Not Getting Shot and the Magician at Nando's Restaurant: Retail Review

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Why did I change my stance and go? Well I didn’t really.

I had decided to take my son to Frankie & Benny’s but they were “full”. I say “full” because the restaurant looked empty but we were told there would be a fifteen minute wait for a table. Whether this was because they were short-staffed, had a huge number of reservations all due in the next five minutes, or because they were simply trying to get extra revenue from people by stalling them so they would buy an extra drink I couldn’t say. I do know that restaurants like theirs make huge margins on drinks.

So, because it was next door, and because we weren’t in Shepherds Bush and Cambridge isn’t a gun crime hot spot, Nando’s it was.

The first impressions were mixed. The restaurant looked clean and well ordered, but the overall feel of the lighting and décor was gloomy; we were eating at 6.30 in the evening, but the environment felt more appropriate to later at night.

A waitress who was friendly explained how it worked and I got my first glimpse at the operating model – Nando’s is a cleverly engineered to keep costs down. You order your food and drinks at the counter and it is delivered to your table – this keeps contact time with customers to a minimum and cost of labour low.
 
Whilst the menu was physically large, the choice was very small. Variation came in the form of heat options; a chance for groups of guys to be competitive and go for extra hot PERi-PERi sauce if they’re feeling brave.

Also, many of the diverse ethnicities in the UK have a palette that prefers more piquant offerings than traditional British cuisine favours. For my money this is a smart thing for any restaurant to do; it keeps costs down and should mean that what they do offer is good.

We ordered and were greeted at the counter by a range of up-sells; the olives looked too good to resist and we shared a bowl. They were as good as the food that arrived a few minutes later at our table.

So why did things take a turn for the worse?....»

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