Interview Report
Qualitative research remains one of the most important elements of contemporary business research. The practice shows that hospitality industry is not an exception in this regard, especially in today’s turbulent economy. Because the clients’ desires and preferences are dynamically evolving, relying on experience or secondary sources is no longer justified. Furthermore, there is strong evidence demonstrating that the mistakes committed at the business research stage may lead to serious losses incurred at the stage of business strategy execution (NRAEF Manage First, 2007)
The interview with Mr. Mustafa Suer, who is a food & beverage manager of a luxury banquet *greasy spoon* restaurant in InterContinental Hotel in Chicago, revealed several important findings, which may be useful for further research considerations. The interviewee is accessible at . His office is located at 505 North Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL 60611 USA, and the phone number is (312) 944-4100.
Firstly, the biggest problem faced by the industry in general, and by the restaurant of Chicago InterContinental Hotel in particular, is high turnover rates of the employees. Specifically, the interviewee accentuated that the performance standards are high and require much training of the staff. At the same time, working as a waiter or bartender is still unqualified labor. Therefore, it is not surprising that salary packages and bonus payments of the chefs, managers and other senior staff is much higher than the compensation package of the front staff. Yet, high-quality service is a critical aspect in the hospitality segment. Thus, inability of the company staff to satisfy financial interests of its staff is the first reason of their separations with the company. As a result, it becomes necessary to increase training budget, which reduces profits of the restaurant, as well as increases work pressure of the managers, for whom it become necessary to concentrate their efforts on training the newly arrived staff. Thus, Mr. Suer specifically emphasized the importance of increasing various retention programs, as well as introducing different measures aimed at enhancing employee empowerment indices.
Secondly, the interview demonstrated that the two key elements of business effectiveness in hospitality are customer retention and effective marketing. Chicago InterContinental hotel belongs to the category of luxury restaurants, which are strongly dependent on the repetitive, high-paid customers. Suer told that the key feature of retaining customers is the importance of customization, i.e. in many cases it is important to identify, remember and always attend to the individual wishes and predilection of the clients. Because of this exclusiveness and individual approach to each client, the restaurant has to hire the most qualified kitchen and restaurant professionals, and headhunting activities of the company become pivotal for its supremacy on the market. Thus, the human resources management of the budget is often bloated by the unprecedentedly and continually rising human resources expenses.
Thirdly, Mr. Mustafa Suer confirmed a popular assumption that the technology becomes closely intertwined into the hospitality industry. Specifically, account management, advertising and internal business planning are becoming heavily automated and robotized. Thus, the work processes become smoother and more effective, not to mention that the number of blunders substantially decreased.
In addition, the interviewee emphasized the importance of institutional approach to marketing and management of a restaurant. In particular, he persistently pointed out to the fact that even the managers of the most successful hotels and restaurants analyze and apply industry ‘best practices’ and advanced research techniques. Specifically, the managers should no longer rely on the internal methods of data collection. Using the services of third independent third party data providers is an essential method of contemporary marketing research. Despite the fact that the restaurant mainly relies on the regular clients, acquiring the new ones is always important for InterContinental Chicago in order to sustain permanent growth.
Furthermore, Suer informed the interviewers that the company introduced many webcams across the kitchen with the purpose of detecting any kinds of noncompliance with the company sanitary and health policies and regulations. The use of technology is this segment seriously relieved the work burden of the supervising managers, for whom it is no longer necessary to monitor everything. If the employee forgets to wash his hands, coughs or sneezes in the kitchen, the software automatically informs the supervisor, who is expected to take an action, which seems reasonable to him.
At the same time, the interviewee highlighted that it is not possible to replace waiters with robots. Human interaction between a client and a waiter is a vital component of any luxuriant restaurant. Conversing with a waiter is a sort of old, well-established rite. A waiter is expected to give describe the menu items available and make recommendations, as well as he should be complaisant, accommodative and responsive. Sometimes, a conversation with a favorite waiter is a method of stress busting for the high-profile clients, who come to a restaurant only with the purpose of getting unwind. Thus, however sophisticated and smart they become, the machines will never be capable of replacing humans in the upscale restaurant segment, even if the scientists contrive to make the them capable of 100% imitation of human conduct.
References
NRAEF Manage First (2007). Menu marketing and management. Upper Saddle River, N.J.
