Complaints usually arise in the food and beverage industry when the quality of the food and that of beverages do not match with the consumer’s expectations. This arises from situations where safety is not observed when handling food products. The manager in charge can effectively handle the complaints brought forth by customers. To begin with, the manager or staff in charge should listen to the details of the client’s complaint attentively and sympathetically. The personnel should then go ahead to record the crucial details of the complaint and make use of important material such as the receipt issued top the customer on sale or even take the food that the client is complaining about. The management should at the same time apologize to the customer for the problem be it a situation where the food was cold or the customer was served with the wrong order.
The management of the food and beverage operations should then take an initiative to fix the problem either through a replacement of the product which has been sold to the customer or by giving the client a refund of their money (Doeg, 2005, p. 90). However, the complaints should be handled in a manner that is swift and courteous to ensure that the customer is satisfied with the level of service delivery offered by the establishment. Finally, a follow up should be made probably through a letter of apology or a phone call to ascertain that the client’s complaint was resolved to his satisfaction. Mishandling a complaint could lead the clients to lose confidence in word of mouth advertising. The possible ramifications of mishandling a client’s complaint is that this could affect the sales of the restaurant or hotel given than its unsatisfactory response to consumer complaints contributes in tarnishing the image of the establishment and thus many customers will not be willing to come back.
References
Doeg, Colin. Crisis Management in the Food and Drinks Industry: A Practical Approach. New York: Springer, 2005. Internet resource.
