EGG ROLLS AND EYE ROLES: THE DANGEROUS GAME OF GREAT PRODUCT, POOR SERVICE

-- by Jamey Lutz

A great product cannot forever overcome poor service.

There’s a Chinese restaurant my family has been frequenting for years. The food? Outstanding. Crisp egg rolls. Rich, flavorful Mongolian beef. Sesame chicken that could win awards. We’ve tried countless alternatives across town, but nothing quite measures up.

But here's the strange part: we’ve never once felt welcomed.

The owners and staff have never been warm, never appreciative. It’s the kind of place where a “thank you” feels hard-won—if it comes at all. Once, on my daughter’s birthday, I discreetly asked a waiter if they might help make the moment a little special. A candle, a smile, something small. He responded flatly: “We don’t do birthdays.” That was it. No apology. No flexibility. Just another transaction.

And still, we’ve kept going back—for the food. For years.

This is more than a tale about dumplings and missed birthdays. It’s a cautionary insight: businesses that lean too heavily on product quality while neglecting basic human connection are playing a high-stakes game.

We’ve tolerated the indifference because the food has been unmatched. But if a new place opens tomorrow with egg rolls that come close—and they greet us when we walk in? We’re gone. No hesitation.

This restaurant hasn’t built loyalty. It’s built a fragile dependency on being the only game in town. And when customers feel tolerated instead of valued, they aren’t loyal—they’re just waiting for a better option.

The Leadership Takeaway

In every industry, product excellence is table stakes. But that’s only one half of the equation. Service delivery—the tone, the effort, the emotional intelligence—is the other.

Yes, warmth and care can sometimes smooth over a flawed product. And yes, a stellar product might keep customers hanging on despite cold service. But neither can carry the weight alone forever. Longevity lives at the intersection of both.

As leaders, the question isn’t just “Is our product better?” It’s also “Do our customers feel valued—consistently, intentionally, humanly?” Because no matter how legendary the meal, people always remember how they were made to feel.

jameylutz.com