Jose’s Mexican Restaurant Case Study
How should quality be defined at this restaurant? From the customer’s perspective, quality at Joke’s should be defined by location and e ease of access to the restaurant, ambiance, sense of arrival, service, food quality, and price.
To better understand quality, 83 customers who dined at the restaurant last Friday and Saturday night were asked to answer yes or no to five survey questions:
- Were you seated promptly?
- Was your waiter satisfactory?
- Were you served in a reasonable time?
- Was your food enjoyable?
- Was your dining experience worth the cost?
Of the five questions, perhaps the most Important question Is “Was your dining expert once worth the cost?” This can be an indicator of overall customer satisfaction with the complete did inning experience in relation to cost. Approximately 81% of customers surveyed responded yes, with about 19% of the customers surveyed Indicating they d ‘d not receive good value. The other questions can provide more insight into the specific issues around t he customer’s perception of quality.
Were you seated promptly? About 84% of the respondents answered yes to this sues Zion. While this does not appear to be the major Issue, there Is room for Improvement. With process reengineering, the restaurant could achieve more even flow of customers during peak times. Given the I importance of first impressions on customers, the restaurant should consider options for creating a com portable area for waiting.
This may include rearranging the tables to optimize efficiency, or a more ex pensive remodel.
The restaurant could analyze the cost/ benefit of taking reservations or increasing restaurant capacity and facilities to allow take- out orders. The restaurant should also consider the cost of a remodel and also increasing seating capacity from the current 58. If the restaurant is consistently busy on Friday and Saturday nights, with 45 minute waits, they are undoubtedly losing customers who ha eve nowhere to Walt com o T readily, particularly In New England In Inclement weather. Was your waiter satisfactory? Among the five questions, this one received the highest satisfaction score at 88%.
The waiter, as the primary customer contact, is the face of the restaurant pop ration. On these nights, the waiter was leaving a positive impression with customers. However, if the other quality indicators are achieved, it’s likely the satisfaction with the waiter will also increase, an d therefore gratuities. Were you served in a reasonable time? At 70%, this question received the lowest sati suffocation score, indicating the most significant challenge for the restaurant. A typical time for complex ting a meal once it has been ordered is 12 minutes.
During peak times, it can take 20 minutes to get go d meals delivered to the table. The eight minute difference can have a significant impact on the custom errs perception of their overall experience. Given the waiter satisfaction is much higher, customers don’ t appear to blame the wait staff. This could mean that the delivery of menus, water, beverages and rod erring is accomplished in a reasonable time, but the actual time between ordering and deliver y of food is the real issue with customer satisfaction and should be the focus of process reengineering.
A mongo the potential solutions could be process engineering to optimize efficiency. Further, additional stats if could be added on Friday and Saturday nights.
A prep cook could be added to do more advance work . A food expediter loud check the quality of the food from the kitchen and deliver it to the tables, allow Eng the waiters more time with customers. A busboy could clear dishes from the tables and take the m back to the kitchen. This addition of staff during peak times could allow the restaurant to turn more tables faster, thereby increasing revenue.
Was your food enjoyable? After satisfaction with the waiter, this question received the e highest response at 87%. While the cook has been complaining about the poor quality of some of the I ingredients recently, it did not prove to be a significant issue for the customers in this survey.
H over, customers come to restaurants to eat and quality has to be consistent. The restaurant should m monitor this closely, including its suppliers.
What are the restaurant’s costs of process failures? A process failure is any performance shortfall such as error, delay, environmental WA set, or rework. This can affect both the expense and revenue side of the business. In terms of expenses, customers could send food back that is not prepared to their expectation which results in extra material and labor costs from both kitchen and wait staff.
By not c ruefully inspecting the quality of food purchased from suppliers upon delivery and rejecting food that d goes not meet standards, the restaurant is not necessarily getting what it paid for from the supplier. This affects the quality of food served to the customer but has the additional, though difficult to quant tiff, expense of frustrating the cook, which can have additional impacts on the rest of the staff. In terms of revenues, low customer satisfaction will result in a decline in business boot in the form of lower repeat business as well as negative reviews from current customers about the restaurant to potential customers. Keeping an unsatisfied customer longer due too failed order al so means that the table can’t turn for another customer. A remodeled restaurant with additional seating g could increase capacity.
A new waiting area could generate incremental revenue from drink orders generated before the customers are seated.
Use some of the tools for process analysis to assess the situation at Joke’s Bar Chart Joke’s Authentic Mexican Restaurant Customer Survey Responses
