All customers have preconceived expectations of the restaurant before visiting it. Both food and service are essential in providing excellent restaurant service to your valued customers. Restaurant owners, managers and employees share the responsibility of ensuring that customers are treated professionally. Good restaurant service will help leave a positive overall impression of a great dining experience and will also help retain your customers. This article provides effective tips to improve your restaurant service and provide an exceptional customer experience sushi near me.
Use this customer service checklist to ensure you maintain optimal restaurant service standards and deliver a stellar experience to your customers every time.
Tips to improve the service of your restaurant
Confused about how to improve a restaurant’s service? Don’t worry, we’re here to help. Follow these seven tips to help you provide stellar restaurant service, which in turn will help in employee retention.
- Train Employees for Great Customer Service
It is an indisputable fact that excellent customer service is a must for any restaurant and if your restaurant does not provide reliable customer service, there is a chance that you will lose valuable customers. It is the responsibility of the restaurant owner to train the staff members in a way that they should aim to make their customers happy. Make sure that each of your staff members receives the required training and is aware of the expectations that your customers expect from your restaurant service.
Proper etiquette must be maintained in all restaurants, regardless of any format to ensure better customer service, which we have mentioned below.
Food must be served and removed from the diner’s left. However, drinks must be poured and refilled from the right.
Whenever it is necessary for a member of staff to interrupt customers, they must be courteous.
Clean dishes, bring the check and process it right away.
Stimulate and train them to think about customer service, which goes beyond basic service. The caring concept includes steps as simple as smiling at your customers and promptly greeting them and understanding their needs before them, such as refilling water glasses and storing extra napkins.
Make sure you are clear about the type of service you want your staff to provide, and then create a manual or training manual. A training manual will ensure that your staff know the type of service you expect from them and so that they can provide themselves more efficiently.
When you’re hiring and training your staff members, focus on qualities like empathy, patience, clarity to respond promptly, when they interact with your customers. This can also be your opportunity to introduce and reinforce the company culture, teaching employees how to adhere to their own chosen etiquette protocols and how to handle specific difficult situations. Having restaurant service standards in place helps your staff deliver consistent service every time.
- Foster effective communication among staff members
The most important principle of any great restaurant service is that there must be consistent and effective communication between all members of your staff. Staff members must be trained to communicate in a professional manner. Regular staff meetings should be held so that all staff members are on the same page.
There must be good communication between the waiters and the kitchen staff to ensure timely service, as soon as the food is prepared. If jobs are divided between people, coordination becomes easier. Have just one person call in orders and designate the ticketing position and make sure the order gets to the wait staff.
When your staff members change shifts, it must be with the written approval of your restaurant manager. This will prevent any miscommunication between two employees and understaffing.
- Ensure accurate wait times
One of the major turnoffs that lead to poor restaurant service is delays. Whether it’s a delay in seating customers, offering the menu, taking the order, bringing the food or the bill; delays can ruin the customer experience. For excellent restaurant service, wait times must be accurate.
(i) Inform customers about the waiting time.
If there’s already a line of customers waiting and you know it might take another hour to seat new customers, let them know. It is always better to surprise your customers with a shorter wait time than to disappoint them with a longer one. The server must inform customers in advance if a particular dish takes a long time to prepare.
( ii) Keep them busy in their waiting time
Many restaurants offer complimentary bread or a light snack for customers while they wait for their order. Put a TV in the waiting room so they don’t get bored and never want to come back. M ake sure your waiting area has Wi-Fi access. You can also have board games in your restaurants to keep customers busy during the waiting time.
- Address customer complaints and concerns
“The customer is always right” is the most well-known proverb among all those associated with restaurants. Any problem or concern of any client must be addressed as a priority. However, in the digitized world, customers prefer to post their complaints on social media platforms. But whenever the customer posts their complaints online, the management must be receptive enough and must respond courteously and courteously.
(i) Recognize customer complaints
If any of your customers are not satisfied with your restaurant’s service, allow yourself to express your concerns freely and pay full attention to their words. It is often helpful to repeat the client’s words to ensure that he fully understands them and to show that he has heard correctly.
(ii) Respond immediately
Employees must have the ability to handle customer disputes because it is the best and most cost-effective way to resolve a problem. Apologize to the customer immediately and act effectively. Your main goal should be to remain calm and still prevent the situation from escalating.
(iii) Offering gifts
Offering compensation is the best type of apology you can offer. Even a small offer, like giving away a free dessert or small appetizer, can earn you huge customer service points. These small acts will make your customers feel appreciated and have positive associations with the restaurants.
(iv) Encourage feedback and generate change
After the customers dining experience, solicit their feedback and suggestions. Asking for feedback also helps avoid bad customer reviews on social media. Customers are less likely to post a bad review on restaurant review sites and on social media if their concerns have already been addressed.
You can analyze the responses of your customers and come to a conclusion about what your restaurant customers don’t like and the same. By strictly evaluating customer feedback, you can make decisions to improve your restaurant’s overall service.
- Use technology for better restaurant service
The use of technology is becoming more manifold across all industries alike, and in this digital age and with so many new restaurants opening, the restaurant industry is becoming competitive at every turn. Automating restaurant operations helps improve your efficiency, which in turn will improve your restaurant’s service.
Technology is currently playing an important role in both cost control and theft. All of the restaurants that we now operate, all of our Hidden POS systems.
Let’s see how technology can be used to improve the quality of service in your restaurant.
(i) Online restaurant reservations
If your restaurant has limited seating, it will be profitable for your restaurant if customers can reserve the tables online in advance. The customer base of restaurants can be increased if the online table reservation process can be digitized. Now, with reservation management, restaurants can view all guest information using a single interface. Restaurants can quote accurate wait times for both walk-in and pre-booked customers.
(ii) Tablet ordering system
An implemented tablet ordering system can enhance the customer’s dining experience by:
Orders taken are more accurate and there is no chance of manual errors.
The speed and efficiency of your restaurant’s service is improved, which overall contributes to a better customer experience.
Increased speed and efficiency of service means increased table turnover, allowing your restaurants to serve more guests.
If your customers are happy and satisfied, more word of mouth recommendations will be generated.
(iii) Customer relationship management
CRM technology has now become the key that helps improve customer engagement in your restaurant through loyalty programs and others. Centralized Restaurant CRM allows you to collect customer data related to customer contact details, frequency of visits, preferences, and average spend per visit.
POS-integrated CRM provides excellent insights into customer demands and behavior and enables you to make informed decisions based on the captured data that will improve customer service. Servers can view this detail at the point of sale and upsell and suggest items based on the customer’s order history.
(iv) Customer feedback management
As mentioned above, asking for feedback is critical to improving your restaurant’s service, and you can use technology to better collect and analyze customer feedback. Instead of a regular feedback form, you can use a feedback management application that solicits specific customer feedback based on the particular item ordered, ambience, and restaurant service. This detailed level report also helps you identify the performance of dishes on the menu. The Feedback app automatically updates customer details in the CRM, thus eliminating the need to manually update the data and scope of errors.
- Maintain hygiene and cleanliness in your restaurant
Hygiene in restaurants is not only essential to ensure the health and safety of your employees and customers, but also because it plays an important role in the perception of your restaurant. Customers can be very disappointed if the dishes on which their food is served are dirty. One of the most prominent complaints from diners is about dirty bathrooms. It is essential for any restaurant to follow cleanliness and hygiene standards to ensure that your customer has a positive overall impression of your restaurant.
Any customer, if they have chosen your restaurant to dine in, has prior expectations of great food and great customer service and failing to deliver both can cause your restaurant business to suffer tremendously. If your customer is happy and satisfied with your restaurant’s service, they are likely to discuss their experience with others and are likely to return as well. The benefits of having satisfied customers are undeniable. Having happy customers starts with great customer service, and having great customer service starts with effective hiring and training.