Suniel Shetty On How He Handled Abuse From Restaurant Customers "I would take all the brick bats that were thrown at me when a customer was drunk and didn't like something and take every shot on me when it came to the food not being right," Shetty had said.
By Kabir Singh Bhandari •
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Suniel Shetty is someone we identify with as an action star who has also done his fair share of comedy outings, Hera Pheri being the most notable one. On the business side of things, he is an active entrepreneur, being a brand ambassador and investor with various companies. However, a little known fact is how he started working for his father's restaurant at the age of 16.
But what all did his job entail at that time?
"Everything that any other boy in the restaurant did, I had to go through. Whether it was in the kitchen, managing the floor, helping to clean the place or seeing the customers off. I would take all the brick bats that were thrown at me when a customer was drunk and didn't like something and take every shot on me when it came to the food not being right. So I think everything that that a young man needs to go through in the food and beverage industry my father made me experience," Shetty told us at an event where he was announced as the brand ambassador of food delivery app Waayu.
This became part of his DNA where he was ready to do anything in any job he would be part of, something which continued in business and films for him. If there was a problem he would readily go first to solve it. It taught him never to be embarrassed about anything to never complain. Failure too at times can be seen in a positive note, and his father would advise his to live by the adage that 'the customer is always right' and even if the customer would abuse him then to take that since eventually it would settle. "The next day the same customer would come back and tell me how sorry he was and that I had handled the situation so well and introduce me to his family and friends. That's how our customer base grew as they spoke well about us. Our model wasn't to advertise since our numbers weren't large enough that people would drive from far away areas to come to the restaurant. The captive audience was in my area itself and we had to hold on to them. I learned amazing lessons from this trade," Shetty narrated to us.
As far his new brand association is concerned, it would be interesting to see how things pan out as Waayu is based on a zero commission model and is pitted against the current giants Zomato and Swiggy.
