If its business, it has to be in the heart of everything, and Vapiano Restaurant is just about that; right in the heart of Melbourne city. Situated right amongst Melbourne’s famous laneways and shopping, Vapiano Melbourne is not just another restaurant; it is a large restaurant capable of seating over 250 people in one go. High capacity office buildings, train stations, public transport hubs, major junctions, colleges/universities around the restaurants are some of the reasons why Vapiano Restaurant chose this location. What makes this restaurant so conspicuous is that it has the palate, service, and services that outdo most other restaurants in the vicinity. And being Italian, Vapiano offers some of the best Italian dishes this side of the Pacific. Starting with Butter and cheese pasta to salami pizzas and tropicale pizzas for kids, to
Insalata Nicoise and Insalate Caesar with tender chicken breast, or beef fillet, or prawns, to antipasti, to Pollo Amitrician and assorted pizzas, Vapiano has just the food to romance the connoisseur. Add the cosy separate bar areas, outdoor balconies and cool décor; Vapiano is among the best the Italians have to offer Melbourne, Australia (vapiano.com).
Managing Queuing
Queuing up at cinemas theatres, railway stations, and at airports is an eyesore. No one likes to be kept waiting, and the minute one sees a large queue, they invariably shy away from it. However, the idea of queuing up at restaurants seems a far cry from the eyesore of standing in long queues at theatres, railway stations, and airports. According to Raz and Ert (2008, p.803), logical and empirical evidence suggests that customers are reluctant to wait and would prefer restaurants that is associated with shorter queues. However, another research on herding behavior suggests that there are reasons why customers follow the herd or the longer queues. In a study to understand the behavior of customers to queues in restaurants, a number of similar restaurants were chosen for the experiment. Observations were made during prime hours to analyze the link between the length of the queue outside each restaurant and the number of customers who chose that restaurant. Efforts were made to ensure that each restaurant was similar in terms of “food type, quality of the food served, number of seats available, and pricing,” (Raz and Ert, 2008). Also, two restaurants in each pair were adjacent to each other. For each pair, observation was made over six consecutive days during the prime hours, and, the length of the queue outside each restaurant at the start of each observation was measured, and so too was the total number of customers who joined each queue during the 20-minute observation period recorded. The results amazingly showed that the queues of longer length were more preferred by customers than that with the lesser queue. This might come as a surprise, but the reason for such behavior comes from the intuition that the cause for such a queue is because of the quality of the food; the price of the food; and, the time required for getting the food.
Customer Satisfaction
No one would even imagine on joining a queue they feel will take their time. As people are always on the move, it does sound absurd that people who choose to eat in restaurants prefer to join a long queue rather than one with a lesser queue. The curiosity to investigate what is the reason for such a long queue is what drives them to join the long queue. The long queue wasn’t formed in a day; it must have started small, and through word-of-mouth, more and more people must have been driven here to know more about it. Thus, restaurants are better off if they had longer queues. However, for Vapiano, the need to manage their queue is more important than creating an advertisement to lure more business. With a strong brand resonance, Vapiano has designed their restaurant to easily sit 250 customers at one time. In addition to this, they take bookings for groups of 10 or more all day, every day, so that their regular customers don’t have to come and stand in queue for long. Having developed a strong customer base, Vapiano understands the needs of their customers, and ensures that they are not inconvenienced by being made to stand in long queues. By answering the pain point (waiting impatiently for order) of their customers, Vapiano has addressed the needs of their customers. The research on queuing is focused on customers, and not on their behavior to the queue.
A customer’s relationship with an organization is built on trust and reliability. A Customer Relationship Strategy fundamentally reshapes the thought process of an organization to build a strong customer base. Focusing on people, business processes, performance management systems and technologies are sure ways to satisfying customer needs. However, for this to happen, the organization must first have the support and expertise to implement such programs. Processes like recruitment and selection, training, motivation, appraisal and career development are prerequisites to the development of a healthy and unified workforce.
In the process of understanding how their recruitment and training processes are organized, the management at Vapiano believes in spelling out the restaurant’s policies and procedures to all new employees. All expectations and policies & procedures are covered during the orientation sessions held before they start their training.
In addition to this, the management at Vapiano believes that quality standards matter a lot when it comes to patronising customers. The restaurant is focused in delivering the best customer service ever to their guests, and this is where the standard of maintaining the high quality of food and the standard of service becomes important. For this, the staffs are trained periodically; their performance evaluated, and ensured that they are up-to-date with all the recipes/changes that happen from time-to-time. In order to maintain the restaurant’s standard taste, employees use packaged food like beef so that taste is not compromised, and the quantity is maintained every time. The restaurant uses their internal quality management system to ensure that quality is met at all times.
Dynamic market forces such as global competition, changing customer expectations, and new communication technology, combined with career challenges due to ongoing industry consolidation and corporate restructuring, mandate continuous learning and the sharing of ideas (Woodside, Crotts & Harrill, 2007).
A customer’s relationship with an organisation is built on trust and reliability. Therefore, it is only religious for Vapiano to offer their regular customers something special. As they pride themselves on customer satisfaction, Vapiano’s pizza, pasta, and bar combine to inspire an AC Milan-like devotion. The love goes beyond simple customer service; to all those wonderful people who wish to “become a Vapiano Fanatico and not only will they get news and invites to great special events, they’ll also receive great offers and Fanaticos-only discounts and deals,” (vapiano.com-au).
Factors to be considered in the making of a healthy business relationship are, trust, dependability, understanding, and care. Vapiano offer their customers with a variety of dishes to suit their palate and pocket. Special care is taken to see that the quality of food served is not compromised for cost. The restaurant aims to be a value leader, and adopts a cost-based pricing, where pricing is based on higher value in comparison to price, where value is measured based on, quality, convenience, and time (Kotler, 2003).
Managing Quality
There are many business tactics that can be employed to bring operational changes and manage talent effectively to enhance business successful. Strategy plays an important part in the success of any organization; be it in planning or in execution. Keeping this in mind, and the fact that an entrepreneur has to manage and fulfil customer needs and expectations, it is necessary to understand customer needs. For a restaurant to sustain in a highly competitive hospitality industry, it is necessary for the management to ensure that their employees are motivated and professional. Therefore, in addition to training, the management must also ensure that employees benefit from recognition.
When an employee joins work for the first time, he or she undergoes a period of probation, during which, they go through an orientation program followed by training before proceeding to work. The training includes customer service and other hospitality activities. Despite the stress and strain of workplace pressure and obligations, these people have to maintain a set of rules and regulations stipulated by their management. Contrary to most expectations, customer service etiquette mandates that customers be treated most courteously. Therefore, irrespective of the standard of service, all restaurants must treat their customers well. Be it in front office or in the restaurants, all personnel assigned to their work will have to exemplify excellent mannerism before their guests, whether they like it or not.
Since Vapiano’s Melbourne restaurant has 49 employees that include pizza chefs, pasta chefs, kitchen preparation staff, pasta and dessert preparation staff, bar staff, service & floor staff and wash up staff, periodic training in their respective profession is necessary. Substituting or replacing the current staff will be difficult and escalate operational costs, and so, the management has to ensure that their employees are happy.
Their online recruitment advertisement states that Vapiano is looking for amazing, talented, and fun-loving people who can cope with the extremely fast-paced restaurant that is open from 11am till late, 7 days a week. Vapiano is dedicated to providing their customers with the best Italian food this side of Naples, and so, if that’s the type of working environment that one is looking for to create some bloody-bellissimo food in a great atmosphere then feel free to apply for a position at Vapiano (vapiano.com.au).
Whatever be the nature of business, everyone likes to start one that is better than others; a highly coveted brand, a fiercely dominant and profitable entity, a place that offers better working conditions to its workers. For these, one has to plan, and plan diligently, for; it’s a wild and highly competitive world out there. Considering this, employees are expected to be at their best at all times to ensure that their customers; irrespective of however they behave, must be handled in the most cordial way possible. The level of coping with pressure is low in the hotel industry as seen in the graph below, and this is an area of immense concern.
Managing capacity and demand
The restaurant can take bookings for groups of 10 or more - all day, every day to meet unexpected demands that happen from time-to-time. In addition to this, because of the 250 seat capacity, customers will not have to stand in long queues to buy or eat food. While smaller groups of customers are welcome, with over 250 seats the restaurant can accommodate most group sizes at the door on most occasions. In order to meet demand, they have fully staffed stations in place, and food preparation is given a fillip. To manage the capacity, the restaurant already has enough seating to accommodate 250 customers in one go, but should they need to expand their capacity further, a few points to note could be:
- Remove or limit distractions in the form of interiors
- Redesigning the dining space
- Redesign workspace
- Redesign paths or workflow (Di Pilla, 2007, p.108).
Conclusion
In hospitality operations, it is imperative that customer satisfaction through the management of service and product quality is ensured. Customers prefer to dine in places where they feel comfortable, and are treated well. In the case of Vapiano restaurant, situated right in the heart of Melbourne city, and amongst Melbourne’s famous laneways and shopping, the restaurant is capable of seating over 250 people in one stretch. In addition to this, the restaurant offers some of the best Italian cuisine at affordable prices, making it a definite getaway for foodies.
References
Di Pilla, S. (2007). Managing Traffic Flow to Prevent Slips and Falls. Restaurant Hospitality, 91(2), p.108.
Kotler, P. (2003). A framework for marketing management. 1st ed. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall.
Raz, O. and Ert, E. (2008). Size counts”: The effect of queue length on choice between similar restaurants. Advances in Consumer Research, 35, pp.803--804.
Woodside, A., Crotts, J. and Harrill, R. (2007). Integrating multidisciplinary perspectives: An editorial introducing the International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research. International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research, 1(1), pp.5--13.
