Restaurant owner ‘never wants to do Eat Out to Help Out’ again after customers ruin scheme

Foodies have been quick to take advantage of the Government initiative which ended on Monday.

But according to Rachel Stock, boss of the popular On The Rocks S66 at Woodhouse Green, Thurcroft, Rotherham, she and her staff sometimes found it impossible to deal with rude and impatient customers.

The scheme gave diners 50 per cent off, up to £10, and tempted more people to eat out again after lockdown was eased.

Rachel praised the scheme for doing amazing things for her business but at times said the whole thing had been a ‘nightmare’.

She said customers swore at and abused staff, and threatened a young waitress as social distancing measures for the safety of customers meant the restaurant had a bookings only policy.

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"Rishi Sunak has done great things for the hospitality industry with Eat Out To Help.

“I can honestly say 99 per cent of our customers have been fantastic.” said Rachel.

“The support has been overwhelming – we've been covering around 150 covers a night throughout the scheme,

“But and it’s a big but – I don’t think my staff ever want to go through it again. We have had a lot of people giving us hell because we can’t give them tables."

Walk-in customers had been ‘shouty’ and aggressive and swearing at staff, she said.

"I know a fair few people don’t have Facebook or social media but we do put out as much information as possible that we were taking bookings only .

“One person told us we were the biggest ****** joke ever,” said Rachel.

“I have a 16-year-old girl who works as a waitress on the floor who was threatened to have her head “knocked down the car park” because we didn’t have one of the ingredients left due to it being a sell out day ."

Rachel has worked hard to keep the 180 seat restaurant welcoming and homely and doing everything possible to keep customers safe with socially distanced tables and a bars and a one way system.

“Yesterday we had to ask a table of seven to leave because they insisted they wanted a different table and with social distancing we are having to be very careful.

"Plonking seven people in the middle of everybody else just wasn’t possible .

“They were very rude and horrible so they got sent on their way.

“I don’t hesitate, I don’t put other customers or the staff at risk.”

She added: “I had hoped during lockdown we would come out of this with people being a bit more considerate. It’s a very tough trade to be in. We do fresh food from scratch – nothing microwaved or frozen.

"Most of the staff you find in this trade are youngsters and are just setting out in the world of work. Have some patience with the staff who are serving. They are there to look after you they are not there to be abused.”

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