Bay City restaurant reminds customers to be respectful
By James Felton and Hannah Mose
Click here for updates on this story
BAY CITY, Michigan (WNEM) — A Bay City restaurant owner is sending a warning to rude customers after some of his employees were subjected to verbal attacks.
“My employees here are like family,” said Vince Stuart, owner of Uptown Grill in Bay City.
This is why he put out a post on Facebook reminding his customers to treat his employees with respect or be asked to leave.
“It’s just to show people that we do care for their feelings and stuff, but you also gotta care for the feelings for the people that wait on you,” he said.
Stuart said the issue with unruly customers and his wait staff came to a head recently.
“The other day she started crying, and somebody was rude to her. And you know, that’s not nice,” he said. “I mean yeah, she might have made a mistake, and maybe she didn’t make a mistake, and you know, but she still needs to be treated like a human being because she’s here to make a living, just like they make a living on whatever they do. And I’m sure if it was turned around on the other foot, then they wouldn’t like that either.”
Stuart also said he can no longer eat the cost of taking meals off a customer’s bill. He wants customers to check their takeout orders before they leave. If Uptown Grill made a mistake, they’ll fix your order, but won’t offer you a refund.
He said because of inflation, his overall food costs are up 15 percent over the last two years, so Stuart is implementing this policy in an effort to keep menu prices down.
“It’s going to be a 50/50 thing, like a marriage. You know, I made a mistake, you made a mistake. Let’s check it, and we’ll come together and find out how we can make this better,” he said.
Stuart wants to remind everyone, when they go out to eat, make sure to bring along some empathy.
“Respect us for us, and we will respect you for you,” he said.
He said the price of eggs, ground beef, chicken, and milk have all factored into the high food costs for his business.
Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.