The restaurant count in the US is expected to reach 660,755 by spring 2018; therefore delighting the customers and making the restaurant experience memorable for them is every restaurant owner’s strategy to sustain in this competitive food and beverage industry.
Often it is the little things that the guests recall more than the food they have at your restaurant. A small gesture like offering a ten percent discount or a free starter could earn you a loyal customer. Delivering a memorable experience is all about delivering great food along with outstanding customer experience.
The great restaurant experience can be defined as an uplifting dining experience which comprises not only of good food but top-notch customer service as well. It is the extension of excellent service and taking it to the next level. A great restaurant experience results in a hundred percent customer satisfaction.
Restaurant experience is all about providing a memorable and wholesome dining experience to your guests.
Stellar customer service will help you bag some loyal customers who in the long run will help your restaurant prosper since in the USA repeat customers tend to spend sixty-seven percent more as compared to a new customer!
The idea of a good restaurant experience may vary from person to person, but there are a few things everyone expects from a restaurant like:
- Courteous and well-trained staff
- Menu flexibility
- Great food
- Value for money
- Taking care of payment quickly
- Ease of providing feedback
- Overall experience
Step By Step Guide For Delivering A Memorable Restaurant Guest Experience
Providing a memorable restaurant experience is not just limited to your restaurant but has other aspects like ease of online ordering, swift food delivery, etc.
This step by step guide will take you through the entire flow of delivering excellent restaurant experience.
1. Making The Reservation Process Simpler
All that starts well ends well! According to a survey, in the USA, sixty-six percent people will consider switching to a competitor if they are made to wait for long on hold to make a reservation. It is necessary to have a website or partner with online reservation sites like Yelp Reservations, to provide your customers with the ease of reserving a table.
Technology is revolutionalizing the way a restaurant is managed and has helped ease the reservation process. You can consider installing a POS system that would let you integrate with the leading online reservation sites and give you real-time table booking status to avoid any confusion.
This will ensure your customers can reserve a table without any hassle, which will make the experience memorable even before they visit your restaurant and will give them something to look forward to!
2. Ensure Great Hospitality
The first impression is the last impression, and it is vital for the restaurant owners to understand that! Your guests should feel welcome as soon as they set foot inside your restaurant, train your staff to greet your guests with a big smile.
Ask if the person has a reservation and if there is a particular seat he/she would prefer. Also, if you have an outdoor seating provision, you can ask if the guests would like to sit outside or inside.
Interact in a friendly manner, be hospitable and genuine with your guests. If you have some loyal customer, then greeting them by name would add to the memorable experience. There is nothing more flattering for your customers than feeling acknowledged. Friendly greetings would make them want to keep coming back for the great hospitality.
3. Create A Warm Restaurant Ambiance
Several things make the dining experience memorable for the guests, and your restaurant’s ambiance is one of them. There is a reason why several successful restaurants invest a lot of resources in creating the right ambiance.
Factors like the cleanliness, lighting, music, etc. play a significant role in making the dining experience memorable for the guests.
The concept of your restaurant is another thing that can impact the experience of your guests, your theme should be as per the type of restaurant, for example, If you own a fine dining restaurant you need to set the ambiance accordingly, play ambient music, have proper cutlery, etc. Not being able to live up to the expectations will irate your customers and they might not visit again. Offer something unique that would help your restaurant stand out from the rest.
Cleanliness of a restaurant also affects the customer’s restaurant experience, no one likes eating at a dirty restaurant; therefore ensure your restaurant, as well as the restrooms, are neat and tidy.
4. Ensure Quick Ordering
Making the ordering process quicker and more comfortable both online and offline would undoubtedly add to your customer’s restaurant experience.
Installing a POS system simplifies the process for you. Your servers can accept orders through a Restaurant Ordering App, and the orders are automatically placed into the POS. It also allows your customers to place their orders themselves through a tablet; the entire menu can be viewed on the tablet itself and customers can add their comments or special requests on how they would like the order, this prevents the chances of miscommunication.
Having a POS system automates the whole process of taking the order and delivering it to the kitchen, which makes the entire process fast. Also, this ensures the time taken for preparing a dish is cut down because now the servers don’t have to run in circles to take the order and deliver it to the chefs.
Read this handy e-book that would tell you how you can elevate your entire customer experience with the help of technology.
5. Delivery Consistency In Taste And Quality Of Food
Serving good quality food should be every restaurant owners priority, after all, the food is the star of any restaurant! When a person walks through the restaurant’s door, they are looking forward to enjoying a great meal.
You should never compromise on your food’s quality, ensure you are using fresh raw materials. In the USA, sixty percent people say that the food quality is essential for a great restaurant experience.
Set high food quality standards and ensure you live up to it every time, this will keep the customers from coming back. Using only fresh and good quality raw material will help build your restaurant’s reputation and make the restaurant experience memorable for the guests.
6. Make The Payment Easier
People hate to wait for their bill once they have finished their meal, they want to pay and get going quickly! If you are taking longer just to get the bill to the table this can make the guest furious, and this is the last thing you would want after delivering a memorable restaurant experience to your guest. You can consider installing a POS system to take care of the billing. This will help you generate accurate bills swiftly. Also, having a POS system to take care of the billing will let you split the bills if the customers demand.
Using technology is a smart move to produce bills efficiently and without any errors. You should have different modes of payments available, this will give your guests the flexibility to pay through their preferred mode of payment.
Hassle-free payment will make the dining experience memorable for the guest!
7. Take Customer Feedback
Make it a practice to courteously seek feedback from your guests. Offer them a feedback form or a feedback app where they can leave their valuable comments or suggestions. Feedbacks help you analyze what your customers are expecting from you and work on it to provide the most memorable restaurant experience.
Feedbacks help you investigate if more input is required from your end in making the food, ambiance, service, etc. better. This would also help you figure out the exact reason why some of your customers keep coming back.
A memorable restaurant experience is all about providing an unusual experience to your customers which would keep them coming back for more. It is the little details that keep people talking about you and recall your restaurant’s excellent service.
The points mentioned above would not only make the dining experience memorable for your guests but would also help you sustain longer in the competitive food and beverage industry!
