Many people might think that a good restaurant means only serving the best cuisines, but the truth is far from that. Ensuring a great customer experience is what drives any business forward because your patrons are the most important part of your business. An unsatisfied customer only leaves bad reviews that will affect your restaurant negatively. Did you know that almost 60% of restaurants fail within their first year, and 80% of them fail within the first five years? If you wish to improve customer service at your restaurant, then here are some tips for you.
1. Provide Online Services
The world is moving forward and with it, so are restaurants. No matter how great your place is, if it doesn’t have online services, people are bound to be disappointed.
Ensure there is a system via which customers place bookings online or make online reservations. This not only helps to divide the waiting crowd, but also attracts more and more patrons.
Check out an online platform that takes care of all your online appointments and bookings, and handles customer service for all hospitality sectors.
2. Train Your Employees
It is necessary for your staff to maintain proper etiquette and understand how to handle the restaurant during turbulent times. Ensure the waiters and waitresses are polite and prompt at what they do. Also, ensure they are able to handle serving multiple dishes at once. Encourage them to look from the customers’ points of view and to please their customers so that they return for a second or third time.
If necessary, provide your employees with a guidebook or manual that they can refer to. This is also your chance to reinforce and improve your company.
3. Upgrade the Place
Are the chairs in your restaurant old and creaky? Does the wallpaper look yellowed or chipped? If yes, then it’s time to revamp and update your space.
Make sure the interior decoration is fresh and new and the chairs and tables are all new, too. The interior and the ambience of a restaurant greatly influence and improve customer service. If the food is great but the place itself looks worn out, then many people might not consider returning.
Therefore, it’s important to maintain the ambience, and music plays a crucial role in creating the desired atmosphere. To enhance the dining experience, consider carefully selecting music that complements the theme and style of your restaurant. One effective approach is to stream music for your restaurant, ensuring a consistent and high-quality sound throughout the day.
4. Ensure Effective Communication
Without proper communication, no business functions smoothly. Make sure there is no lack of communication or trust among the employees. Get everyone on the same page.
There should also be good communication between the waiting staff and the kitchen staff so that the dishes are delivered to the correct tables at the right time.
One great way to ensure proper communication is to divide the work among all your employees based on their skills. This not only improves coordination but also reduces the waiting time and improves customer service.
5. Audit and Update the Menu
A big part of good customer service is the menu ― for good reasons. After all, customers visit your restaurant to taste and experience the food. This is why you must regularly audit and update your menu. Periodic reviews of the menu let you know which dishes are popular and which aren’t.
If you wish, install a POS app with the help of SocialQ that tracks the popularity of each item offered. Removing dishes that don’t seem to sell out much reduces food wastage and cuts down your costs drastically. In addition, more money leads to a much better customer experience.
Over to You…
These are the most crucial tips you should take care of if you want your customers to leave good reviews about your restaurant. Tell them about the waiting time and that there’s a way to keep them busy as they wait.
Think of ideas outside the box, and make your restaurant as unique as possible. Checking or tracking your competitors’ performances is a good way to understand how to improve customer service and your own business. See what ideas they implement to bring in more customers, and match these ideas with your own. With time, patience, and dedication, your business will see booming reviews!
