Measures of Quality
Satisfied customers are integral to a restaurant business model. According to a Harvard Business School study[1] on Starbucks, customer satisfaction has a massive impact on the restaurant revenue.
Customer satisfaction mainly comes from good customer service experience and also a good quality food. We will analyse the different dimensions of a restaurant business quality in the following section:
Basic performance
When it comes to service, a restaurant’s main goal is to provide high quality service in a style that is in line with the type of business and clientele. As a restaurant, Jose should provide both good serving experience as well as high quality foods.
In term of a good Customer Service Quality we can list the following items:
- Not a long waiting time
- A proper waiting area
- Waiter should greet diners the minute they walk in the door.
- Use respectful titles – sir, ma’am and miss work well.
- Waiter should not interrupt the diners.
- Waiter should Listen intently and pay attention to what they want.
- Be thoroughly versed on restaurant menu.
- The ordered food should be ready in timely manner
- Who does waiter serve first? If there’s a guest of honor, He should serve them. If not, begins with the women, then men, then children.
- Serve and clear food from the diner’s left. If the waiter has to reach in or interrupt, He or she should be polite.
- Never makes diners feel like He or she wants them to leave. The server’s tip is not more important than the diners’ comfort.
- The waiter shouldn’t make the diners ask for the check. Clear plates, bring the check and process it in a timely manner.
Jose doesn’t have a proper separated waiting area and the waiting time is too long on weekends. Also the restaurant doesn’t have a reservation system which it make the guest less comfortable to use this restaurant for their occasions which they need to make sure their seats are reserved. The waiter is doing fine with following the standard serving routines. The patrons will be seated promptly and will be greeted quickly.
The Food preparation can takes longer than it is expected in busy days which will reduce the customer’s satisfaction.
Food Quality:
The quality of a product is defined as whether it fulfills its stated and implied specifications. The customer expects the food to be what is promised on the menu, to be cooked and prepared properly, to be clean and to have the correct flavor. That is considered quality food.
Jose has a wide selection of Mexican foods on its menu which is good but poor quality of some ingredients can lead to poor quality foods.
Here is our suggestions for Jose restaurant to increase its food quality:
- Choose a more reliable ingredients source
- Initiate a Food Safety Certification Program: A food safety certification program takes some of the guesswork out of food quality management. In order to become certified, each restaurant has to implement very specific practices that are designed to assure food is being handled, prepared and served by the safest means possible.
- Practice Proper Receiving and Food Storage: Food quality control begins the minute it enters the restaurant, and that means all shipments need to be checked against spoilage so only the best ingredients enter the restaurant. Once accepted, the food needs to be stored properly (whether it be frozen, refrigerated or dry storage) in order to maintain high quality and maximize shelf life.
Supplemental features
Jose has well decorated ambiance and pleasant background music. Also the restaurant offers limited free off-street parking. We recommends the following improvements:
- Creating a website for restaurant with online menu
- Being present on social media
- Encouraging Guests to sign up for restaurant promotion emails
- Live Mexican music on weekends
- Online ordering
- Reservation by Phone
- Online Reservation
Reliability
Reliability is defined as “the ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately” or “delivering on its promises”. This dimension is critical as all customers want to deal with firms that keep their promises and this is generally implicitly communicated to the firm’s customers. For Jose restaurant, reliability can be interpreted to mean fresh food delivered at the correct temperature and accurately the first time in timely manner.
Jose management can improve the restaurant service reliability by hiring more staff and reduce the variance in food preparation and delivery time.
Responsiveness
Responsiveness is the willingness to help customers and provide prompt service. A firm is known to be responsive when it communicates to its customers how long it would take to get answers or have their problems dealt with.
Assurance
Assurance is defined as “Approachability and the ability to communicate with and understand the customer’s need”. In the context of Jose restaurant, the waiter should approach the customers, describe the foods on menu and listen and note carefully what they are ordering.
Empathy
Empathy is defined as Approachability and the ability to communicate with and understand the customer’s need. The customer is treated as if he is unique and special. There are several ways that empathy can be provided: knowing the customer’s name, his preferences and his needs. In the context of Mexican restaurant, empathy may be important to ensure customer loyalty as the server knows how the customer likes his or her food prepared. On the other hand, some customers may just want to be left alone to enjoy their food and may not want someone giving them too much attention. Empathy in the context of fine dining can be demonstrated through showing concern in times of service failure and providing service recovery or going out of the way to meet a customer’s special requirements, for instance, providing vegetarian food.
Tangibles
This dimension, which is defined as the physical appearance of facilities, equipment, staff, and written materials. It translates to the restaurant’s interiors, the appearance and condition of the cutlery, tableware, and uniform of the staff, the appearance and design of the menu, restaurant signage and advertisements.
Table 1 Quality Dimensions
| Aspect | Strengths | Weaknesses | Potential improvement |
| Basic Performance | · Variety of foods on menu
|
· No separate waiting Area
· Long waiting time · Poor quality of the ingredients · Long food preparation time
|
· Choose a more reliable ingredients source
· Initiate a Food Safety Certification Program · Practice Proper Receiving and Food Storage |
| Supplemental features | · Pleasant background music
· Offers limited free parking
|
· No Reservation | · Creating a website
· Being present on social media · Encouraging Guests to sign up for restaurant promotion emails · Live Mexican music on weekends · Online ordering · Reservation by Phone · Online Reservation |
| Reliability | · Customer Satisfaction for Fresh Food | · Variance in food delivery time | · Hire more staff to guarantee the food preparation time |
| Responsiveness | · The waiter has responsive communication with customers | ||
| Assurance | · Describing the Menu
· Taking Orders carefully |
||
| Empathy | · Providing vegetarian food
|
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| Tangibles | · Well Decorated Ambiance | · Improving appearance of cutlery, tableware
· Clean staff uniforms · Nice menu and advertisement materials
|
[1] Koehn, Nancy F. “Howard Schultz and Starbucks Coffee Company.” Harvard Business School Case 801-361, February 2001. (Revised September 2005.)