Episode 17 - Scotty's Brewhouse

Scotty’s Brewhouse, an “upscale sports bar” with 13 locations in Indiana and coming soon to Illinois and Florida, was created by its namesake owner with the goal of providing a different kind of restaurant experience.

“I wanted to make a restaurant that was some place that I could go into at any age and feel comfortable,” says Scott Wise, the Founder, President & CEO.

Though Scotty’s Brewhouse boasts an array of interesting and tasty dishes – they sell over a million orders of fried dill pickle chips a year, and a recent pizza special included bacon, cheddar cheese, and crushed Flaming Hot Cheetos – Scott’s attention is not just on providing outstanding food. He considers himself “in the business of customer service” and is intensely focused on providing a uniquely memorable experience to each and every customer.

Scott has embraced all forms of social media as a means to connect with his customers, and he reads and responds to every single Tweet.

“The fact that we listen to people, and we respond, and we act,” he says, “that one thing that we do in my opinion makes us more successful than almost anything else we do in this restaurant.” And even with 1,300 employees, Scott still forwards his staff Facebook posts, Tweets, and e-mails that mention specific employees along with a personal note of thanks.

Scott joined me and Dan Moriarty for a fun and sometimes emotional discussion about doing right by your customers, working hard to earn and keep their trust, and fixing things quickly when mistakes happen. Some of the most quotable moments of this episode of the Focus on Customer Service podcast include:

• “You’ve got to have great customer service, great product, and a great location. If you have all of those things, then it should work.”

• “Life’s too short to not have fun and not laugh at yourself.”

• “I like to entertain people. That’s why I’m in the business of customer service. I want to make you smile and laugh.”

• “We’re human beings in a human world, and we’re going to make mistakes.”

• “To give someone something they never knew they wanted… that’s when you create a ‘wow’ moment.”

Here are the highlights of Episode 17 and where to find them:

1:00 The background on Scotty’s Brewhouse and some of their most interesting dishes

5:50 How Scott decided to combine his personal and corporate Twitter handles into one, and Scott’s approach to social customer service

12:05 How great customer service impacts the overall customer experience at a restaurant – even more than the food

17:16 What Scott looks for in employees when he’s hiring new people

23:04 Which channels do Scott’s customers used to contact him, and how the questions are similar or different across channels

28:57 How Scott’s Brewhouse attempts to sync up the offline and online experience

36:25 Scott’s advice for becoming a customer service rock star

Special thanks to Jay Baer for recommending Scotty’s Brewhouse for the podcast. If you’d like to suggest a brand for a future episode, please tweet us using the hashtag #FOCS. The Focus on Customer Service podcast is also available on iTunes and Stitcher.