Service quality in restaurants
Read what matters most to hotel and restaurant customers around the world
How can a meal in a restaurant be transformed into a superlative experience? At MEIKO, we took advantage of our national subsidiaries in countries around the world to ask this question in all kinds of places – and the answer was resounding: good service! A decisive factor in achieving this is the use of professional warewashing technology, along with the tailored services offered by the manufacturers.
The food service sector is booming internationally, a phenomenon which is, at least in part, down to globalisation. In many parts of the world, the industry is responsible for ushering in new levels of culinary diversity. Paradise for foodie urbanites!
Is that why eating out is the most popular it ever has been all over the world? No. The delicacies on the menu are simply the cherry on the cake of the culinary experience. In fact, it is this overall customer experience that will enthuse a hotel guest or restaurant diner. In other words: it is the customer service that is the meat of the matter!
That is why the ‘Michelin Service Award’ was introduced in Germany in 2018. The panel scores establishments on expertise, wine advice and response to customer requests, as well as their charm and character. Countless local and regional accolades have also sprung up, such as the ‘Distinguished Service Award’ decided by the Michigan Restaurant & Lodging Association in the north of the USA. ‘The World Restaurant Awards’ were also launched in Paris in early 2019, with the panel judging service quality, among other criteria.
This is an especially important factor for hotel and restaurant customers all over the world
To see what matters most to diners globally, we asked representatives of MEIKO national subsidiaries anecdotally. The results were interesting: even though perspectives on customer satisfaction are shaped by culture, the broader picture is more uniform than you might think.
Whether a customer visits a restaurant, café or hotel, it is the right service that will make them feel at home
Whether in Germany, the Netherlands, the UK, Turkey, Malaysia or China, the traditional criteria matter to customers. These include plenty of choice on the menu, the quality of the food, reasonable prices and the right atmosphere. Yet other aspects are even more important.
For example, hotel and restaurant customers in Turkey truly value it when they cannot help but notice just how clean the establishment is. They also want to see it attract plenty of people through the doors. In Germany, on the other hand, the focus is primarily on healthy food including vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options. German diners also expect to be able to modify their chosen menu item to their tastes. In the Netherlands and Malaysia, friendly staff are the order of the day and for British and Chinese customers, the overall service is the key factor. In fact, this is the common theme, despite minor differences. All in all, the quality of the service was the most frequently mentioned aspect across all countries.
And good customer service depends on good service provided by external partners
Without question, fast, reliable and flexible service says a lot about a restaurant's quality. Customers are finely tuned to this and only start to trust the establishment if everything fits in with expectations. Then, and only then, will they choose to come back and be happy to recommend the restaurant or hotel among friends in person and on social media.
In order to provide overall customer satisfaction, though, food service establishments need good external partners wherever they are in the world. Their success thus depends on professional equipment providers, deliveries which reliably arrive on time, responsible cleaners and, last but not least, frictionless crockery circulation. To achieve this, kitchens need high-performance commercial dishwashers which facilitate efficient workflows between the dining area and the kitchen. For the same reason, the manufacturer's technical service is also a must, just in case something goes wrong. That service needs to be where the customer is.
You can depend on MEIKO service quality
Good service is everything in hotels and restaurants. In many parts of the world, it is simply an expectation. Yet, establishments can only provide good service when they can depend on good service from their own service providers. That is precisely what makes specialist German warewashing company MEIKO and its international subsidiaries such a good choice as a profitable external partner.
