Dining out isn’t just about the food. It’s an experience that engages all the senses and creates cherished memories. As a restaurant owner or manager, you hold the power to turn a simple meal into a remarkable journey that lingers in the hearts of your visitors. We want more than just good eats though, don’t we? When visiting eateries, we expect enjoyable experiences. What can you do to ensure your restaurant’s customers enjoy themselves?
Have a friendly wait staff.
It doesn’t matter how good your food tastes. If you don’t provide excellent customer service in your restaurant, customers will not come back. People expect genuinely friendly interactions with your employees. It’s vital that they are warm and affable throughout all of their customer interactions. On Chron.com, Miranda Morley explains the importance of wait staff being friendly without going overboard.
“Wait staff should not hover or interrupt, but they also should come back frequently enough to attend to their customers’ needs,” she advises, “In addition, they should bring food in a timely manner and handle problems, such as food that has been sent back pleasantly. Customers also expect wait staff to be friendly and personable.”
Offer contactless menus.
In a not-so-post-pandemic world, many people still want to maintain safety measures. When your eatery offers up opportunities to have minimal contact with surfaces, it helps to ease the minds of health-conscious patrons. By offering an online menu, you can do away with your paper-based menus that touch countless hands over the course of time. As Danny Klein reports on behalf of QSR Magazine, a VIPinsiders poll found that disposable menus are important.
A mass poll found that 58.7 percent of respondents prefer single-use menus. “This might be a larger concern for full-service operators, those restaurants that bring menus to the table,” writes Klein, “Quick-service chains could, in theory, just take their menus off the dining-room floor and let people look solely at the menuboard. Or just have disposable to-go paper options for customers to grab if needed.”
Don’t rush your guests out the door.
Customers should be wowed when they step through the front doors of your eatery. Your restaurant’s decor should offer a clean, pleasant and welcoming atmosphere. It’s important, as well, for your employees to not make patrons feel rushed. Even after their meals are completed, customers should feel welcome to stay and enjoy the environment of your establishment.
“Wait staff should not hint that it is time for the guests to go,” insists Morley, “For example, they should not rush the food to the table unless the customer requests it. They also should not start to clean nearby tables in an obvious manner or wait for customers to get out their money to pay the check. To the contrary, wait staff should say things like, ‘Feel free to chat as long as you like — let me know if you’ll need some dessert or a drink refill.’”
Provide pay at the table options.
Today, customers don’t want to let go of their credit cards – and they shouldn’t have to. With wireless payment terminals, you give your restaurant’s customers very convenient ways to pay for their meals at the table. For more information, please don’t hesitate to call Divvia at 1-877-748-2884 or send us a message on our Contact Us page!
