Introduction
Food habits are not independent entities. They reflect and are influenced by the entire ecological milieu in which they occur. Historically, people have been obliged to eat whatever foods were available, primarily to appease hunger. Only after this basic drive of hunger was satisfied were people in a position to be selective regarding food choices. Through experience, they learned which foods were conducive to health and well-being and which were dangerous and to be avoided.
Because sufficient food is pivotal to the existence of society, human beings have devoted much time and effort to obtain an adequate food supply. Dinning experience has a great impact on the perception of service and restaurant brand image, customers’ loyalty, and repeat visitors. “Moments of truth” influence the decision to visit a bar or a restaurant again and customers’ satisfaction. Service quality determines the perception of the dinner and unique experience in a particular place. The report will discuss two opposite sides of service quality (positive and negative) and their relations to the moments of truth concept.
Positive “Moments of Truth”
Hendrie (2008) depicts “moments of truth” as a ladder from a negative experience to a positive experience. Positive steps are: “I will agree you are nice,” “I will promote you,” and “I will be your raving fan” (Hendrie). In this case, variation in the number of acts could be expected on the basis of the number of different attitudes towards dining. In addition, familiarity with the event and the place has an impact on the Moments of Truth: it affects attitude toward it and demands that personal involvement influences how much is recalled.
Where no real differentiation exists, the business is operating as a commodity, and the guest will choose on price and availability. A low-cost competitive strategy will be required to support the lowest (or equal) price whilst still retaining average industry profitability. The differentiation matrixes should be used to map the business offerings and the relative position of competitors. Based on this analysis, alternative market strategies should be examined and a choice made. In this case, “Moments of Truth” are not accidental but supported by the uniqueness of the place and its brand image. In many cases, mainstream cuisine, regional cooking (including “regional phenomena”), and pop food are examined.
Important influences on these types of cooking are identified and described (Howard, 2001). This is an exhaustive subject, about which much more could have been written. The author particularly regrets that space limitations prevented a more extensive treatment of ethnic foods, which add so much interest to the American culinary scene. Women’s defined location in the private sphere of the home, their prescribed roles and expected behavior patterns, and male domination and control of women in the public areas of life, combine to generate social barriers which exclude unaccompanied women from public places. These patterns are reinforced by the managerial strategies of hotels and public houses, which respond to female customers in terms of such stereotypes. Dining out is an expression of individuality, choice, spontaneity, and that we select restaurants for food and price in ways that demonstrate our discrimination and what we value and desire (Parkinson & Green 2002).
For many guests, dining has the capacity to transform emotions into commodities that are made available to the individual as if they were consumer items. The styles of interaction encouraged in the restaurant produce an ‘uncivilized sociality’; the restaurant makes dining out a mannered exercise, disciplined by customs in a framework of prefigured actions. We act in imitation of others, in accord with images, in response to fashions, out of habit, without the need or thought for self-scrutiny.
Far from being in control, we are relieved of the responsibility of shaping our relationships with others. The foregoing discussion has indicated some of the ways in which eating occasions are situated in a complex social space. Eating events can clearly be seen to be located at points upon a number of dimensions. For example, we might identify a dimension that has eating events shaped by personal social obligations and relationships at one end and, at the other, eating events articulated by a commercial nexus between a consumer and a service provider. Positive emotions occur because dining out gives pleasure and satisfaction where there is no sense of accountability (Howard, 2001). Many people like restaurants and have positive “Moments of Truth” because so remote from every day a restaurant permits the confident presentation of self (Parkinson & Green 2002).
The restaurant is part of the entertainment industry in societies and is concerned with the marketing of emotions, desires, states of mind. There is artifice and pretense; gusts are under the supervision of waiters, they are guided through the menu so that the waiter is between food and eater, wine waiters subdue the diners and establish boundaries and hierarchies and assure diner discomfort. In many places, guests are greeted by a restaurant owner in ways that enhance control. Eating is mediated through money and engenders callous and calculative orientations. In many cases, an attitude that is weak toward a service but differentiates it from competitors’ offerings translates to high attachment and may, in turn, contribute to loyalty. An individual’s attitude toward his auto mechanic may be mildly positive but much more so compared with that toward other mechanics.
Negative “Moments of Truth”
Following Hendrie’s (2008) negative “Moments of Truth” are “I will keep actively bad mouth you” and “I will be non-committal.” These moments and negative experiences are caused by unique customers’ preferences and primary experiences in a place. Critics also recognize athatnsion, which ranges from informal eating situations only loosely constrained by culture and convention to formalized, highly structured eating events. For most of the, there is also a linking between domestic food and restaurant food, and that there is not necessarily a simple dichotomy between ‘eating in’ and ‘eating out.
The commercialization of eating out was a consequence of the breakdown of traditional social relationships, particularly those of feudalism, and the growth of towns and cities. Such changes, which accelerated after the industrial revolution and the separation of home from work, had far-reaching consequences for the organization of both (Howard, 2001). Depending on the context and cuisine chosen, eating out may be either similar or radically different from eating at home. The very diversity of contemporary opportunities for eating out challenges conventional ideas about resistance to change is at their strongest in relation to what we eat (Parkinson & Green 2002).
Similar to positive “Moments of Truth,” negative moments are caused by poor service and poor cuisine. The product-service relationships will be considered as forming a spectrum from the purchase of the product alone, such as candy in a self-service operation, to the purchase of service alone, as in a dry-cleaning establishment or barbershop. The latter are “invisible products,” and like products, they have “functional” as well as psychological aspects. For example, the reputation of a hairstylist adds psychological value to his services (Banotai, 2003).
As masses enjoy these services, however, the psychological value depreciates even though technology increases the proficiency of performance and the number that can be accommodated. Personal services seem to be diminished by mass markets, for “the quantity and quality. In this case, marketing is assailed for impelling customers to develop synthetic wants. In so doing, it is accused of broadening the range of wants to be satisfied (Hendrie, 2008). This expansion of demand stimulates the sale of products but really results in the production of goods that are not of great urgency or that are nonessential. Such criticisms are based on the premise that buyers should not determine which goods are of greater urgency to them; they should not be able to choose what items they consider essential, and so guide economic activity. Rather, they should be limited in their choice and selections (Parkinson & Green 2002).
Conclusion
Positive and negative “Moments of Truth” are influenced by service quality and cuisine. They may well view it as a pleasure, highly convenient, and entertaining, with social formulae which make it easier to act without thinking. However, she wants us to be aware that the underlying processes she describes are linked to the rise of modern culture. Attachment is highest when the customer has a strong preference for a product or service and clearly differentiates it from competitive products. Though less expensive and more convenient hair care services are readily available closer to home, she feels strongly about getting the right hair color service and perceives the Manhattan salon as clearly superior to other service providers. A strong preference combined with little perceived differentiation may lead to loyalty. This is particularly true in fast-moving consumer food goods.
Bibliography
Bantam, A. 2003, The Customer Is Always Right. Journal of Environmental Health, 65 (1), 45.
Hendrie, R. 2008, Winning the Moments of Truth. Web.
Howard, D. E. 2001, MICHIGAN Customer Service EXCELLENCE. Policy & Practice of Public Human Services, 59 (1), 12.
Parkinson, A., Green, J. 2002, Cutting It Fine: Inside the Restaurant Business. Vintage; New.