In the same way as your restaurant's cuisine and decor, the quality of your customer service is a major issue for your restaurant. Customer loyalty depends on it. The return of your guests guarantees a reliable and regular source of income, which has a considerable impact on your profitability.
To set yourself apart from the competition and encourage your customers to come back to you, or even to become true spokespeople and promote your brand, we've listed 8 avenues to explore to improve your customer service.
1. Be friendly and smile
The friendliness and smile of your staff play a key role in the quality of your customer service. Indeed, the way your team behaves and interacts with customers is nothing other than a reflection of your customer service. That's why it's so important to pay close attention to these 2 aspects when recruiting.
From the moment they enter, waiters and waitresses have to be smiling and friendly, to put guests in the best possible mood for the meal ahead. Dishes eaten in a good mood just don't taste the same! Once you've crossed the threshold, customers become priority 1. It only takes a few seconds to form an impression of the place you've just entered, so the first impression has to be perfect! You have to meet them immediately, even if the room is full, and give them a warm welcome, giving the customer/staff relationship a more human dimension. Staff can greet customers in a friendly manner, without excluding expressions of respect such as "madam" or "sir". As part of the welcome message, encourage your staff to recall the name of the restaurant, so that it becomes imprinted in the customer's mind.
Body language, too, speaks volumes. Faced with crossed arms and a lack of eye contact, a smile is unlikely to do the trick.
The friendliness of your staff should be felt throughout the entire service, right up to the customer's departure. In fact, the last contact is crucial. A little attention or a kind word is always appreciated, and will help customers remember your establishment.
Remember, everything that applies to room service also applies to takeaway.
Finally, pay particular attention to your telephone greeting. A voice on the other end of the line can be enough to shape a customer's image of your establishment. Your staff's smiles may not be visible over the phone, but they're felt. The key to a successful telephone greeting? Train your staff.
2. Be discreet but available
As well as being friendly and smiling, your employees need to be masters in the art of being discreet yet available. Quite a challenge, isn't it?
If you need a napkin, an empty glass or a dish with too little pepper, your employees need to be able to anticipate the slightest need without making their presence felt by the guests. What could be more unpleasant than dining with family, friends or colleagues with the feeling of being listened to and observed by a table neighbor or waiter?
The challenge is to be available to customers at all times, while remaining invisible, in order to meet their requirements without ever depriving them of their privacy.
3. Know the map by heart
Another skill your staff will need to demonstrate is a thorough knowledge of the menu. The aim is not to recite it to guests - they have the menu for that - but to be able to answer their questions and advise them appropriately.
- menu items and drinks menu,
- their preparation methods,
- their composition,
- their preparation methods,
- allergens present,
- waiting time,
- food and wine pairings.
This is all information that staff need to know in order to offer irreproachable customer service. Added to this is real-time knowledge of stock levels. It's always better to announce that a dish is out of stock just as customers are about to consult the menu, rather than when they've made their choice.
4. Managing and solving problems
The quality of your customer service also depends on your staff's ability to manage and solve problems. In this business, which relies heavily on human skills and know-how, mistakes are frequent. No matter how skilled and experienced your staff may be, mistakes are human, so it's impossible to guard against them completely.
We're obviously referring to errors at the till, oversights when taking orders, poor stock anticipation and so on. Problems can also take the form of incidents such as the usual broken glass, overturned plate or, more rarely, a conflict between two tables or with a member of staff.
How you handle this kind of situation will determine your customers' opinion of your establishment, and more specifically of your customer service. If they're handled well, they're more likely to remember how you solved the problem than the problem itself.
How do we go about it? The answer can be summed up in one word: training. Dealing with these tricky situations isn't something you're born with. So it's important to train your staff so that they don't feel helpless when problems arise. It will also prevent them from making the wrong decision in the heat of the moment, or reacting inappropriately.
This training can take the form of role-playing to simulate situations your staff will have to deal with. You can also provide them with a handbook summarizing the best practices and gestures to adopt.
- What should I do if I place an order incorrectly?
- How do you react to poor reservation management?
- How should you deal with an irate customer?
- When should you offer a refund or discount?
You won't be able to anticipate every problem, of course, but you'll cover a lot of them.
5. Be polite
Politeness is also an integral part of good customer service. So make sure your waiters are trained in good manners. The more refined your restaurant, the more the quality of customer service will make the difference between you and your competitors. Waiters and waitresses must be on their best behavior, addressing customers in a precise and, above all, respectful manner.
Politeness is also expressed through dress. These must be clean and neat. Good presentation conveys a good image of your establishment.
6. Limit waiting time
In your opinion, what is the first source of irritation for a customer? The one that springs to mind first is waiting. Going to a restaurant to enjoy a pleasant experience, only to be confronted with long waiting periods, is bound to be a source of frustration.
Waiting time in the restaurant business is the number 1 enemy of customer service. Your staff need to be on the hunt for latency and lost minutes throughout the customer experience. And it starts at the entrance! Guests need to be quickly greeted and guided to their table. The same goes for the rest of the service. Menu presentation, order-taking, service and collection of dishes, checkout - all these transitional phases need to be optimized, without giving customers the impression of being in a hurry.
Here are a few ideas for reducing waiting times:
- recruit people who are efficient, responsive, flexible and resilient,
- train your staff,
- inform customers in advance of waiting times for a dish or table to become available,
- define schedules so that the restaurant has more employees available during peak periods,
- increase the number of employees,
- set up an online booking platform,
- digitalize your business (more on this later).
Waiting time has a significant impact not only on customer satisfaction, but also on table turnover, which in turn affects sales.
How to reduce waiting time? By optimizing order-taking! Several solutions exist, such as a cash register to help your teams, a QR code or an order terminal to delegate order-taking.
For example, the order terminal allows customers to order at their own pace and in minimum time. And by installing a simple QR code on the tables, your customers can access the menu without having to wait a single second for the waiter to bring it to them.
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7. Know your customers inside out
Personalized, but above all human, service creates a relationship of trust with your customers.
The secret of loyalty: creating a real feeling of closeness with your customers! For example, calling your regulars by name, or knowing their tastes and habits, will foster a feeling of consideration and closeness among your customers.
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Would you like to improve your customer service by helping your employees with digital solutions? Contact an Innovorder expert for personalized advice.
