The restaurant business

1. The restaurant business
Meeting Your Customers Expectations
If you are going to give the best customer service that you are able to provide, you need
to think beyond good. In order for your restaurant to be renowned, you have to provide
outstanding customer service.
Here is an extract from my book, an exercise, to get you in the right frame of mind to
have a clear vision of what you need to do.
["Complete this exercise:
Try to understand the customer's perception of whether they are getting value for money.
Think about a place that you shop regularly. Not the supermarket or somewhere you use
purely for convenience. Think of a special place that maybe you go out of your way to
visit, either to buy something special or to eat and drink, even a favourite coffee shop. A
place where you go, simply because you feel you are getting something special.
Think about when you shop there and ask yourself the following questions:
What makes this place special? Why do I come here and not to an alternative? What
added value is there for me? How do they make me feel? And Would I recommend a
friend to come here?
Now write down your answers to these questions. Do it now before you carry on reading.
Hopefully from these answers, you will see what your perception of value for money is.
The next thing to do is to write down how you think that they could give even more
value, without adding costs to their products or their service. Again, do it now before you
carry on reading and give yourself about 2 minutes to come up with ideas.
What did you come up with? Are they ideas you could use in your own business? Can
you imagine how they would add to your experience? Would you suggest these ideas to
them without being prompted?
The object of the exercise is to put you into the shoes of your customer so that you can
feel things from your customer's perspective. How you are treated as a customer and what
you get out of your visit, will give you some kind of an idea of what your customers are
looking for from you.

2. Small gestures can give lots of extra power to the message that you are sending to them.
Likewise there are dozens of ways, in which you can improve the quality of your
customers visit, to give them a much more emotional experience. Hopefully you'll begin
to see ways that you can improve your customers experience."]
This exercise should have given you a glimpse into the mind of a satisfied customer. If
you had any difficulty in getting this exercise completed, then visit your special venue
personally. Take a pad and pen with you and make notes about your experiences and your
emotions. Complete a section on what else they could do to add even more value.
Finally review your own customer service to see how it matches up.
Do this straight-away whilst it is in your mind.
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