This is the story of a very special kind of offer, an offer that lasted for one hour of one day. It is a marketing campaign that suggests the restaurant is on your side, but is based on fooling most of the customers most of the time. Marketing needs to be fair to the customer, this offer was not,
It being a special kind of week for my family, I decided to take the younger generation out to dinner at the suggestion of Hawksmoor.
no mention of time restrictions in the advert.
Escaping for under a hundred quid for a meal for three at a decent restaurant in the City of London, seemed ok. Maybe not a “hack”, but a chance to take your family out without busting the bank. I contacted my guests and asked if they could dine with me after work.
Little did I know, Hawksmoor’s “generosity” was for a one hour window of one day – April 8th 2023
I booked on “Open Table” and , having confirmed using a verified email – (involving quite a palaver) over the weekend, phoned at 5 pm on the evening to check the corkage deal. (incidentally the £32 price does not include the cost of the wine, only the right to drink your own wine on the premises). My additional call was to make sure I had this right.
They had my booking but the lady I confirmed with had no idea what I meant when I mentioned the “dine for £32 including wine” offer. Eventually we got there
“Oh you must mean the Express Menu”.
I suppose I did, the only trouble was that we booked for 7pm and the Express Menu ends at 6.30pm, One of my guests could not guarantee to get to the restaurant till 7pm.
I remonstrated but it was no good, the deal was time-limited and if we’d turned up when we booked, we’d have paid the full evening price. That was not the deal I had in mind.
Keeping the City open Mondays and Fridays
Being a City resident, I’m keen to support local restaurants stay open on Mondays and if I dine out, tend to do so when it’s less crowded. This is a two way thing, patronise the restaurants that make the effort, get rewarded for your loyalty. When I made the booking , the only means to do so was using the web. I don’t mind doing this, so long as the booking system gets you what you are ordering,
The idea is that technology is replacing phone booking and is more efficient for restaurants. Again there is a two way deal here, you save your restaurant time, they make it easy for you to book
I had booked using the automatic system on Open Table that linked to the advert, tables appeared from 6 to 7.00pm , nothing was greyed out. I know that we should always read the smallest of print but Hawksmoor’s now only open on a Monday evening from 5.30pm to 9.30 pm
It is only by clicking through to a third screen that you discover that the Express menu is only available from 5.30 to 6.30 pm . This is a vanishingly small window which targets tea time rather than supper time, it’s happy hour on stilts and when you are asking people to stump up £30 for not much more than a steak is akin to cheating the customer.
I explained to my guests, they were appalled and said they’d rather not “eat with cheats”.
This kind of thing happens too often , this time I’m calling it out.
Special offers with conditions need to have those conditions clearly stated. I have gone through the email and the web version of the email, I have clicked through to the booking.
Come on Hawksmoor, you want to win customer loyalty? This is not the way to get it. You want the sympathy of the Corporation of London and city businesses? Play fair.
The kids said that they’d sooner eat at the Relais de Venise . That’s where we went – very nice too. No special offer, no booking – you know what you’re ordering and you get it.
