' restaurants or 'darshinis'. they serve real fast and are real value for money. so who patronizes these 'subways' etc ? in my view most of the 'fast' people as they say in india. neither are they in a hurry to eat and get going nor are they busy nor they can afford 'dollarized' rupee prices. and i think all the 'global' brands in india are a rip off. i guess they think in dollars! and look at the prices! for the price they charge i guess one can CRIB! i guess the 'udipi' folks should franchise and create brands where idlis can be internationalized! they are delivered fast, more balanced and more fresh! after eating at many subway restos in india - i felt like creating a new brand 'sub-version' at half the price of what one gets there :)

Comment by Shalini

Sun, 3 Sep 2006 07:51:39 EDT

Hello all: Glad to have such vocal 'desicritics' have their say...and no, I don't think of it as ganging up, I've always thought differently and I like it that way. I agree about large portion sizes hurting the American's themselves....I could never finish my food at any restaurant there either. My problem with these fast food restaurants in India is that since plenty of people don't know what the 'original' version of the burger/sandwich etc is, one ends up getting a sad version of it. Does the burger at McDonalds or sandwich at Subway ever look like it does in the pics on the order board in India? Nope, not at all. Well, in the States and Europe it does. And that's what I wrote this post. Yes, franchising is the way this works the world over, but Indian franchises pay way too much attention on saving costs and making a profit that they end up shortchanging the customer. Ah well to each their own!

Comment by DesiGirl

Sun, 3 Sep 2006 04:39:21 EDT

Shalini, I was just about put forward my two bits worth when I read Tanay's comment. I do not want you to feel like we are all ganging up on you but the point is, one mustn't tar and feather everyone with the same brush, right? I have couple of points and would be glad to hear your view about those: Portion sizes: US portion sizes aren't just generous to a fault, they are way too much to any one who isn't American. When we go to any American restaurants here in UK, we are never able to finish our dish as they serve almost twice as much as any local restaurant does. So it isn't that portion sizes everywhere is insignificant, it could just be that in US, they serve too much food. Obesity, anyone? Also, about this statement 'The sad truth is that since most international restaurants come to India via franchisee agreements, the brand and intrinsic values that the company stands for becomes muddy and eventually dissipates.' forgive me if I am wrong, I thought most of these are chains and are franchised to whoever can pay the sum quoted by the parent co. and this isn't just the case in India but the world over?

Comment by Tanay

Sat, 2 Sep 2006 16:47:35 EDT

Shalini : I agree to the point what Anil has raised. Though I have not been to the US and all my visits outside India has been confined to the EU nations and the Nordic nations. Things are not the same everywhere. Try Paris and after you have ordered for a McDonald's burger and when you say you want to pay my credit card no one is ready.They bluntly say we don't accept Visa or AMEX cards. But has that info been put up on the order counter."NO". Try the same in Helsinki(Finland) at any McDonald's outlet,they accept any credit card as long as it is an International card. Coming to your point of comparing the size and the quality of items in the US and in India is not fair.I feel so,you can't expect the same.In India what you see is an allotropic version which in other words, I can say a McDonalds burger is a Indianised burger sold through a global brand name McDonalds. This is fair enough I guess. The World is Flat and so rules if adjusted to meet local tastes is fine to an extent,is my point.But but but the quality and satisfaction level should not be compromised. And Shalini lets not compare,do you feel is it fair?

Comment by Shalini

Sat, 2 Sep 2006 05:38:46 EDT

Hey Anil, glad to have a world traveler comment on my post. But tell me, did you not notice the serving size difference between what you get in India and elsewhere in the world? That's what I don't like. And why does it happen, cos all of these restaurants are franchisees and not controlled by the parent companies. I personally feel service standards are worse in India at western concept restaurants. The chap making my sandwich obviously had no idea how bacon was to be cooked and chose to be confrontational about it rather than rectify the situation.

Comment by Anil

Sat, 2 Sep 2006 03:59:49 EDT

Shalini, I have eaten at Subway/McDonalds/Burger King etc in 4 continents. May be it is just me but I found that in all such restaurants that I have been to the staff came across as rude/indifferent and mechanical. So I cannot believe that Indian Subway restaurants could be worse than their American counterparts.

Comment by Shalini

Sat, 2 Sep 2006 03:40:13 EDT

Anil: If you have eaten a Subway sandwich in the US, then surely you know that the Indian version is not the same. All American's are generous to the extreme when it comes to food, much too their detriment actually, but you entirely missed the point of the article by not understanding that it is not a personal grouse at being mistreated but rather an erosion of the what these same restaurants stand for in the US. And no way do I think of Subway or McDonalds as "gourmet restaurants" (where did you get that from, btw? Surely not from Subway serving me raw bacon?). This is exactly the thing, for people who do not know what they are meant to be getting when they purchase one of these items, they think its great. But for those who have had the original, its a total compromise. PS: I'm glad the article was able to make you laugh!!

Comment by Anil

Fri, 1 Sep 2006 18:16:03 EDT

Fast food chains like McDonald's, Wendy's, Taco Bell, Subway and Baskin Robbins personify this generosity.

Where? On the ex-planet Pluto? Or in a Parallel Universe? If there is one universal truth, it is that employees at Fast food restaurants are rude or plain indifferent and honestly who could blame them for that. After all they have a physically demanding McJob for which company pays them minimum wage. These guys are not standing besides a hot French fry machine because they want to. They are there because they have to. So the next time you encounter a low wage earning human being stuck in an unwanted job which he obviously hates and is a bit rude after 8 hours of physically gruelling work, instead of whining about being insulted just try to put yourself in his/her shoe or better just go to the next cancer spreading fast-food joint. Also please stop portraying Subway/McDonalds etc as some kind of gourmet restaurants where food is prepared with absolute care and to perfection. They clearly are not. P.S: Thanks for the line "What Subway stands for". It really cracked me up.