Service Description and Reason for Dissatisfaction
1.Describe the service and discuss the reason(s) why you were not happy.
2.Discuss the importance of customer service for that service provider.
3.Identify and discuss ways how service quality and productivity can be improved for that particular service.
4.Finally, you are to provide a statement to reflect on how the Service Industry Marketing Unit has been valuable to you so far.
Service is defined as the activities that affect the economy of a country without getting involved in any form of manufacturing of any product. Service sector is a major part of an economy that contributes to the national income of the country and forms a major sector that employs a large number of people. Among the different services that we enjoy on a daily basis, restaurant sector, which falls under food and beverage industry, is one of the pivotal (Martinez, 2013). Restaurant service sector is defined as the sector that specialises in the servings of food and drinks to their guests (Walker & Walker, 2016). In this report, the cause of dissatisfaction at a particular restaurant in Australia is discussed along with the importance of customer service in the particular sector. The ways in which the service of a particular sector can be improved are also stated in the following paragraphs. The following lines also highlight the value of studying the Service Industry marketing unit and how that has been beneficial in the practical world giving special emphasis on the restaurant sector discussed in the previous paragraphs.
Restaurant service sector ensures that the guests have a pleasurable dining experience with good quality food and drinks with an excellent customer service (Gagi?, Tešanovi? & Jovi?i?, 2013). Time and quality are the major components of the sector which should be maintained by every restaurant operating globally. The performance at a restaurant doesnot require any formal training and has to be done using presence of mind and excellent communicative skills. The sector emphasises on proper on-job training for the better performance of the employees in terms of customer satisfaction (Chen & Elston, 2013). The service is not a necessity-based service but majorly is related to a type of service that is availed by the general people on some special occasions or after a regular interval. Any particular restaurant should have some specific qualities that determine its quality and make the customers get attracted to it lacking which creates a negative impact on the minds of the clients resulting in both loss of profit and reputation.
Importance for Customer Service
The service of a restaurant should have some features included in it to make it appealing for the guest to be their returning customers because of a pleasurable experience at the restaurant. The features that will be discussed in the following paragraphs also help to enhance the reputation of a restaurant in the food forum and achieve high ratings in food blogs. However, after visiting a local restaurant near my place, I was dissatisfied due to the violation of proper treatment by the servers and managers at the restaurant (Rykaszewski, Ma & Shen, 2013). The things that make a restaurant achieve high ratings and client recommendations were totally missing which made it one of the worst dining experiences of my life. Discussing the reasons for my dissatisfaction with the service at the restaurant below:
- Inexperience of the owner: The restaurant that I visited was close to my vicinity and had been the talk of the town for the past few weeks. A number of my colleagues and friends also recommended this place for its excellent service. However, after visiting the restaurant, I dealt with an owner that lacked experience in handling guests. Though the restaurant was half-empty, he never paid any heed to the customers.
- Bad managerial skills: Managerial skills is one of the most important points that should be considered while evaluating a restaurant. Though the restaurant boasted of an efficient management of guests, I found the manager to be extremely unprofessional due to his laidback attitude (Daft & Marcic, 2013). He was reluctant to hear any complaints we had regarding the service and food quality.
- Customer service lacking: The servers were unprofessional and had to be called several times even to place an order. It is extremely important for a restaurant to train their front house servers without which the servers will find it difficult to deal with the customers. The restaurant failed miserably in this department as the behaviour was extremely rude and dissatisfying (Li, Ye & Law, 2013). We felt unwelcoming as the employees were not attentive to our needs and roamed as if we never existed.
- Pathetic food: Good food is the main attraction for any restaurant that helps the place to fetch returning customers. The place lacked decent food quality and I found the meat served at the place to have a stale smell (Vadiveloo, Morwitz & Chandon, 2013). Inspite of several requests, the authorities did not bother to change the dish and provide a fresh one.
- Bad ambiance: Ambiance is the second-most important aspect of a restaurant without which no restaurant can attain heights of popularity. Ambiance is defined as the atmosphere of a particular place and a good ambiance is characterised by good décor, clean and arranged cutleries and a decent condition, which was missing in the stated place (Ghiselli, Lee & Almanza, 2014). The plates were dirty and the mats on the table had a stinky smell to it, which was unbearable. There was no separate washroom provisions from male and female customers and even that washroom was not cleaned properly.
- Lack of culture and passion: Passion and culture is related to the working of the restaurant in a number of ways. Without a proper culture and passion for betterment, no restaurant can attract and sustain their customer base in the longer run (Horng et al., 2013). The stated restaurant lacked both culture to innovate and passion for the betterment of service. No feedbacks from the customers were taken after the visit which marked the lack of interest the place showed.
Customer service is one of the major aspects that attracts a number of potential customers in any sector especially in food and beverage sector. For any restaurant, customer service should be the top priority as it has been said that a customer visits a restaurant for food for the first time but will visit a restaurant again just for the excellent service that the place provides. Without a proper customer service, a customer will feel disengaged and unwelcoming in the place, which can influence the other potential customers in their knowledge (Bowden, Gabbott & Naumann, 2015). Even a person who is associated with food blogging can create a negative impact of the restaurant through his/her dissatisfying reviews and ratings of the place. The small aspects of customer care like smiling and remembering the names of the returning customers and asking about their experiences are some of the major reasons on why a customer will want to come back to the place several times. In addition, remembering the things that the customer has ordered on their previous visits makes the customer feel valuable to the place. Through a good customer service, the loyalty base of a restaurant increases manifold and through their referencing, other potential customers come to experience the service and food provided. Good customer service also helps a restaurant to increase its sales, as more customers are attracted to the place after a good review from the peers and known people which ultimately help a restaurant to widen their business modules and expand according to the demands (Osterwalder et al., 2014). A warm hospitality is always welcoming for a person, when the sector discussed is related to service, and customer satisfaction, hospitality is surely one of the major attractions.
Ways to Improve Service Quality and Productivity
A restaurant should always consider the customer satisfaction as their first priority. They should look into the matters that can hamper their loyalty base and reputation and try to mend them to avoid further damage. There are a number of ways through which a restaurant can improve their service quality and productivity which are listed.
- Training of employees: Training is one of the major factors that determine the performance of a restaurant and makes it different from others. A trained staff ensures that the guests have the best of customer service that in turn affects the sales and popularity of the place in the end.
- Communication: Communication is one of the chief factors that can engage customers to a particular place. Dealing with customers in their native language, remembering their names and choices of food items and asking them about their experience and problems at regular intervals make a customer prone to revisit a particular place and recommend it to others as well. Communication strategies can also be achieved by wishing the regular customers on their birthdays or anniversaries and even sending gifts to them once a year for their loyalty to the place.
- Offer free meals for loyal customers: The customers always appreciate free meal vouchers and coupons and they are more attracted to a particular place where they get loyalty bonus in terms of discounts and free dishes. Even complimentary dishes can be a good way to increase customer flow and increase productivity of the restaurant (Sahagun & Vasquez-Parraga, 2014). The restaurant can offer some good discounts and even gifts to the ladies and children after the particular customer has crossed a certain bill amount. Welcome drinks and add-on items can also be helpful in retaining customer base and making new guests convert into loyal customers.
- Consider customer complaints and suggestions: One of the basic ways to increase productivity of a restaurant is to consider the complaints and suggestions provided by the guests of a particular restaurant. Every guest should be handed a questionnaire that should include various questions including the best service and worst service that he/she feels in the particular place (Mainela & Ulkuniemi, 2013). In addition, the customer suggestions regarding inclusion of a particular food item or cuisine can be considered if the advice seems valid to that particular place. The customers have an upper hand on their expectations from a particular place and so sometimes, it becomes necessary to include their complaints and suggestions for the betterment of the place.
- Technology: Technology plays an important role in making a place have better productivity and provide customers with a better experience. Some technological additions that can be done include online reservation system, giving feedbacks and reviews online at the website, anonymous online complaint box and even online chat system to answer questions that the customer can have regarding any aspect of the food and beverage.
- Marketing: The base of any business is the new and innovative marketing techniques a place can have. Restaurant sector is a service sector that is very dependent on their customers and their preferences and so when a restaurant is considering their marketing strategies, they should consider their customer choice as their first priority. Other than promoting the restaurant on every form of social media, the marketeers can implement various other innovative ways like clicking selfies with foods, participating in recipe contests where the winner will have a dish on his/her name and even hiring influencers to promote the place and make the general people aware of it (Wrenn & Mansfield, 2014). These marketing tactics when implemented on the right note makes sure that the customers have a positive view towards the restaurant, which in turn increase the productivity of the place.
- Timely delivery: Time of delivery is one of the sectors in which the majority of the restaurants lack behind. When a customer faces late delivery or high delivery charges, then that person is likely to order from a different place the next time. Likewise, when a person does not get his food on a proper time at a restaurant, he/she will look for a different restaurant next time to have their meal.
- Good food: Good food is undoubtedly the most important factor in a restaurant as without good food, no restaurant can sustain ever for a short period. The quality and quantity of food are the basis on which this factor is determined. A number of cooking options should be kept including the use of different oils and the amount of spices used. In addition, some options should be kept for guests who are suffering from diabetes or other health problems. Even before cooking a particular dish, the servers should make the customers aware of the ingredients that are being used so that they can change or exclude some ingredients that can cause them allergy or other problems.
- Better ambiance: Ambiance of a restaurant makes a restaurant attain a higher position than other restaurants offering the same cuisine. The importance of ambiance is crucial for majority of the places though it is extremely essential for themed restaurants as the base of their marketing and potential customer are based on those who love to indulge in a good eating ambiance. An improvement in ambiance helps the customers distinguish a place from others and thereby visit it more often. In addition, ambiance helps a customer to categorize a place according to the customer base it is focussing on. A dim and cosy place is best suitable for couples and younger generation whereas a retro theme based restaurant is best for elderly people who come from that generation.
- Hygiene: Hygiene of a restaurant affects the level of service quality given to the customers and a good and hygienic restaurant attracts a large number of customers to the place. Most of the people in today’s world are conscious about health and a clean and proper restaurant atmosphere with clean cutlery and fresh ingredients can give positive vibes to the customers and can make them come back to the place for a second time (Läikkö-Roto & Nevas, 2014). If a person falls ill after eating at a particular place, it is likely that person will avoid the place and convey the feelings to their surroundings that can affect the sales and productivity of the place.
One of my learning units in my semester was on the subject Service Industry marketing that gave me a number of insights into the marketing and promotional tactics of Service industry including restaurant business. The study of the unit helped me to understand the importance of marketing in any business especially for service industries where the principle aim is to increase customer satisfaction level and increase productivity of the business in the longer period.
Service Industry marketing is defined as the marketing or selling techniques used by a company or business in order to attract their customers to use the services provided by them (Sozinova & Fokina, 2015). This type of marketing is primarily done by industries that focusses on providing different services to their clients. Due to the huge number of companies offering the same kind of services, marketing is of utmost importance for a place to generate profit and popularity. Due to the cutthroat competition among the rival companies and brands, it is important to deliver good marketing techniques to attract the potential customers from the rivals (West, Ford & Ibrahim, 2015). There are two aims of service marketing – to find new customers who can enjoy their service and to retain the old customers with their new marketing techniques and improved performance level (Kotler, 2015)
After attending the lectures on this topic and reading the materials provided by the institution, I came to know a substantial part of service marketing that I was unaware of. Moreover, I also have to learn a number of ways in which the companies promote their products and what the components of a good marketing skill are. Through the learning, I came to know the flaws that the above stated restaurant had and what are the probable measures that could have been done to improve the service given by the place.
References
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