Value – Is this word over used or what?
authored by Darren S. Denington
President, Service With Style
When you think about all the buzz words floating around the Hospitality industry right now, it seems like there should be a new focus every single week. “Implement SMART Systems”, Deploy New Strategies” “Primary Vendor”, “Local Fresh Ingredients”, “Trading Down”……… Where do you start?
Start and finish every day with VALUE.
The single most important moment of the dining experience right now is when the guest receives the check. They ask themselves – “Was that worth it?”
So why is this so important? Obviously the economy turned and diners are either slowing down the frequency of dining out, trading down in the level of establishment they typically visit or watch how much they spend when they are out. It is also the beginning of summer. Kids are out of school, people are on vacation and the average families expenses increase during this time of year.
Numerous experts are predicting a 1.5% to 3% increase in same store sales in restaurants over the next few months based on the stimulus check program so this is the perfect time to stop and evaluate the value of the entire experience you provide.
Value is not just food portions or menu prices, it’s the entire package of everything your guests see, taste, touch, smell, hear and yes, feel, while they are dining with you.
When they open their wallet to pay the check, they want a pleasant feeling of paying for something that was worth the price.
Value has now taken on a whole new meaning because this includes how friendly your staff is, the cleanliness of tables, how hot the food was, the level of your music, your bathrooms, how quickly they received the food and on and on. Everything comes into play when the guests evaluate you to see if there was VALUE in their experience.
Good portions at a fair price are still a part of value but with everything that is now looked at to evaluate if the price was worth the experience, how could the word VALUE possibly get over used right now?
Darren S. Denington is president of Service With Style, a guest service review company that includes secret shoppers and customer surveys. More information about the company can be found at www.ServiceWithStyle.com.
The Restaurant Expert blog is a place for sharing ideas and strategies for independent restaurant owners. From time to time, David Scott Peters, restaurant expert, asks for outside representatives with helpful information to post on his blog. Thank you to Darren for his customer service insights that can help every independent restaurant owner improve customer service and restaurant profits. For systems that improve customer service, contact David today or visit him on the restaurant network.
