the importance of service chapter 1 copyright 2008 delmar learning. all rights reserved. the...

The Importance of Service

Chapter 1

•The Zagat 2006 survey reports

– National average of 53 percent of meals consumed outside the home• New York City first with 60 percent

• Los Angeles second with 55 percent

The Importance of Service (continued)

•Working single parents—an increasing market

– Often choose a restaurant because:• They can share time with the children

• They aren’t isolated while preparing a meal

•Experts predict that by 2016

– Restaurant industry will have 14.5 million employers

– The largest private-sector employer in the nation

•One reason a restaurant stands out is the SERVICE it offers its guests

Reasons to Provide Good Service

•Guests LIKE to tell friends about good service

•Guests LOVE to tell friends about poor service

Reasons to Provide Good Service (continued)

•Positive word of mouth

– Extremely effective in generating business

•80/20 rule

– 80 percent of your business will come from 20 percent of your guests

•Negative word of mouth– Devastating to a business

•For every guest who complains, 26 remain silent

•Average displeased guest will tell 8 to 16 future guests

•91 percent of unhappy guests will never return

•Word of mouth

– Best and worst type of promotion• People trust recommendations from a friend

rather than advertising

•Impact of negative word-of-mouth publicity

– See Figure 1-2

What Guests Think of Service

•Poor service—biggest complaint about restaurants

– Two biggest problems:•

What Guests Think of Service (continued)

•Friendly service– Number one reason to eat away from

•Parents’ key criteria for choosing a restaurant:–

What Guests Think of Service (continued)

•Zagat survey of dining guides report that– “Service is the weak link in the industry,”

lagging at least two points behind food quality

•Falling service scores are direct result of– Servers not properly educated

– Industry lacking attention to front-of-the-house

What the Industry Thinks about Service

•According to Jim Sullivan

– “Customers will forgive mistakes in the kitchen more than mistakes in bad service”

•According to Charlie Trotter

– “Excellent service even supercedes the food in the dining experience”

What the Industry Thinks about Service (continued)

•Number 1 issue in the food service industry:

•Number 1 challenge in customer service:

– Finding first-rateemployees to fill this need

Responsibility of Great Service

•Who is blamed for poor service?

– The service person

•Responsibility falls on the manager

– They set the tone of the business

– If they care about the guest, then the message will be loud and clear to the service staff

•Management by wandering around– Important technique for effective management

• Manager needs to be where the action is

•In a restaurant– Should be walking the floor talking to guests

•In a banquet house– Make sure the guests are happy during the

function

MBWA (continued)

•By wandering around, the manager

– Can OBSERVE all situations

– Can SOLVE problems before they occur

Service Defined

•Defined by two words:

Service Defined (continued)

•Competence

– Serving food and drinks in the correct manner to the guests

– Often goes unnoticed

– Results in a good feeling about the restaurant by the guests

Service Defined (continued)

•Friendliness– Much more important than competence

– Make the guests feel that they are in a private home by making them feel welcomed

– Pay attention and be nice to guests

– Do not act overly friendly

– If possible, address guests by name (not first name)

– Don’t be a phony

What Is Excellent Service?

•It occurs in a restaurant when a guest never has to ask for anything

•Many times guests don’t realize it until they have left the restaurant

•Excellent service is friendliness combined with competency

Shadowing and Training the Service Staff

•Shadowing

– A method that combines shadowing an employee who is an approved trainer

– The new employee serves the guest under the supervision of the approved trainer

Shadowing and Training the Service Staff (continued)

•Day one– First half of the day

• New employee follows and observes the trainer– Trainer explains how to present the menu and how to

serve the food

– Second half of the day• New employee carries out trays for the trainer

• Trainer observes and compliments or corrects the trainee, offering immediate feedback

•Day two– New employee has contact with the

guests

– Approach the guests, present the menu, and take orders

– Trainer now shadows the new employee

– Throughout the day, the new employee is encouraged, reminded, and taught the correct way to serve guests

•Day three

– New employee is assigned two or three of the trainer’s tables

– By day’s end the new employee waits on the complete station of the trainer

•KEY to this system:

•Trainer

– Coaches new employee in proper service techniques

•After three-day training period

– New employee is given his or her own station

•Management must monitor waitstaff's performance by MBWA

What Is Poor Service?

•Easy to recognize

– Frustrating and embarrassing for a restaurant

– Servers who • Don’t follow the guidelines

• Have the “I-don’t-care” attitude

What Is Poor Service? (continued)

•According to Charles Bernstein

– Lack of friendly service rates as a leading cause of poor sales

•Guests often try five different restaurants before encountering some sort of satisfactory experience

The Reasons for Poor Service

•93 percent of restaurant failures stem from poor management

•Managers have no concept of how to please their guests

•Managers prefer operational tasks to the actual running of a restaurant

The Reasons for Poor Service (continued)

•Employee work patterns– Are often based on the manager’s style

•Managers who don’t conduct training and don’t care

– Will have poor service resulting in poor sales

•Managers who conduct training and do care

– Will have a prosperous business

The Psychology of Service

•Maslow’s Hierarchy

– See Figure 1-4

•Restaurant managers should know and understand how these needs affect their guests

Factors that Determine Why We Go Out to Eat

•In-depth study by Strategic Food-service Solutions of Tampa, Florida, found

– Using demographics such as•

Factors that Determine Why We Go Out to Eat (continued)

•Identified five categories of customers

•Cater-to-me’s– Patronize a restaurant because they are in no

mood to cook

•Socializers– Want to spend time with family and friends

•Celebrators– Are on vacation or celebrating an occasion like

a birthday

•Impulsives

– Crave a menu item

– Not in the mood to plan a meal

•Busy bees

– Time-crunched people who work long hours

•All five categories have one thing in common:

– Each group identified as their top need the need to be pampered

Being Ubiquitous

• Means being everywhere at once

– One of the most important qualities

– Managers must know what is going on at all times

– Service person knows what guests want without asking

– Banquet manager takes the responsibility off the host of the banquet

Successful Management

•Knows the different types of service

• Banquet service

– Russian and American

• À la carte service

– American, French, Russian

the importance of service chapter 1 copyright 2008 delmar learning. all rights reserved. the...

service staffmbwamanagement

service continuednumber

customer service

service personresponsibility

food service industry

restaurant industry

good feeling

good serviceguests love

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