Ice Cream Cones
When the scoop falls off the cone.
While finishing up a purchase at the grocery store with the family, my daughter Coco (10) asked me if she could run next door and buy a scoop of ice cream.
I said sure…… so my wife Amy and Coco headed out toward the ice cream shop. Amy handed Coco a $5 bill and walked over to our car, which was right in front of the ice cream store.
At few minutes later, I was coming out of the super market with the groceries and Coco was jumping in the back seat of the car. I walked up, put the groceries in and off we went to take Coco to dance class.
Later that afternoon, Amy went to pick her up at dance and Coco mentioned that she actually didn’t eat ice cream. It seems that Amy and I were too busy talking in the car earlier to notice that Coco wasn’t eating a cone.
Here’s what happened. Coco bought the cone, walked outside, took a lick and the scoop dropped on the ground. She went back in to explain what had happened, and the employee told Coco she would have to buy another scoop (more than $3). So Coco, being the good kid that she is, decided to accept her fate and move on.
The story could have ended there…..but of course, it didn’t. My wife Amy isn’t one to complain, but if she feels wronged, you’re going to know about it.So, Amy went back to the ice cream store and explained to the employee that our family has been in the ice cream business for more than 20 years, and charging someone again for a dropped scoop is just plain wrong. The employee went on to say that this was the owners policy. She said that it happens all the time. Two other employees were “snickering” in the background as if Amy was an evil, hard to please customer.A few things wrong with this picture:If you’re so desperate to lose the 50 cents the scoop costs you to replace it, you’re in big trouble and should either sell the business or accept that you will soon be closing it.If it happens all the time, meaning scoops fall off the cone all the time, then the “scoopers” are doing something wrong. There’s an art to putting ice cream on a cone. Sure, once in a while someone is going to lick the scoop off the cone, and it will fall to the ground. But if this is happening regularly, then it is not the customer’s problem, it is the store’s problem. At the very least, the server should warn the customer if the scoop is not secured to the cone the way it should be.Our family is a “great customer” who is capable of spending at least $100 a month at an ice cream or yogurt shop that we like. We will never patronize that store again.Is it worth losing a potential regular client for 50 cents? The answer is clearly NO in my opinion.It’s difficult and expensive to get new customers in the door. Make sure that the experience is outstanding and your business will grow and grow.Worry about losing 50 cents on a replacement cone and watch yourself start cutting back hours, laying off employees and see your business slowly deteriorate.The owner of this shop is obviously struggling and he or she probably thinks that it is due to the economy, or because of some other reason other than the stores customer service.I’m sure if I went to that store again, at some point, they would serve me re-frozen ice cream.I say this because it’s a slippery slope when you try too hard to control costs and do so in areas where it has no place (product quality and customer service).I understand the need to control food costs and keep them low. It’s tough to throw away product. But the minute you start selling ice cream that “just melted a little” is the day you need to be in another business. If you have to raise prices, raise prices. Trust me on this one – you will lose a lot more customers by selling them sub standard product than by charging them more for a quality ice cream.
If you’ve had a bad experience in an ice cream shop, please feel free to comment below and share your experience. Or, tell us about a great experience you had in an ice cream shop and why you will continue to go to that store.
If you own an ice cream parlor, frozen yogurt, gelato or Italian ice store, tell us how you make sure your customers have a positive experience (comment below).
Happy Holidays and good selling!
Neil
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Needless to say the owner of the ice cream store has no customer service skills. Sometimes it is good to go to Yelp so customers can be told about store policy. Ice Cream is not keeping a store open it is Customer Service….
Great comments Kathy. Thanks for taking the time to post them.
Neil
we are not a scoop shop but a maker of all styles of ice cream in all styles of packaging and also do co packing for a large number of accounts who we consider partners in our business. If something is wrong with a package,broken,etc.we alway take care of the problem at once. We are a company that is in our 86th year,family owned and the reason the company is always growing no matter what the economy is 1. our quality is alway the best
2.our service to our customer is primary to our business
3.we do things for the people in the State. We give back to those who are unable to help themselves. Yes,we get awards but we do not do it for that reason. We do it because the family has been blessed and in your case a cone that is dropped is a way to show just how good you can take care of your clients. It is a way that a parent will remember who stopped the tears of their child and turn it into a smile.
I always say. Life is short. Eat dessert First.
Have a healthy holiday season.
Good stuff Barry. Warwick is well known in the industry for it’s excellent customer service. Keep it the great work!
Neil
we have a lot of kids drop icecream i have a policy to replace it at no charge,it has made me a lot of money and a lot of happy parents
Thanks for the comment Bill. And you are 100% correct…what a great opportunity to develop loyalty and keep them coming back!
I have a ice cream concession stand at the NC State Fair. My policy is if any of my product is dropped for any reason I tell the customer it is “under warranty” and give them a replacement. Ice cream is fun food and we want our customers to have a fun experience when they visit us. I feel that our attitude and customer service have contributed to the repeat business that we have built up since 1947.
“Under Warranty”. I love it! I bet you get a lot of big laughs and a lot of smiles for that one.
Thanks for posting Bob.
Neil
I recently opened an icecream and dessert cafe in Ontario Canada. We value and appreciate our customers and we will always try to ensure they have a happy, pleasant, and enjoyable experience at our Cafe. We would replace a fallen ice cream cone or pastry or beverage happily and without fuss, and make sure the customer did not feel badly about the episode. Our customers are our guests – It’s the right thing to do.- I really like Bob Norton’s “Under Warranty” policy. I’m going to adopt that theme – it’s great !
You are soo right, shame on them for not replacing it.
We always strive to go the xtra mile.
I add colorful spoons to kids cones and cups of gelato ,even wafers.. it costs nothing but makes the presentation much nicer and the kids love it and because they are happy the parents are happy.
I always ask the parents if they want the icecream pushed down the cone a little and they always say yes please.
Okay Neil how do you make sure the ice cream stays on the cone? I would love to know the trick. Not that ours fall off, but tricks to the trade are always welcome. I would also give another cone. And you are right customer service is soooooo important!!!
Judy
Judy, We sell hard hand dipped of course and have the twist and lock process. You push the cone into the ice cream not the ice cream into the cone and give the cone a slite twist. If we are selling to a child we take smaller scoops and fill the cone cavity with the ice cream and inform the parent that we did just that so the cone doesn’t look so small. Parents are very grateful we went the extra effort and no cone drops. Once we learned this system we have had no ice cream fall off the cone. Still doesn’t fix the problem of the child just dropping the cone itself, but as an earlier comment have a warranty(even a little sign stating that we have a warranty) just give the child a new cone. Parents always love that you fix the problem.
Randy (30years in the business)
We have up wards of 40stores and not one of them would even think of that remember kids are number one at all time no mater what and the parents follow that like you said if you want to charge them get out of this line of work….
First of all I totally agree to the motion. We run an Ice cream parlour and things like this do happen. For sure I take it that its our obligation for not scooping the ice cream properly on the cone. If a scoop falls inside our shop we return the scoop and the money too. If a customer comes from outside and says that a scoop of ice cream he or she bought fell down we return a scoop only. That’s our policy and that’s what we call customer’s satisfaction.
I have been in the service industry for many years…the botom line is that you get what you hire. The challenge is to properly manage the “young generation” who have yet to learn what customer satisfaction is. First they need to stay off facebook, and pay attention to every detail. They will learn this at some point in life, but it will be at your expense. A work ethic is taught at home first, businees owners just have to continue coaching until they find the right individuals to prevent horror stories like this. Been there done that.
We are new to the ice cream business, just opened a concession trailer a few months ago. We’ve had kids drop cones and actually had a parent who’s child dropped it right in front of our stand attempt to pick it up and have the kid still eat it worrried that we wouldn’t replace it. She looked at us and said “he won’t eat it now, I’m sorry he dropped it” with obvious worry on her face. She held up the scoop and said “see, here it is”. The whole time she was going through this we were trying to tell her not to worry, no need to show us, we’ll certainly give her a replacement. WE apologized for the scoop failure and I dipped a bigger scoop for the replacement! This happens maybe 3-4 times an event (less than 1% of the customers) so it’s an acceptable loss (to me).
We’ve had kids ask if they could have a cherry on top or a little blip of whip cream and we’re more than happy to do this, the smiles and return customers are well worth the half penny it cost us!
As for the snickering co-workers in the OP, I’d be more inclined to terminate them for insulting a customer, that in my view cannot be tolerated in a service business!
Hi Neil,
You story is unbelievable. But its sad to say that a majority
of the businesses today opperate on this key ingrediant GREED!
I have owned and opperated a restaurant for the past 16 years.
I saw my customers as a part of my family and treated them as such, in return I gained their loyalty. The ice cream business
is a new venture for me and one that I’m really excited about.
Being an ice cream lover myself. I’ve seen many areas that needs improvement. My aim is to restore the joy of going to the ice cream parlor, not to mention having three little kids who love ice cream. There is a common complaint over here about the cost and service we receive when we [parents]
visit the local ice cream parlors. I want to change all this and bring the joy back. Thank you neil for all your help and
vital information on the internal operation.
who love
I own a Good Humor Novelty Ice Cream Truck and I replace all dropped treats once. It is usually prepakaged Snow Cones that the kids drop. After I replace they understand that they need to be careful. It is just the right thing to do. One book that everyone should read is “Treat Your Customers” by Bob Migliani. It is a book by an owner of a Dairy Queen store that covers many aspects of running a business in general as it pertains to an ice cream business.
We own a KaleidoScoops store a coop instead of a franchise started from former B&R franchisees who were closed down 9-years ago by B&R. We replace the scoop one time also and if they are in a hurry we give them a rain check for a free scoop. Another trick we do is when the customer has a dog in the car or truck we give a free kid scoop of vanilla yogurt to the dog. Customers love it and so do the dogs. We found out vanilla ice cream give the dogs gas. We also have a gum ball machine with a sign on it stating “if you get a white gum ball you get a free kid scoop.” Kids love it. It is like a kids slot machine. I’ve seen them put five dollars in at a time just to get that white gum ball.
We The Franklin Fountain always replace dropped ice cream free of charge, with a new cone of course (people appreciate that)-that we learned from Penn State Retailers Course Ice Cream 101. ZIngermans in Ann Arbor Michigan wrote a great book on handling complaints. I recommend it. Servant Leadership is at the heart of most good judgments. It may have been poor judgment on the part of the employee, however, and not necessarily the “owner’s policy.” Some employees in the world will make you, the customer, believe that the owners have said something, like “it’s the policy of our store to never replace ice cream cones,” when employees will frankly straight out be lying to your customers about your products, your service etc because they themselves are having a bad day, a power trip, because of home baggage, angry at management etc. Unfortunately disciplinary actions (like firing employees over egregious lies to customers) don’t bring back those distanced customers. I think the hardest thing we do is sustaining a positive working environment where the bad grapes are spotted early and thrown out and good grapes are developed into a fully mature wine.
I dont have a shop but I do the green mkts and when I have KIDS drop their Italian ices I just give them another one at no cost. It makes the customer happy and makes me feel good and then they come back to me for repeat sales.
Chico Pagan
when a kid drop an ice cream by accident, I give him another scoop but a homemade ice cream. The parent appreciate it and they keep coming back patronizing our product.
MY HUSBAND TOM, SENT THIS TO ME TODAY. I COULDN’T AGREE WITH YOU MORE. I WILL REPLACE CONES, SUNDAES, OR ANY THING THAT COMES FROM MY STORE. AND THEN GIVE THEM A HELIUM BALLOON OR A STUFFED ANIMAL TO APOLGIZE. I LOVE IT WHEN A ADULT DOES IT, I ALWAYS AFTER REPLACING THE ITEM, ASK THEN IF THEY WANT A BALLOON, THEY JUST SMILE, THAT IS WHAT IS IMPORTANT. AND IF EVERYONE WOULD JUST CARE WHAT A LIFE.
I too have a free replacement policy if the cone breaks or the ice cream falls off. We usually give them more ice cream or even a chocolate dipped cone. Everyone leaves happy. My wife served a customer a double scoop one evening and as she handed the cone over the freezer to the customer it broke completely in two. He dropped the cone and caught the ice cream in mid air. Everyone in the store laughed and applauded. Of course we then gave him new ice cream and a chocolate dipped large waffle cone no charge. A customer for life.
I couldn’t agree more. If the product falls off the cone or if ANYTHING is wrong with the cup of product….a piece of dirt, a small piece of anything that looks strange, unusual or not part of the normal product….I’ll throw it out and give the client an entire new cup of product. Certainly, its not worth losing a good customer.
neil we receive the check already it said that it was unclaimed
We have a chocolate company but will soon be building out a new space and plan to offer ice cream. As far as this customer service issue, I have no doubt I would immediately replace the ice cream (and cone) at no charge and would apologize to the customer. I, too, am not one to complain unless I feel wronged in some way. How the situation is handled will absolutely determine if I return or not. The few cents it takes to resolve the problem are worth their weight in gold in follow-on business! Keep those customers happy and just do the right thing and they will come back again and again and will be very forgiving if you do happen to make a mistake. And not to mention the fact that they will refer you if you fix the problem and trash talk your business to many others if you don’t.
I agree with all of the above comments….and the look on the parents faces after you replace the cone is priceless!
But–I need some suggestions…I am in need of opinions from folks who have been doing this longer than me…I offer kids cones for 1.00–but, we don’t have an age limit on it…we are noticing a VERY large influx of folks–all ages ordering the kids cones…I am not a greedy person, but I do need to make a living and pay employees…are there suggestions out there as to how to limit the children cones—they are meant for children…many families in the area are very limited on budget–and don’t want to limit what they can afford…what kinds of things have you guys tried?
I am really far behind with this blog, but with a new season coming up its a good time to address pricing. Last year I went to a “junior” instead of kid cone and priced as a single scoop at a reasonable price point closer to the $2 suggested. I notice a number of other shops also just offer “single”. I have a number of seniors that like the one scoop cone. What I do for parents who ask for something smaller for a small child is just adjust to a smaller scoop for them and price accordingly at the till instead of advertising the kid cone price. On the other hand, I don’t see a problem if you keep on as you have but put an age limit of say under 5yrs old on your kids cone. I’d be interested in any other comments on this topic.
As a ice cream shop employee with the same policy, I can say that a lot of times customers are ridiculous when it comes to a scoop falling off the cone. Honestly, shit happens. And if your kid is running around tipping his cone upside down and the scoop falls on the ground, that’s not our problem. And, if the employees were “snickering” it’s probably because your wife was making an ass of herself over a scoop of ice cream. Just pay for a new one if you want it that bad!
With an attitude like that, you’ll never rise above being a low level employee and taking orders from someone else. You sound pretty young, so you have plenty of time to adjust your way of thinking. Good luck in the future.