Issues in a restaurant chain

In this week's post, we commented that the restaurant industry's strategy should be based on the cloud, RFID, AI, and ML modeling services, allowing it to provide a better customer experience.

But, what is the use of implementing these technologies if we still do not know the basic needs of our customers?

When we want to get out of the daily routine a bit, I go out with the family to a chain of restaurants that my wife likes a lot. They have always given us good service, flavored dishes, and the cost-benefit is one of the best. A site was opened in a new shopping center and to change from the same place we always go to, we decided to know the new one, even though that day was very cold and rainy.

Upon arrival, we were assigned a table near the entrance. As always, we ordered our drinks but this time we asked for hot ones (not the classic cold ones) since the cold wind reached where we were. After a few minutes and before ordering what each of us would eat, we decided to change the table inside the restaurant where the cold wind would not reach us.

Before automating, think about how well your processes are focused on the needs of your customers.

That's where the issues started. Due to a simple change of table, the waiter who first served us no longer had the new table assigned. Therefore, we were assigned a new waitress.

The waiter brought us the drinks from the previous table and introduced us to the new waitress, who served us from then on. Many minutes passed and the waitress did not return to take our meal order. We called her and she told us that she had to wait until the table change was registered within their system. Other minutes passed and we called her back again to tell her that we were starving. She told us that the transfer had not yet been made but that she would take our order on paper so that our plates could be ready.

When employees do have a service attitude

In summary, the waitress took our order. A process that usually takes circa 20 minutes to this chain, on this occasion, and for a table change, it took 1 hour. And that's because the waitress noticed our annoyance at not having food on the table.

What should all organizations do to avoid losing their customers?

Although it may seem repetitive, these points apply to any industry:

1. Stop thinking like a banker/restaurant/retailer/etc… and listen to your customers. Do not assume that you understand them or that your processes are OK. Knowing your customers will allow you to have the right "Business Model" that your organization requires, no matter what sector or industry are you in. But this cannot be evaluated only once, that's why the "Transformation" is constant since the demands of your clients change every day.
2. Technology alone will not solve poor/bad processes in your business. Without a comprehensive vision of the business, technology will automate a poor/bad process, with the only benefit of having the same error. To avoid it, business processes must be fully optimized to increase the operations’ efficiency, and reduce associated costs and human intervention in routine tasks that add little value.
3. To achieve a customer-centric culture, you need to be customer-obsessed, have an agile organization so you can adapt to constant changes, learn quickly what works and what doesn't, and make data-driven decisions.

I offer you to review your culture, processes, and/or technology to create a specific strategy and roadmap for your organization with a customer-focused approach, improving the quality of life of employees (innovating and being more efficient) through the use of data, all this enabled by the technology that best suits your needs.

#digitaltransformation #processexcellence #businesstransformation #technology #customerexperience #employeeexperience #organizationalculture #restaurantindustry #restaurants