Analyzing Customer Satisfaction At Soul Bar And Bistro Restaurant

Importance of customer satisfaction in restaurant industry

Discuss about the Applied Business Research for Aucklands Viaduct Harbour.

This assessment will look at Soul Bar and Bistro which is a restaurant located in the heart of Auckland’s Viaduct Harbour (SoulBar, n.d.). The restaurant boasts of its excellent application of the freshest and finest local ingredients, and as expected due to its location, Soul Bar and Bistro also puts some special emphasis on seafood. The restaurant has an awesome all-weather terrace which faces the west so as to capture the elegant sunsets, the beautiful views of the waters such as the fishing boats, super yachts, and water taxis. In essence, the restaurant acknowledges the fact that going out in the modern age entails more than just taking good meals and drinks. Rather, a day out entails making memorable moments with family and friends. For this reason, the restaurant has branded itself as a destination for worthwhile memories in the past two decades of its operation. Soul Bar and Bistro unpretentious and fresh meals along with the breathtaking hand-crafted cocktails are true examples of fun and elegance in equal measures (SoulBar, n.d.).  Priding itself in glamorous sunset views over Auckland’s flourishing Viaduct Harbour, Bistro’s live band wraps up the week just ended. Besides that, Saturday nights see international and local DJs take up the stage preparing the air for the breathtaking Sunday Sessions Summer series. Essentially, SOUL has managed to offer everything that people need; whether it’s a business lunch, a relaxed evening of cocktails, an over-night party, or a romantic dinner, SOUL has got its customers covered.

This paper will, therefore, seek to analyze the customer satisfaction of Soul Bar and Bistro and also discuss some of the important elements of customer satisfaction. By definition, customer satisfaction denotes a marketing term that is applied to gauge how the services and products of a company fulfill the expectations of customers. One of the main benefits of customer satisfaction is that it can be used by business owners and marketers to enhance and control their businesses. In a survey that included almost 200 senior marketing managers, 71 % of them gave a response saying that a customer satisfaction metric is of great essence in the processes of monitoring and managing their business operations (Jung & Yoon, 2013). To continuously keep customers satisfied and also make them come back for more, a restaurant should give priority to the quality of service offered. A service refers to all the moments that employees are in contact with the customers, including noting the requests of customers and solving problems as well. A service also encompasses the server’s mannerisms, appearance, and an excellent comprehension of the menu contents. In addition to that, it is worth noting that employee satisfaction is directly proportional to customer satisfaction. This study will, therefore, investigate the relationship between the quality of services, satisfied, knowledgeable, and well-trained front-line employees and customer satisfaction while using the Soul Bar and Bistro restaurant as an example.

Elements to consider for customer satisfaction in the service industry

It has been noted that for many decades, the service industry has dominated the business world. Currently, the service sector is ranked as the biggest and tremendously growing industry. In the United States alone, the restaurant and foodservice industry accounts for $660 billion. In fact, the restaurant industry has grown and spread so fast that half of the adults have contributed or worked in the industry at some point. Any establishment that offers people food can be classified as a food service industry.

In a scholarly viewpoint, the satisfaction of employees has been continuously connected to the experiences that guests have with an organization. Church, Rotolo, Margulies, Del Giudice, Ginther, Levine & Tuller, (2015) argues that service industries should aim at determining the certain factors of the working atmosphere, as outlined by the workers, which correlate to essential outcomes of the organization including business satisfaction and customer satisfaction. To no surprise, multiple studies within the restaurant industry have reaffirmed that there is a great connection between performance and organizational climate. The degree of employee engagement can be viewed as an essential measure of climate. Multiple studies have been carried out to explain the connection between the satisfaction of employees and customers. According to a study conducted in 2012, there are three key elements which collectively impact an employee satisfaction (decision to stay) which also contributes to customer satisfaction. The three elements include kindness and respect of the manager, recognition, and communication. First, employees need to be appreciated for even the slightest efforts.  The term recognition can allude to multiple elements. However, Soul Bar and Bistro restaurant should focus on showing sincere appreciation to its employees. Employees who are appreciated at their workplace will in turn transfer the same appreciation to the organization’s customers. Secondly, the team members/ workers need to be aware of all the developments that are occurring in the workplace so that they can serve the customers better and even produce better overall results. If Soul Bar and Bistro restaurant plans to change its menu contents, for instance, then the same information should be relayed to the employees to avoid confusion when serving customers. Thirdly, for Soul Bar and Bistro restaurant to achieve customer satisfaction, employees have to be shown respect and kindness, and they will eventually treat the customers in the same way.

One of the most crucial findings of Ryu, Lee, and Gon Kim (2012) study is that the quality of an organization’s service can be determined by looking at the customer expectations against what they perceive to be the actual service. In other words, the quality of services can be viewed as the result of the difference between the customers’ perception of the real service and service expectations. According to Hill and Brierley (2017), offering quality services translates to increased customer loyalty and satisfaction. The authors also explained that the SERVQUAL is the best tool to examine the quality of a service. SERVQUAL is a tool for determining the various spheres of service quality as alluded to by Parasuraman, Berry, and Zeithaml (1991). As discussed by Lien, Cao, and Zhou (2017), the quality of service is examined by applying this tool as the gap between the perceptions and expectations of the customers, represented by five spheres which include empathy, reliability, tangibles, assurance, and responsiveness. It must be noted, however, that not all studies applying this tool adopt the same spheres. However, according to Parasuraman, Berry, and Zeithaml (1991), the SERVQUAL can be said to be one of the best models for determining the quality of services due to its stability and effectiveness. In regards to the spheres, Parasuraman, Berry, and Zeithaml (1991), argue that tangibles concern the physical facilities’ appearance, materials of communication, equipment, and physical facilities. Reliability denotes the potential to deliver services as promised in an accurate and dependable manner. Responsiveness refers to the willingness to offer prompt services and also solve problems relating to customers. Assurance represents the courtesy and knowledge exhibited by the employees along with the potential to assure confidence and trust. Finally, empathy denotes the aspect personalized attention that a company offers to its customers.

SERVQUAL model for service quality in restaurants

Studies that have sought to investigate the service quality in restaurants have applied three essential spheres of service quality. These include the employee service, the quality of food, and the physical environment (Dutta, Parsa, Parsa, and Bujisic, 2014; Ryu, Lee, Kim, & Woo, 2012). In this particular study, the SERVQUAL was used as the instrument of choice as it has all the spheres that cover the aforementioned constructs. Ryu, Lee, & Woo (2012) put a special emphasis on the importance of the quality of food as a gauge of satisfaction of customers in the restaurant industry. As a consequence, five key factors of the quality of food were applied from Ryu, K., Lee, H. K., & Woo, G. (2012); these factors include whether the food’s smell is enticing, whether the menu contains variety, whether the food offered is nutritious, whether the food is delicious, and whether the food is fresh. Qin, Prybutok, & Zhao, (2010) sought to determine some of the likely spheres of quality of a service and gauged the relationship between customer satisfaction, the value perceived, the quality of food, behavioral intentions  and quality of service in fast-food restaurants and concluded that the quality of food bears an outwardly straightforward and positive effect on the satisfaction of customers.

In the service industry, satisfaction of customers has been argued to be the extent to which performance of services fulfills or surpasses what customers expect from an organization (Kumar, 2012; Lombard, 2009). On the same note, Hui and Zheng (2010) denoted customer satisfaction as an evaluative measure of a certain activity emanating as a result of a quality that is perceived. Conversely, Danesh, Nasab, and Ling (2012) denoted the retention of customers as the future predisposition of the clients to remain with the organization offering services to them. The authors further note that the satisfaction of customers is not the only aspect that impacts customer retention. Molapo & Mukwada (2011) argued that customer retention can be viewed as a marketing goal that makes the customers remain loyal and snub competitors. On the other hand, Edward and Sahadev (2011) view customer retention as the customers’ willingness to come back to the service provider and repurchase the service. In essence, they adopted customer retention as a gauge of the willingness of customers to repurchase services or remain loyal. According to them, some of the essential antecedents of retaining customers include the satisfaction of customers and quality of service. Malik (2012) conducted a study aimed at determining the gap between service perception and expectation of customers while relating the same to the services offered by various service sectors such as the transport and banking industries and looked at the influence on their satisfaction. Malik’s findings reaffirmed that the quality of services bears a positive impact on the satisfaction of customers. Ahmad, Ahmed, Nawaz, Shaukat & Ahmad (2010) revealed that there exists a positive and huge relationship between the four spheres of quality of services namely assurance, reliability, tangibles, and responsiveness and satisfaction of customers. In the same study, empathy was proved to have a huge yet negative correlation with the satisfaction of customers.

1. Does the quality of service spheres possess a positive impact on the satisfaction of customers?
2. Does the quality of food possess a positive impact on the satisfaction of customers?

Customer satisfaction and retention in the service industry

Conclusion

As seen in this paper, the satisfaction of employees has been continuously connected to the experiences that guests have with an organization. Wiley 1996 argues that service industries should focus on determining the certain factors of the working atmosphere, as outlined by the workers, which correlate to essential outcomes of the organization including business satisfaction and customer satisfaction. On this note, Soul Bar and Bistro restaurant’s management should strive to ensure that its employees are always satisfied so that they can relay the same to the customers. Three elements which have a positive impact on the employee satisfaction have been outlined in this paper; these elements are kindness and respect of the manager, recognition, and communication. To keep the employees and customers satisfied, Soul Bar and Bistro restaurant need to ensure that the three aforementioned elements are evident in the organization.

 Studies that have sought to investigate the service quality in restaurants have applied three essential spheres of service quality; the employee service, the quality of food, and the physical environment. As seen in these studies, significant emphasis has been put on the quality of food as a gauge of satisfaction of customers in the restaurant industry. On this note, Soul Bar and Bistro restaurant need to ensure that the quality of food is given the top priority so that the customers remain loyal. As also noted in this paper, the SERVQUAL instrument can be applied in the restaurant industry including the Soul Bar and Bistro restaurant as it encompasses the aforementioned constructs of the employee service, the nature or quality of food, and the general environment. Generally, all the studies presented in this paper agree that quality of services, satisfied, knowledgeable, and well-trained front-line employees have a positive impact on customer satisfaction.

References

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Employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction in the service industry

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SoulBar. (n.d.). Soul Bar. Retrieved from https://www.soulbar.co.nz/