The world of restaurants is a dog-eat-dog; a cut-throat world of savage competition and merciless progress. Restaurants that have been succeeding for years can be overturned in a matter of weeks or months if they fail to respond to customer needs, fail to update and refresh their food and drink offerings or fail to adapt to changing circumstances in the market.
One common factor in successful restaurants is offering the best possible customer experience. Below are some tips on helping your restaurant to boost customer satisfaction levels through the roof.
1. Go “Self-Ordering”
If you’re looking for a technological solution in which to invest in restaurant improvement, one good option is to find the right contactless table order system. Not every restaurant is necessarily suited to a self-ordering system — at least not right away — but the vast majority of those who do adopt one will feel many benefits in a very short period of time.
Self-ordering lowers the chances of mistakes being made in the ordering process and allows the customer to more freely peruse the menu and make choices without worrying about a server standing over the table tapping a pen and waiting. It also speeds up the process and reduces the chances of orders being lost, mixed up, or missed by the kitchen staff.
For those who like the human touch, self-ordering doesn’t mean a human-less restaurant floor. You’ll still need servers with a smile to run the food, check in on customers and make sure they have everything they need.
2. Update Your Restaurant Space?
When was the last time that the restaurant received a facelifting coat of paint or new upholstery on the chairs? A refresh of the restaurant space doesn’t have to be expensive, nor does it have to result in you closing for a week. Simple work like painting could be done overnight, or on a single day where you might be closed to renovate. Refreshing the space makes it feel lighter, newer, and more enjoyable. Customers like to see updated interiors, however minor it might be. It gives a whole new feel and lets the customer think that they’re eating in a new place…but with the same delicious food and drink that they love.
3. Work Seriously on Customer Service Training
As we mentioned above, even with new technology like online ordering and reservations, self-ordering systems, and more, you still need people in your restaurant and those people still need to interact with customers. Focusing on training the team to be better at dealing with customer complaints and other issues will help to ensure that even those who are having problems with the food or service can go away with a positive impression. Even if it doesn’t result in positive reviews being written, it could at least stave off a negative review being written.
Those who invest in customer service training will feel the benefits through repeat business, positive feedback, and an increasingly great reputation in the community.
4. Cut Down the Menu
There was once a belief that big menus were best. A big menu meant the restaurant was generous. It meant that the restaurant catered to a wide range of tastes. These days are disappearing. Superstar chefs like Gordon Ramsay have long championed the more compact menu, insisting that it’s better because it allows restaurants to focus on creating repeatable high standards.
A smaller menu may feel like you’re cutting off choice, and some regular customers will inevitably whine at losing a favorite item, but what it better ensures is that every customer gets the same impeccable standard on every dish, and that’s what brings people back into the restaurant in the future.
