The Importance of Dining Service

Guests Experiences Good Service Friendly and accurate service + great food = Positive Word of Mouth Suppose 1 guest recommends the hotel to 2 people, how valuable that the first guest is to the hotel if this pattern is repeated 10 years? -Answer: 1 guest spending 150 RMB can bring 2,000,000 RMB over 10 years Why Good Dining Service?

What is 80/20 rule in hotel industry? 80 % revenue comes from 20 % guests. Managers, employees should realize that guests’ word of mouth has a major economic influence on the success or failure of the business

Impact of Negative world of Mouth 100 Guests Served Poorly 96 Never Complain About Poor Service 10 will return 90 Never return Each tell 9 friends about poor service 9*90= People report the story to 20 of their friends 13*20= Negative guests create 1,070 negative word-of-mouth publicity

Every guest who complains, there are 26 others who remain silent It costs about 5 times as much to get a new guest as it costs to keep a current one Bad service rarely compensate for good food

Two major problems for poor service: Rude and slow table service Excellent service can make up for fault or inconsistencies, poor service only exacerbates them. – Bill Dowd, Restaurant Reviewer

Who can be responsible for great service? Every one!

MBWA - Dining service supervision tool Management By Wandering Around An effective manager must be where the action is. He or she should be walking around to guests. Find all situations and solve any problem before they happen.

Being Ubiquitous ( being every where) Manager must know what is going on at all time Staff always be aware of what guests’ need

What is the real meaning of Service? Competence and friendliness - Competence: serving food and beverage in the correct manner to the guest - Friendliness: The service person should make the guest feel that they are guests in a private house.

What is excellent and poor service? - Excellent: guests is not needed to ask for any service - Poor: Ineffective service can frustrating and embarrassing for a dining room solution: conduct formal training sessions to express the dining room’s philosophy on guest service Tips: When greeting a guest, always eye contact and smile

What’s wrong?

Psychology of Service – Maslow Hierarchy Guests feel so good about themselves; they can do whatever they want Management and staff value each guests business Guest is accepted by peers Food safe to eat; I will not be robbed if patronize restaurant Food, shelter, sleep Internal From themselves External From restaurant employees or outside factors Physiological needs Safety needs Love and belonging needs Esteem need Self- actualization needs

Every individuals has to satisfy the lower need before moving on to the higher need. The physiological safety, love and belonging, and esteem needs are dependent needs – they occur with the help of the dining room’s employees or outside factors. Self-actualization occurs internally when dependent (external) needs have been met.

A dining room’s manager should realize that two of the needs, the physiological and the need of love, most often will have been met before the guest enters the restaurant. The final need, self- actualization, is an internal need that the manager deal with indirectly. The major needs the manager must deal with are those for safety and esteem.

The physiological need means that if we do not have enough money to provide food for ourselves or our family, we will spend the greatest portion of our time trying to earn enough money or to obtain food to satisfy the need. All guests have satisfied this need because they are not starving.

The safety need can play an important role in the success or failure of a dining room. Guests generally have satisfied the safety need, because they probably live in a community that makes them feel comfortable and fearless. However, some restaurants may have a problem in satisfying the safety need, e.g. located in a dangerous location

Once the safety need has been satisfied, the guests now move to the love and belonging need. This need refers to being accepted by other people and groups. Most guests have made friends and formed associations with their peers. At times, this need benefits the restaurant greatly, because the guests belong to groups that patronize the restaurant often.

The need that all managers and staff can satisfy is the fourth need- the esteem need. This need centers on self-respect and is generally though of as ego needs. It means that someone (service staff, manager) gives the people respect and makes them feel important. The taste of the roast is determined by the handshakes of the hosts. – Ben Franklin

Any service here?

Qualifications for Successful Service Supervision Know the different types of service, when to use them, how to serve properly. Know the proper methods of beverage service, as well as how to organize, plan, and implement beverage service Must be personable and have a genuine fondness for people Organization is the key for successful banquet Must posses the ability to stay calm under pressure Must be in good physical condition to withstand the long, unusual hours and stressful conditions Be able to resist temptation Be able to deal effectively with both employees and guests Know how to train people Ability to handle complaints

Oh, my goodness!!

Assignment 1 Visit or patronize any restaurant and observe the job that the waiters do. Determine the service the restaurant has is excellent or poor service. (80 words) Submitting day: next class

THANK YOU