Improving Quality of Services in Restaurants

The success or failure of an organization/firm/business

The success or failure of an organization/firm/business is defined by the quality of products or services they offer to their clients/customers. The first impression and first-time experience by clients determines whether or not they are willing to visit the business premises a second time for similar services or products. Outstanding product and service quality guarantee a constituent flow of clients/customers. It equally awards the business a competitive advantage over its business rivals/competitors. Clients are satisfied with the services and products offered hence more willing to return for similar experiences. The opposite is equally correct as clients who are unsatisfied with the services and products offered prefer to seek for these services from other organizations/businesses, which then threatens the continued operations of the business, thus risking closure. This paper, therefore, seeks to highlight the causes of poor quality services within restaurants as well as the strategies that can be employed to ensure improved services.

Causes of poor quality services

Customer service experiences are at the core of the quality of services restaurant employees offer to the diners. Customer services define the client's intention to return to the specific restaurant for more dining on several other occasions. Several organizations including restaurants are customer oriented, more often termed as "the Age of the Customer". With clients spoilt for choice due to the exceedingly high number of restaurants offering better services, poor quality customer care means that clients will not be returning. At the basis of poor customer services are untrained staff in the kitchen as well as waiters and waitresses, and greeters at the entrance of the restaurant (Kouril, 2014). Untrained staff/employees with insufficient knowledge of how to properly handle customers needs leads to poor quality services.

Sluggish, inefficient, and incompetent top management

Sluggish, inefficient, and incompetent top management within the restaurants means that all operations within the organization will be unsatisfactory. Ultimately, clients experience very poor services. The top management determines how the restaurant will be run, from the quality of food presented, the activeness and behavior of the staff towards the clients, as well as their efforts and devotion towards the success of the restaurant. A top management that is less bothered with almost non-existent strategies, goals, and objectives of the restaurant facilitates the start of poor quality services within the organization. The top management sets an example to be emulated by their juniors, and ultimately determines the kind of services to be offered to clients.

Poor quality services in restaurants also result from inconsistency and a lack of incentive from the staff

Poor quality services in restaurants also result from inconsistency and a lack of incentive from the staff. Often staff/employees who are not motivated by their employers lack the incentive to work. Their services to the clients will be the bare minimum with no intention of offering quality services (Restaurant business, 2016). They will be unbothered about the concerns of the customers and will lack in efficiency. The lack of morale to go an extra mile to satisfy the client's requests means that most customers will be unsatisfied by the services of the restaurant. Apart from causing poor quality services, the lack of incentive also results in inconsistency. Upon a visit to the restaurant, clients may have a first-time impressive customer service. This often prompts them to return to the restaurant with the hope of similar services. They also go to an extent of recommending the restaurant to their acquaintances. However, to their dismay, they are met with the opposite. Instead of the exemplary services they had received in an earlier visit, they are met with a gruesome experience including unfriendly staff, long wait for their orders and finally served with cold food (Restaurant business, 2016). These poor services mean that neither they nor their acquaintances will be returning to the restaurant.

Poor inventory management

Poor inventory management also causes poor quality services. Efficient and effective inventory management ensures that clients receive satisfactory services and also guarantees sufficient and consistent supplier capabilities and production. Poor inventory management means that the operations of the restaurant especially in the kitchen will not be sufficiently met. For instance, there will be insufficient raw materials to prepare clients orders. This can be observed mostly during the peak hours where there are several clients with different orders. The lack of adequate ingredients, therefore, means that clients will not get satisfactory meals (Kanyan 2016, p.192). Inventory management also entails acquiring machines and equipments that ease the operations within the restaurant. In the peak hours, for instance, adequate staff is required in servicing customers that is cleaning tables, taking orders, preparing food and serving. Therefore the lack of assistive equipments and machines means that there will be limited staff to carry out all the required services; hence the clients will end up poorly served.

Strategies to improve the quality of services

Technological advancements are at the center stage of every organization/businesses and are enhancing their success and growth. The restaurants are no exemption as there are several technological advancements that ensure quality services are offered to customers. A report by the Toast POS on restaurant technology in the year 2017 indicates that implementation of technology has a positive impact on operational efficiency and customer experiences. The report shows that 73% and 95% of the restaurants had an improvement in their experiences and efficiencies respectively (Guinn, 2018). Some of the technologies sought after by most restaurants which have proven to improve the qualities of services are inventory management tools and mobile/tablet POS systems. Inventory management tools ensure a consistent flow of operations. All the necessary ingredients are readily available and more so they are fresh ingredients. This ensures customers are served timely and their orders are satisfactory. The POS system facilitates their payments without delays.

Sufficiently trained staffs

Sufficiently trained staffs result to excellent customer services. Employers ought to ensure that all the staff members that they recruit to their restaurants are equipped with adequate knowledge on how to handle clients and on how to satisfactorily meet their needs. Also, continuous training and educating staff members who are already working within the restaurant is crucial in order to bring them up to speed with the current trends. Training entails etiquette and hygiene that is personal as well as restaurant hygiene (The Restaurant Times). Other qualities that they ought to be trained in include being customer oriented and exercising patience, empathy, and promptness when attending to clients.

Good communication skills between staff

Good communication skills between staff also facilitate and enhance client's satisfaction while improving the quality of services. Effective communication ensures that client's needs are timely met and addressed. Good communication skills can also be included during the training in order to teach them professional communication. Division of labor coupled with good communication between the different staff allocated different responsibilities ensures an improvement in the quality provided. To avoid confusions in communication, each staff should stick to their designated responsibility and in case of any swaps, there should be official communication (The Restaurant Times). This ensures that the right message reaches the right person at the right time and feedback is given promptly. Smooth operations and communications ensure that clients are served timely with minimal waits. Overly, an improvement in the quality of services is recognized.

Treating employees right

In order to realize the benefits for the restaurants, the employees ought to be treated right. Establishing good relations with the staff members assures them that the top management is mindful of them and hence they are at ease when they are working. Motivation and offering benefits through the employee reward program from time to time such as bonuses, time off from work as well as holidays motivates the employees to work even harder (Woolf, 2014). Also, recognition of the best performing employees helps to enhance the spirit of healthy competition within the workplace. Ultimately, these strategies lead to an improvement in the quality of services offered. Encouraging teamwork among employees and facilitating a conducive environment also helps the employees to reciprocate to the clients. They serve them promptly and efficiently as well as ensuring that they are at ease and comfortable.

Personalized experiences for each client

Lastly, personalized experiences for each client assure them that the restaurant's management, as well as their staff, cares for their well being. Minor things such as asking the clients names as well as greeting them during their next visit by the mention of their name and being aware of their favorite orders are some of the things that boost the quality of services (Massaroni, 2017). The staff as well as managers ought to avoid the tendency to be obvious. That is they should be more spontaneous with each client according to their personalities as well as considering other personal traits. This helps to avoid the impression by the client that they are just but a customer, and enhance the sense of importance to the restaurant.

References

Food Woolf, (2014). Service 101: 10 Things Restaurants Can Do to Improve Services. Available at [Accessed 29th Nov 2018]

Guinn Justin, (2018). How to Improve Restaurant Service Quality With New Technologies. Available at [Accessed 29th Nov 2018]

Kanyan Agnes, Ngana Lizsberth, and Voon Ho Boo, (2016). Improving the Service Operations of Fast-food Restaurant. Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences. Available at [Accessed 29th Nov 2018]

Kouril Michal, (2014). What are the Causes of Poor Customer Services? Available at [Accessed 29th Nov 2018]

Massaroni Quinn, (2017). Improve Restaurants Customer Experience With Service, Not Money. Upserve Restaurant Insider. Available at [Accessed 29th Nov 2018]

Restaurant Business, (2016). 7 Reasons Customers Are Not Returning To Your Restaurant. Restaurant Engine. Available at [Accessed 29th Nov 2018]

The Restaurant Times, (np). 7 Stellar Tips To Improve Your Restaurant Services. Available at [Accessed 29th Nov 2018]