Importance of guest service
Importance of guest service
Managing a restaurant is at times a demanding job. It comes with its challenges and benefits. The other week, my friend asked to take me out for dinner in a downtown restaurant, and I must say the idea at first did not come down well with me. I have to confess that I admire it when, a restaurant strives to offer its customers the best and quality services possible. If you are a restaurant owner, you should aim at offering exceptional quality service to your customers. When a customer sets foot in a restaurant, they expect that every aspect of the restaurant should be astounding. From what they smell, see, touch or taste it's should all be classy.
Having heard of how dingy downtown restaurants could be I set out on this dinner with two missions; to honor the invite and to see for myself how these restaurants are. On entering the restaurant a number of things caught the attention of my mind. As I have articulated each of the issues below I believe they can be used, by other hoteliers to up their game.
When I stepped into the restaurant, the first thing that touched my mind was the elegant choice of lightning that was in use. I must admit I did fell in love with the choice of bulbs and theme employed in painting the restaurant walls. More so the restaurant had air conditioners strategically placed thus, ensuring the temperatures were well maintained.
However, the restaurant fell short of offering quality atmosphere. The floors were quite roughly colored and less clean as one would expect. The music in the restaurant was literally blazing our years until I had to ask the waiter to reduce the volume. This is a great turn off for clients who need to have their meals in a noise free environment (Toh, 1993).
How to speak with customers.
In any restaurant, food outlet of any business for that matter, any interaction with the customer should be based on the premise of respect and utmost courtesy. This applies to all the workers from the drive-through attendants to the waiters and management. As much as there is no general guideline on the interaction, the staff should always strive to be at their best.
At the restaurant, the attendants had etiquette in the way they addressed their clients respectfully as; “sir” and “ma’am”. They also did smile at the customers thus making the customer feel at ease. However the waiters did lack manners in the way they interrupted our conversation aimlessly, when discussing the meal we were to order. More so, they seemed like people who didn't understand their menu and in a hurry racing around the restaurant. Maybe, the restaurant was understaffed, but that’s something the management should have taken care off from the word go. The waiters also seemed not to take great care in handling the orders, cause in more than one occasion they delivered the wrong order to the table next to ours. From the look of uncertainty in one of the waiter’s face, when I asked him about one of the drinks on offer it seemed they had an issue understanding what they were selling (Martin, 1995).
Speed of Service.
The quicker you serve a quality meal to a customer the better and satisfied the customer feels. In fast-food joints, they capitalize on, speed and convenience to pull more customers to their joints. However, in this restaurant urgency in serving the meals was an “alien” term to the few handy waiters. It took almost an hour to deliver our meal, which normally cannot take more than twenty minutes (Hudson, 1998). The urgency of the service plays a key role in ensuring a positive meal experience in any restaurant. It is essential that it accommodates the guest order on the menu in a small time window, and offer quality meals anytime of the day.
Serving and clearing the table.
Serving manners are essential in any restaurant though they do depend with the restaurant type. However its essential in any dining restaurant to be keen on the etiquette employed by their staff in serving and clearing tables. This restaurant fared dismally in offering outstanding services when it came to serving and clearing tables. From the delivery of the wrong orders to customers, clearing the table in bits and pouring drinks on the wrong side, it seemed the waiters do have much to learn.
Lack of ways of air your views and opinions.
The restaurant did not have any suggestion book nor did the waiters seem to care about the protest that I raise. Its logical for any food joint to allow their customers to air any problems they faced or a congratulatory message for quality services. Overall this restaurant failed dismally, in the assessment I conducted while at the joint (Tax, 2012). The management needs to re-evaluate their commitment to quality service delivery.
Importance of guest service in a food and beverage operation.
Helps to maintain customer loyalty. When a joint offers quality services, a customer will stick to the joint at all times. It offers the customer satisfaction for the services rendered. Good guest services guarantees that a customer receives equivalent services to the money they pay.
It increases the competitive edge of the joint over other restaurants (Breiter, 2006). A restaurant offering better and quality services are more recognised than competitors with less guest services.
Helps retain customers without whom they would be no business.
References
Breiter, D. a. ( 2006). Attendees’ needs and service priorities in a large convention center: Application of the importance–performance theory. Tourism Management 27.6 , 1364-1370.
Hudson, S. a. (1998). Measuring service quality at tourist destinations: An application of importance-performance analysis to an alpine ski resort. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing 7.3 , 61-77.
Martin, D. W. (1995). An importance/performance analysis of service providers' perception of quality service in the hotel industry. Journal of Hospitality & Leisure Marketing 3.1 , 5-17.
Tax, S. S. (2012). Recovering and learning from service failure. New York: Oxford University Press.
Toh, R. S. (1993). Service: The key to frequent-guest programs. The Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly 34.3 , 66-71.
