WHY CUSTOMER SERVICE IS CRITICAL FOR RESTAURANT BUISSINESS

Great customer service has made restaurants and other businesses successful; consequently, poor service could also lead to failure . When customers have had great service at a restaurant and poor food they will return. If however they received great food and poor service, most will not return. One reason for this development has been the emergence of more restaurants and a larger variety. Customers did not have to compromise, if they did not receive the service they expected, they simply went somewhere else. One of the areas focused on for great customer service started with making business decisions based on the customer rather than the operating cost. One example of demonstrating customer focus was to give out condiments rather than charging for it. Some other methods of customer focus included, design of the establishment to be appealing to the eye and music or sounds at appropriate levels to increase the dining experience. In addition to the creation of a great ambiance, creating a customer oriented culture was also important. In order to create a customer oriented culture, companies had to hire, train and reward the proper behavior of employees. The companies needed to communicate consistently with their employees on how to engage customers in a manner that would ensure the customers return. A major part of creating the customer oriented culture was making sure the management staff was also consistent with their decisions and those decisions where customer based. To further the success of a customer focused business, employees needed to be empowered to make decisions and handle customer issues. Another part of creating a great customer service experience was the company’s ability to study and understand what the customers need, want and expect. Success in this area was dependant on the company’s ability to continually study customer’s expectations and respond to them by developing ways to avoid the problems in the future .