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Excellent Customer Service can Help Make Up for Pandemic Price Hikes

Excellent Customer Service

Many restaurants have no choice but to pass soaring costs to customers. Here’s how customer service can make it worth the buck.

The other night I took my father out to his favorite chain restaurant, PF Chang’s China Bistro. It was his 55th birthday and we wanted to make it a special night for him. I had previously worked at the location we took him to and when I peeked at the menu I was surprised to see menu items are now up an easy $5 to $10.

By this point in the COVID-19, I wasn’t that shocked. News reports going back to the summer of 2021, show food prices have risen by at least four percent across the country. Now as a former server and bartender of that particular location, I know how poor some of my coworkers’ performance and attitude could be on a given Friday night shift.

Despite making a reservation early in the morning, we were still asked to wait while the table was cleaned. But within minutes the hostess asked if we were OK with a different high-top table in the middle of the dining room. Right away, she had taken a negative experience and turned it into a positive one.

The latest dining trends show 67 percent of Americans now feel comfortable dining out. Pair that with reports of low restaurant service staff and now increasing food costs, how do you keep those diners coming back?

Below I, a former employee of that restaurant, can break down everything that the restaurant did to make me drop a $300 bill for a six top and gladly tip my waiter more than 20 percent with no regrets. And yes, I’m happy to return.

1. A new look

The last time I visited that location the restaurant was entirely different. It’s been in the Sawgrass Mills since 2008 and I worked there a good six years ago. Upon first arrival, I was pleasantly surprised to find new booths, an updated dining room, and the service staff wearing new uniforms.

In recent years, new competition from Seasons 52 and Matchbox has opened right next door. I remember former coworkers of mine had gotten fed up with management and the company and fled to the new refreshing restaurants.

Now PF Chang’s had always made seasonal menu changes during the three years I worked there. But I had never seen such a renovation done down to the uniforms. It felt like I was in a new restaurant. Things were off to a good start.

2. Connection

The save made by the hostess to get my reserved table set quickly was a good sign she paid attention to the emotions of my party.

There are signs a group of people are interested or slouched over, with their hands on their chin waiting on a table they called to reserve. It was an emotional connection she identified that made the experience all the better. Then our server made further emotional connections.

He greeted our table with confidence and assurance that told us he’d make sure we were going to have a good experience. His name is Sean and he took the time to make friendly eye contact and a quick conversation with everyone at our table. Enough time he learned we were celebrating my father’s 55th birthday.

Those few moments can make a huge difference with the guests in your restaurants. Small talk can become what I always heard was “tip talk,” and let’s call it what it is. The truth is, when customers dine in a restaurant and a server or bartender waits on guests it’s a business transaction as much as anything. And that business they’re paying for is customer service.

He told my dad he “sat at the VIP table” and was going to take care of him. Good call, let’s see how he did.

3. Execution

Now Sean wasn’t aware that I was a lead server and bartender at that restaurant and knew how to make good money at a place like that. All too long during my experience, I had coworkers who would come in under the influence and sit and talk at the server station. Their drinks and food would die in the window and at the bar. On a regular basis, it led to manager comps.

Me? It rarely happened. I know because my managers would tell me and brag about me and a few others to regional management. We had quarterly reports of our manager comps and I never had to sweat those conversations. I take it Sean doesn’t either.

When ordering appetizers, he recommended a few items like their chicken lettuce wraps. The diners often don’t know these items the way a server does. He told us “excellent choice, but I will say a table this size may want two orders.” It’s a cheap menu item and the way he suggested gave the room that we could’ve gone in a different direction.

Either way would’ve been fine to him but we made the extra order and made the restaurant that much more money. It also increased the bill leading to a higher percentage in gratuity. As someone who’s been on both sides of this transaction I’m always surprised to see how much easier it is to spend more as the diner.

Our entire evening went on with Sean in a great mood confidently making his way through suggestion drinks, food items and getting it to the table himself or with the help of his food-running coworkers.

At the end of the meal, Sean asked my father if he could buy him dessert. In my memory, the restaurant policy at PF Chang’s recommended servers ask guests if they were celebrating a special occasion for just that reason. The restaurant always comped birthday desserts to create a memorable experience.

4. The payoff

As a diner caught up in the moment of a good time, I didn’t mind spending. We all went out with the mission to make my dad’s 55th birthday a special one. The perceived value of a clean restaurant with good service and a staff that cares, it’s all there. This is what this transaction is.

At an establishment in that area of Sawgrass, ownership already knows the average income of the nearby residents. The median household income is about $50,000 in the area. Anyone coming into the restaurant likely knows it’s not the cheapest but it’s also not a five-star restaurant.

With food prices increasing, it’s tough to get those guests in the door. But now that I’ve been and had the experience I did, I’ll absolutely return. After drinks, appetizers, at least six entrees, and dessert the bill was $250. Honestly, not terrible for the value we the customers perceive. I tipped Sean 22 percent. Now I’m a journalist and my wife’s a teacher – we’re in middle-class professions and have the right clientele for a restaurant.

If a restaurant like that can draw in customers like us and give us that kind of experience, we’ll pay for it. Times are tough all around due to the pandemic. We’re all eating these expenses in gas prices, food costs from the grocery, and when an occasion like my father’s birthday comes up we want to celebrate with him.

Now, this could’ve been another rough Friday night I saw far too many times at that restaurant in my time there. It was a night and day experience. I’m beyond impressed and feel it’s proof that excellent customer service can counter price hikes. With the right team going above and beyond your restaurant can ease the pain of passing those soaring food costs to your guests.

As a partner or manager, invest time in your staff to train up more Seans. That guy’s going to make you money and help your restaurant avoid comps. Perception always matters. But when there are regular reports that service staff doesn’t want to work and diners are eating the costs it matters more than ever.

The Restaurant Guest Experience Checklist

 

  • Value your staff: Make conversation with your guests and teammates. It takes a lot to be a good leader in a high-paced evening managing a busy restaurant. The more present and attentive you are over your dining room, the more set for success you will be. That includes checking in on your team and identifying who’s giving their best and who may need a hand. A study of more than 150,000 restaurant professionals from 7Shifts shows, “the average tenure of a restaurant is one month and 26 days. Is it the worker or the leadership?

 

  • Focus on the experience: Focusing on the experience can have lasting effects. Research  published in Journal of tourism & Hospitality called “Emotional Value in Memorable Guest Experiences” says, “experiences represent a higher level of customer value than services because they are memorable and rich in sensations. Sean, the server, did this. The hostess did this. Those experiences will resonate with my party. It’s a win all around. The restaurant made money. We were happy and took care of our server so he’s happy.

 

  • Make memories: Because we were all so happy, it was more likely to later resonate as a positive memory. And positive memories will always leave a lasting impression. “Memories and emotional value, as opposed to consistency and functional value, have been highlighted as key distinctions of guest experiences in the hospitality and tourism industry as well,” says the Journal of Tourism & Hospitality research. Being an observant and hands-on manager can help keep your staff from the very front-of-house with the hostess to the servers waiting on your guests.

 

  • Make conversation a priority: The questions our hostess asked. Our conversation with our server. The presentation of our meals. Everything started by someone asking questions and interacting with guests. “Social interaction is another trigger of memorable experiences. Engaging with others in collective experiences, especially with local people and their actual living environments, makes travel experiences more memorable,” research says. You learn more about guests and staff. There’s a focus on making a fun, social atmosphere.

 

  • Achieve “Emotional Value”: Guests celebrate milestones. So a situation like mine was a great opportunity to make an impression and earn “Emotional Value.” A server taking the time to connect like the one who waited on my party achieved that emotional value with my family. Simply walking out to the car the group of six talked about how great our server was. What’s interesting is in the most recent moment leaving the restaurant, the conversation was about the service. It was about great food and drinks. That memory will likely occur later. The immediate conversation was on the service. “Emotional Value in Memorable Guest Experiences” says “Inspiring emotional connections with customers provides enormous opportunity to create value in organizations competing in the memories business.” The memory will last. We may talk to other people with a good story. The value of good services goes longterm and is worth focusing energy on Guest Experience Management.