American Restaurants Provide Customers With Reading Glasses
Anyone who works in a restaurant will tell you that it’s not just tips that clientele forget about when leaving. People leave all kinds of expensive personal items when rising from their restaurant table, from wallets and mobile phones to handbags, cameras and much more. Mostly people return for these items, but not for everything.
People don’t bother coming back for their cheap glasses
Several restaurants in America have found that so many of their customers forget their reading glasses when they leave, and don’t come back for them, that they’ve decided to do something about it.
The MenuMates program provides each restaurant with four pairs of the most common strengths of reading glasses, along with an eye chart for diners to determine which glasses they need.
The program was organised by the Katzen Eye Group, who were looking for ways to help prevent their customers losing their glasses, provide complimentary kits to any restaurant interested in participating.
Helpful for people unused to wearing glasses
The program is particularly useful for those who never had to wear glasses previously, then did as their eyesight deteriorated as they got older. They are more likely to leave their glasses behind, said Janna Mullaney, the Chief Operations Officer at Katzen.
"For someone who hasn't had to wear glasses until recently like me, you don't always remember to carry them around," said Kelly Deegan, who has been working at Salerno's Restaurant in Maryland, USA for over 10 years. "I can come to work and not worry about it because I have the MenuMates ones there.
“It can be difficult to read the tiny print on menus, particularly in dark restaurant settings. That makes eateries the ideal place to roll out such a program”, Mullaney said. "Hopefully, customers will learn when restaurants get these kits and they won't have to worry about it."
Glasses provide the supplier with free advertising
Participating restaurants advertise the service at restaurant tables. The publicity is great for Katzen Eye Group and the service is also helpful for those who never seem to be able to keep their reading glasses in their possession.
"You talk to the patients who use them," Mullaney said, "and they buy them every month. They just don't have the investment in them."
The MenuMates program is currently in operation in Salerno's, plus the Accomac Inn and Left Bank Restaurant in Pennsylvania, and the Capital Grille, Rusty Scupper and The Prime Rib in Maryland.
Here’s hoping in the future customers come back just for the food, and not just to pick up their forgotten glasses.
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