Why is the service in every M&S cafe so slow

[Hepzibar]

Without exception.

The server in an Asda cafe once tried to convince me they had no butter available to put on the crumpets I'd just ordered.

It took superhuman self control (because I know it's not their fault and they will be acting under the instruction of idiot bosses who are unable to see the benefit of decent customer service translating into profit) to not point and rant about the whole fridge full of butter about 10 metres away.

@BarbaraofSeville unbelievable! You couldn’t make it up 😐

No idea! The Percy pig slushies are worth the wait though and super low in calories!

Most cafes are like that these days. I blame coffee machines.

Everything takes so damned long, what with all the umpteen coffees available, and the staff aren't usually well-trained enough to crack on. A proper high-speed multitasking barista is a rare sight.

My three nearby stores the service is slow mainly due to the coffee machines needing upgrading and realistically each cafe needs at least another member of staff if not too. I don't think behind the counter is particularly user friendly when working there. The staff members that are there in my nearby stores are rushed off their feet but so lovely to all the customers.

Trafford Centre, Manchester Fort, Manchester Arndale, White City, Ashton, all shocking. Nothing to do with age of staff either.
White City today - ONE person in front of us and it still took an age. It seems like they only do one thing at once, put the bloody coffee on whilst you faff around getting the other stuff FFS.

I have noticed that tables don't get cleared or cleaned quickly either- definitely getting worse and it was bad to start with.

I’ll see your M&S cafe and raise you any National Trust cafe in the land. Perhaps they all trained at M&S!

Yes to M&S cafe being slow. I think it is due to the weird layout somehow

Around here costa isn't slow but Cafe Nero are

Caffe Neros have always been super fast and efficient in my experience.

Perhaps a lot of cafes are now running on sub-optimum staffing levels? This could be part of the problem. I have definitely been in a large M&S cafe on a Saturday, and witnessed managers drafted in to clear tables.

I would love this! I regularly say to DH that proper coffee machines have ruined cafés.

I remember the days before the coffee machines when the queue would move faster because you weren't standing behind someone ordering a coffee that takes several minutes to make! If I'm out with DC I just want to grab ready made sandwiches and eat.

Well, I’d go, with friends too. We have had to give up on the local garden centre cafe, the coffee machine is soooo noisy, you can’t hear your conversation over the steam, and the press banging, or and the performative order shouting. I suppose it doesn’t help that there is never any fabric at all in places where you eat now, so the nose just bounces and echoes.

oh for a Miss Marple tea shop…..

Noise of course ( though the bouncing nose would at least be interesting nose 👃)

Hard to reserve a table for one and queue for your food isn't it?

One of the times I went into a slow and busy M&S cafe, they wouldn't allow table reservations until you had your food.

A member of staff was keeping an eye on out for free tables, telling table baggers to wait their turn, escorting people with food to free tables and encouraging people who'd been in there a while and had finished, to move on so the table was freed up for people waiting.

Worked quite well and kept the tables available for people who actually had food ready to eat rather than those who were waiting to get it, or lingering after they'd eaten it.