Some thoughts on a salacious management scandal at my beloved Royal Bank of Canada and the institution’s deft handling of the response.
Suffice to say, when Royal Bank says it will “vigorously defend” damning allegations about Canada’s biggest bank, it makes good on its promise.
If someone set out to create the most inefficient and unpleasant coffee buying experience possible, I’m doubtful they could surpass what Starbucks CEO Laxman Narasimhan has achieved.
Shake Shack has serious quality control issues, but a Southern California investment firm telling an upscale burger chain founded and chaired by famed New York restauranteur Danny Meyer how to run its business reflects an arrogance that even by Wall Street standards is beyond the pale.
Americans are the most generous people in the world. It’s time they stopped the U.S. restaurant industry taking advantage of them.
I’m possibly the only person who dares to publicly challenge the recent diatribe by Detroit Free Press restaurant columnist Lyndsay Green about too many whites frequenting a handful of swanky restaurants in downtown Detroit.
Happy people supposedly think happy thoughts. So as an experiment, instead of stewing about the decline of customer service while waiting on hold and listening to the dreaded, “Due to heavier call volume” message, I challenged myself to name 10 companies I enjoy doing business with.
The envelopes please …
I developed a severe tummy ache upon discovering that Erewhon, my overpriced organic food emporium I mistakenly believed was 100 percent owned by a local couple, is backed by a New York private equity firm. Adding insult to injury, the CEO of the PE firm was accused by more than 300 neighbors of trying to build a McMansion on an environmentally fragile lake in Southampton.
My indigestion worsened upon discovering that private equity is heavily involved in the organic food industry, including the supply chain.
Public good rarely results from private equity involvement.
Most U.S. companies pay lip service to how much they care about their employees and customers. The In-N-Out burger chain is one of the few I know of that really means it.
Veteran Michigan journalist Micheline Maynard recently opined American consumers are too spoiled and need to accept and embrace lower standards. That mindset is why Michigan is possibly on an irreversible decline and Christmas this year arrived early in Tennessee.
Delivery apps are harmful because they place a barrier between restaurants and their customers. Here’s how a top-notch sushi chain keeps customers happy and connected when orders aren’t quite up to standards.