I lived in Calgary 15 years, I went to Earl’s quite a bit, in Calgary even with my kids. Never downtown, and they always had lots of highchairs. Now I live in Burlington, Ontario. Burlington is primarily a bedroom suburb of both Toronto and Hamilton.
A member of a mom’s blog my wife subscribes to recently went to the new Earl’s in our little city’s mall (which is surrounded by housing that has lots of children around by the way).
To her surprise they had no high chairs and had no intention of getting any; an interesting business move in an area that is primarily families and very suburban, not to mention being located in a mall…
When the mom that tried to go to Earl’s wrote in to Earl’s to ask why there was no high chairs, this is the reply she got:
“Dear Christine,
Thank you for your letter regarding our lack of high chairs at Earls. I am very sorry that, having chosen us so often in the past for special evenings with your family and friends, we have disappointed you in this way. We appreciate all customer feedback and make every attempt to respond to what our customers want from us. On the subject of highchairs, the subject appears to be a sensitive one as we have received mixed views from our customers.
Please understand that we love children and pride ourselves on the great number of children and families that frequent our restaurants – you are always welcome. However, in the urban areas, we also attract a great number of professional and business clients as well as those out for a special occasion and, therefore, we have received both opinions regarding highchairs. In the final analysis, we do our best to respond to the community in which we are situated. We have two sets of customers who have exa ctly opposing demands for our business. No matter which position we take, one group of customers is going to stop visiting us. There is no compromise; there is no way we can keep everyone happy.
I would like to thank you for your honest feedback. I would also appreciate your understanding. Currently, we try to keep the majority of customers happy. In suburban locations, where there are mostly families, we have highchairs. In urban locations, the majority of our customers are adults without families so we do not have highchairs.
Please understand, we are not trying to discriminate against you. Rather, we are trying to maximize our sales opportunities according to the neighbourhood we serve.
I know this may not be the response you are looking for, but I hope you can understand that we have have an obligation to our urban customers and our shareholders to make the best decision for each business.
All comments are read by our management team and by the President of Earls, Stan Fuller. Thank you for your understanding and for taking the time to make your voice heard on the subject.
Sincerely,
Melissa Pulsifer
Earls Restaurants Ltd. “
Maybe Earl’s doesn’t like the children of Burlington, maybe they just want 20 somethings in their restaurant. In any case I won’t be visiting Earl’s again no matter who I’m with or whatever City I’m in.
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