Ask any member of a restaurant's staff, and they'll tell you that it's the little touches that make a dining experience memorable. Something as small as giving diners a smile, or making sure their drinks are always topped off, can make a lot of difference regarding how they felt about the evening even if they aren't consciously thinking about it. It's like how, when you go to see a play, the backdrop sort of fades out of your consciousness; it doesn't stand out, but it still contributes to the overall experience.
Unfortunately, a dining experience can also be completely ruined by little details, too. Maybe it was how the noise level was a little too loud for casual conversation. It could be how the temperature control was just a few too many degrees hot or cold for comfort. Or, the king of annoying things, the table wobbled or leaned.
A wobbly or leaning table, to return to the theater metaphor, is like a play backdrop where there's a flap peeling from one corner. The play going on might be really good, but no matter how hard you try to enjoy it that one shifting piece of the backdrop (which is supposed to be all-but-invisible) just won't stop drawing your eye and distracting you from all of the evening's high points.
It's bad enough that such a little thing can mar an evening out, but it's possible that dealing with a shaky table can actually be enough to make customers decide not to come back. Especially if that shaky table led to other problems, like drinks toppling over, spilled food, banged shins, or other things that wouldn't have happened if the table had just done its job and provided solid, expected support.
Make Everything As Perfect As You Can
When it comes to your restaurant, the food is only one part of the experience. It might be the central part, like the lead singer's vocals or the main actor's performance on stage, but for that centerpiece to shine it needs the support of all the other elements. Because if the rhythm guitarist is off on his timing, or the supporting actors keep forgetting their lines, that's going to drag down the overall experience.
That's why you do everything you can to make your customers' experiences positive when they walk through your doors.
Think about it. You make sure you're playing the right music at the right level to set the mood. You ensure your lighting isn't too dim, or too bright. You want your menus to look appealing, you want the dining area clean and inviting, and you make sure your staff all adhere to the same dress code. You look for every little problem you can, and pluck it out to be sure it isn't the proverbial fly in the ointment.
So what do you do when one of your tables lean or wobble and ruins the evening? You've seen it all before: customers will put anything they find to level it, like sugar packets, coasters or napkins. But, you don't want your servers to put shims under the feet, either, because that can look unsightly, and it doesn't always solve the problem.
You're first thought probably is that it's ok. Maybe not great, but it could be so much worse. Wrong! This is one of the worst things to happen. 86% of people say that a wobbly table is distracting or annoying (yougov.com) and more than 50% say that they wouldn't return to the same restaurant.
The table base is supposed to be invisible, so why settle for something just "ok"? Your furniture supplier has left you with no alternative. The next time you order, you're going to look for another supplier. Or, perhaps it can't wait and you ask your smallwares provider to see if they know anyone that could sell a single base (since often there's minimums).
A solid, cast iron base that won't bend or break with time and stress is an ideal solution for fixing a table that doesn't feel like it has a solid leg to stand on. No more wobbling, no more spilled drinks, no more irritated customers; the table can fade into the background and let them enjoy their experience. And it might be one of the unsung reasons they come back.