President/CEO, RI Hospitality Association
The idea of looking out for the well being of your competition seems almost counterintuitive. After all, isn’t their loss your gain? Not always, and that is one of the many things that make the hospitality industry such a close-knit community.
We are several years into a recession which has had a devastating impact on our bottom lines. Many of us have been forced to lay off employees who are like family. Some of us may have actually let family members go! We’ve used every gimmick in the book to ensure that customers pick our establishment over any other, and while the adversity we face would make it easy to take an “every man and women for themselves” approach to business – it seems the exact opposite is true.
As the going gets tough, we band together. That’s why I’d like to share a true story about how the power of communication between businesses helped catch an alleged thief in the act. (And, like any good true crime story, this one carries a disclaimer: the accused is presumed innocent until proven guilty.)
The saga began in April when a charismatic man named “Kevin” dined at a local restaurant. He was friendly and engaging while he ate and drank his way to a $70 tab. Near the end of his meal, Kevin stepped out for a cigarette and disappeared into the night, leaving the restaurant on the hook for his bill.
The occasional walkout is part of the cost of doing business in the restaurant industry, but in this close knit community, it took less than a day for a waiter to relay the story to a friend who waits tables at another restaurant. Wouldn’t you know it – the same thing happened there as well. When I learned about the story, I issued an alert to RIHA members, and pretty soon, the local dining community was abuzz with one name: Kevin.
Who is He? Where is He from? When will He strike next? I’m told one Bristol restaurant owner who heard about the scam actually stood in the doorway of his patio exit when he realized a diner named Kevin may want to step out for a cigarette.
Word about Kevin’s scam had spread across the restaurant community through phone calls, emails, and word of mouth. Then, on Memorial Day weekend, it was the break in the case we had all been waiting for. That’s when a man named Kevin sat down in a Providence restaurant.
The situation seemed too familiar to some members of the staff who were in the loop on Kevin’s “dine and dash M.O.” That’s when they called over to the restaurant that first started to spread word about the scam back in April. “Think you can identify Kevin?” they asked. A bartender working the night of Kevin’s free meal jumped in the car, racing over.
In the meantime, Kevin finished his meal and received his check. However, he allegedly tried to pay with a bad credit card. Already suspicious, the restaurant called the police. The original bartender arrived, and was able to make a positive ID. The police were filled in and Kevin, now in handcuffs, was taken away.
No one is quite sure how many restaurants Kevin may have hit, or how long he may have been trying this stunt. Was it going on long before he first caught the attention of Rhode Island’s hospitality community in April? While Kevin has already made voluntary restitution to the Providence establishment where he was caught red-handed, the owner tells me he is still pressing charges, and rightfully so.
We work hard to support ourselves, our families, and our employees during these tough economic times. Everyone involved in “Operation Kevin,” as one of the involved parties referred to the episode as, could easily have kept to themselves, and failed to share the critical information they knew. But, they didn’t. Because of the open lines of communication, and the sense of community across our industry, we were able to work together to catch a criminal red handed. Though the people and restaurants in this story remain nameless, I couldn’t be prouder to be associated with them, and I hope their actions inspire others to use the power of communication to their benefit. After all, the hospitality industry is a family and as such, we all need to support each other – in good times and in bad.
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