The head cheese at Ozona sent me a note expressing his embarrassment at reading on FB tales of bad service at his restaurant. His note and an invitation to contact him follow after the jump:
I am the Director of Operations for Ford Restaurant Group, the owners of Ozona. Your posts today made my blood boil!!! But not for the reason I imagine most posts incite angry reactions.
I am embarrassed and angry that we let your party sit without getting served promptly. I am horrified that your post created a “deluge” of responses with similar (or worse) scenarios. I would like (if you can) for you to forward them all to me! [Ed: I forwarded the e-mail I could track down, but I stripped the names off them. So if you sent me a note and you want Bell to know it came from you, see his e-mail address below.] I want to see every one. Even more, I want to show them to the staff so we can take a candid look at how we are perceived by too many of our guests, and work on fixing the issues.
The ownership and management of Ozona will not sit idly by while our customers leave unhappy – and willing to rant! It is obvious that situations do come up, and service issues do arise, but we are committed to doing everything we can to keep that from happening – and holding our staff to account when things do happen. We solicit feedback constantly – and generally fix to our guests’ satisfaction any situation that comes to our attention – especially when brought to our attention during the visit.
We have had a tremendous year following our remodel and expansion (and certainly following the Chicken Fried Steak issue). While that has been a blessing, it has also created some growing pains – especially in the area of service. I can honestly say that we are working on the problem every day, that we care about how our customers are treated, and that we will never stop trying to improve the guest experience for our patrons.
My whole career is about hospitality and taking care of customers. As proud as I am of the accolades we have received this year; that feeling is matched by the embarrassment and frustration of reading about your experience in such a public way. I can understand by your second post that you are tired of hearing the responses – I don’t blame you, but I’m never tired of it – feel free to post my e-mail address, and I will welcome the comments – and read and respond to every one of them personally.
Sincerely,
Skylar Bell, [email protected]
