Company Blog

SERVICE VS. INTEGRITY

by Adam Zack — March 12, 2025

While I understand “integrity of presentation”, the person who the integrity is intended for is the person who ordered the sandwich, and if they want it cut in half, or fourths, or not at all, that is the person I am trying to make an impression on.

Last weekend I had one of the weirdest customer service experiences I have ever had. It left me kind of scratching my head and wondering what leadership is thinking sometimes. It was Sunday and I was out for lunch with my wife in Carlsbad, California at one of our favorite restaurants, Nick’s on State. Nick’s is a small Southern California chain of restaurants with about 9 or so locations. It’s one of our go to restaurants for Friday date night, and we almost always sit at the bar for dinner. We love the food and the hospitality that we get, and are on a first name basis with all of the regular bartenders. This is Nick’s welcome statement on their website:

Welcome to Nick’s

Our mission is to operate restaurants in a spirit of excellence. We are committed to being among the best in the industry, operating friendly, relaxed, comfortable restaurants for all guests. We will serve great food and maintain high standards along with reasonable prices.

They consistently live up to that welcome message, which is further compounded by puzzlement at the customer service response to my request.

So here’s the scenario: We sat at the bar and were greeted by one of our regular servers, Jodie. We ordered drinks and contemplated what we were going to have from their excellent menu. We weren’t starving, and Linda asked if I just wanted to split a sandwich. I said “Sure, how about the crispy chicken sandwich?” “That’s JUST what I was going to say!” she said. So Jodie comes and asks us what we’d like to eat, and I said “We’re going to split the chicken sandwich, but instead of cutting it in three portions, can you just cut it in half?” A simple request, I thought. She answered, kind of embarrassed, “The kitchen told us we could not ask for it to be cut in half anymore.” I said “Really?? Then can you just ask them not to cut it at all, and I’ll cut it in half?” No, they could not do that either. So the delicious sandwich arrived in three pieces, and I had to cut the third piece in half, which yielded messy results.

I thought about it more and more over the following days, knowing that at our store’s deli we get some elaborate requests, and how we always do whatever it takes to keep the customers happy and returning. Did they conspire to discourage meal splitting? Did they think that the sandwich was more of a Picasso than meat between bread? The more I thought about it, the more I needed to know what the reasoning was behind implementing the “We only cut our chicken sandwich in thirds” policy. I found their “Contact us” link on their website, and contacted them, citing our long excellent dining experience with Nick’s, but wondering if this new policy was chainwide, or just our particular Nick’s policy. I received a prompt response from Oliver Beaver, Guest Relations Manager.

Hi Adam,

Thank you for being our guest; we truly appreciate it. To preserve the integrity of the presentation, we can only serve the Chicken Sandwich cut into thirds, which is consistent at all of our locations, including Nick’s on State. I’m very sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused, and I genuinely appreciate your feedback. Please know that I have shared your comments with both Nick and our Executive Chef for their consideration. We sincerely appreciate you reaching out, and we look forward to the opportunity to serve you again soon.

Now I have an answer. While I understand “integrity of presentation”, the person who the integrity is intended for is the person who ordered the sandwich, and if they want it cut in half, or fourths, or not at all, that is the person I am trying to make an impression on.