Introduction
The key to a successful business is customer satisfaction. Customers want to have their needs addressed in the right way and manner, and only then it is possible to win their loyalty and drive business growth since satisfied customers will always want to come back and even give referrals.
Mega bytes restaurant does not underestimate the power of customer satisfaction and hence the reason the management decided to assess how well their customers were satisfied.
A survey was conducted for a period of three months in which customers were asked to rate their satisfaction. Surprisingly, the survey revealed that customers had issues, for example, the waiting time was long. Information from the respondents showed that lack of customer satisfaction was a product of many factors as outlined below.
First, the customers had to wait for seats and this was the major source of dissatisfaction followed closely by poor arrangements of the buffet table. Thirdly, the tables were not clean and that at times, the rooms were so drafty. Those were cited as the major causes though in addition to them, other minor reasons were cited as waiting for coffee for a long time, missing utensils, failure to provide dietetic sweetener and lack of ashtrays on the table.
In order to address the issues and improve customer satisfaction, management resulted to getting a team of employees who used the Seven Step Model (SSM) to critically analyze the root cause of the problem, potential causes and probable solutions in an analytical approach. The following is a systematic procedure and analysis of the seven step method.
The Seven-Step Method
According to Winston and Mark (2008, pg.9), the first step is project definition which entails defining the problem in terms of the current situation and what is expected, determining the importance of analyzing the problem and establishing evaluation measures. In this case, the problem was defined as customers waiting too long to be seated and the team had to analyze issues such as when the waiting started and when it ended.
Therefore, the problem that needed to be solved was waiting time taken by a customer to be seated. The second step involves assessment of the current situation, which implies that baseline date is gathered, designing flow chart and sketches, identification of relevant variables and data collection instruments, collecting information and taking a summary of the variables effect on the problem.
Any useful additional information can be gathered at this time. In this case, current situation was assessed in terms of floor set-up (arrangement) and the number of customers who waited for more than one minute before being seated as well as on what days of the week waiting time was higher.
Baseline data showed that waiting time was high during weekdays and during the busy hours. The main reason for waiting during this time was unavailability of tables merely because they were waiting to be cleared and not because they were occupied by clients or lack of space at preferred sitting position which normally was the non-smoking region. The third step is to analyze the potential or probable causes of these problems.
This step requires that a cause and effect diagram is constructed to assess the conditions that could be leading to the problems at hand. The causes should be verified through appropriate measures such as observation or controlling variables.
The team at mega byte restaurant cause and effect diagram showed that the distance from the kitchen to the tables was one of the factors that contributed to uncleared tables and waiting for non smoking sitting positions.
The fourth step in the model entails developing a number of alternative solutions and screening them thoroughly to come with the best possible solution and implementing it. In the case of mega byte restaurant, the team opted for a solution that could be tested easily just by observing. Temporary workstations were set up in the non-smoking area and no other changes were made.
The team then wanted to establish the number of people who had to wait for more than one minute before being seated after the change was effected. Step five involves checking the results.
In this step, the effectiveness of the solutions undertaken in step four is assessed, additional relevant and baseline data is can be added at this point and a repeat of necessary steps conducted. Disparities between the planned and the actual results should be explained and accounted for.
From the case study, there was drastic improvement in waiting time after implementation of the solution in step four having dropped from as high as 40% to as low as less than 5%. In step six, standardize the improvement. This means adopting and incorporating the improvement in a manner that it fits well into the organization’s operations and policies.
Strategy implementation and ensuring its success is also done at this stage as well as identification of other areas that can improved by application of the same strategy and the subsequent implementation if any. In the case of mega byte restaurant, institutionalization of the improvement was done by replacing the temporary workstations with permanent ones.
The last and final step is establishment of future plans. It focuses on assessing whether the gap between what is and what should be needs to be narrowed further and if need, who would be the key participants.
A summary of what was learnt should be availed to act as a guideline to future projects or for reference purposes. From the case study, mega byte team of employees decided to focus on the next major issue listed as customer complaints and in particular poor arrangement of buffet tables.
How to Boost the Seating Capacity
The sitting capacity can be boosted in several ways; one being the main reasons as to why people take time to sit is associated with uncleared tables or search for a sitting section away from the smoking areas. This issue can be addressed by first addressing the issue of preferred sitting section.
From the study, it is evident that most clients prefer the non-smoking section. More tables can be added to the section and also convert a part of the smoking section to non-smoking to increase the sitting capacity of the people.
The tables are far from the kitchen; this can be addressed by redesigning the floor in such a way that the tables are located near the kitchen to reduce the physical distance. Time taken by the waitresses to take the check to the counter can be minimized by introduction of self service where the clients are required to pay before they are served. Payment mode can also be diversified to incorporate cash payment system.
Such mechanisms will give the waitresses more time to clear the tables. The waitresses salaries should be reviewed and paid a salary that commensurate their services and also look for ways to boost their morale so that they clear the tables in good time.
Staff Reduction
It would not be advisable for mega byte restaurant to reduce staff since during the busy hours they have shortage of staff. It would be advisable to look into the root causes of high turnover of the staff and look into the staff welfare with regard to their pay.
Incentives such as rewards should be given to the staff to motivate them to server the customers in an effective and efficient manner. Reason being satisfied customers are likely to be loyal and bring in others thus creating more jobs hence employ more staff instead of reducing the number.
Relevance of the Study
The study team learnt various skills such as formulating the problem statement which requires posing the solutions as the problem. This skill can be used in addressing other issues concerning the business such as the reasons behind improper setting of the buffet table.
Collection of data with accuracy and ability to use and interpret baseline data to get relevant information was also another aspect learnt that would be very useful in solving the other problems the organization is facing.
Eliminating the Smoking Section May Cause Waiting Time to Decrease
From the case study, introduction of temporary workstations in the non-smoking zone led to an overall reduction in the number of people who waited for more than a minute to sit. This shows that most of the clients preferred to sit on the non-smoking section.
The study showed that percentage of people who waited for seats after temporary work stations were set up in the non smoking section reduced from as high as 40% to as low as less than 5%.
Considering that most of the clients are business people who travel a lot and mainly meet to discuss business or official matters, few people will want to smoke from the restaurant since most people prefer to smoke when they are relaxed and without interfering with the comfort f others. Hence, to some extant, elimination of the smoking are can lead to decreased waiting time.
The SWOT Analysis
According to Bohm (2009, pg 2), the SWOT analysis refer to strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Each organization needs to understand its SWOT analysis to be able to remain competitive in the market or industry. Strengths refer to the strong aspects of an organization that gives it a competitive edge over the other competitors.
Mega byte restaurant has a strong management team that understands the importance of customer satisfaction and thus addresses issues from customers’ point of view in a systematic and procedural manner. This gives a competitive edge over the competitors who try to look for solutions without considering what the customers’ needs and wants are.
However, it has weaknesses too in that it does not adequately cater for employees welfare hence high turnover that is costly to the firm and drains funds that could otherwise be used to expand the building. Employees’ motivation is very important in determining their productivity and this is an area that is wanting with regard to mega byte restaurant.
The design of the building is also wanting and needs redesigning to save on time and energy spent on physical movement. Considering that the firm is normally very busy and especially during weekdays, it stands a better chance to improve on its services, satisfy customers, and generate more business revenues and profits that will allow it to grow and expand.
The fact that customers opt to wait for seats instead of leaving implies that it stands a better chance than competitors in winning and retaining customers. The biggest challenge or threat is that if the firm fails to address the customer complaints addressed by clients during the survey, the might easily lose on to competitors in terms of both customers and employees.
Conclusion /Alternative
Mega byte restaurant has the potential to meet its customer needs if proper measures and procedures are put in place. The case looked at how customers could be served in a more satisfactorily manner by reducing waiting time to be seated. This was done by increasing workstations in the non-smoking zone and this greatly reduced the waiting time.
In the alternative hypothesis, elimination of smoking zone will not decrease the waiting time. This can be supported by the fact that even with introduction of more workstations in the non-smoking zone; the smoking zone was still operational.
Based on gathered information, elimination of smoking zone will lead to a reduction in waiting time but not fully since other factors such as uncleared tables have to be considered as causes of increased waiting time.
References
Böhm, A. (2009). The SWOT AnalysisAkademische Schriftenreihe. Norderstedt, GRINVerlag. Web.
Winston, W. L and Mark, C. (2008). Practical management science. OH, Cengage Learning. Web.