How can restaurant owners survive and thrive? (courtesy of Food photo created by freepik – www.freepik.com)
We love delicious and great tasting food. We love chatting about our latest dining escapades on social media.
If you are Asian, you probably enjoy taking and sharing photos and videos of your food on social networks. You probably also love consuming food related content – recipes, new dishes, menus, the list goes on.
Oh dear! Customer satisfaction has dropped this year, according to a survey done by the Institute of Service Excellence (ISES).
Reading various reports in The Straits Times, TODAY and Business Times, several sobering statistics await us:
What do you get when you combine exquisitely prepared Italian cuisine with nature-inspired imagination?
Inspired by the ancient Greek word Gaea which means “Mother Earth”, Gaia Ristorante and Bar is located at the Goodwood Park Hotel. Infusing natural elements in the aesthetics of its decor and food, the venue houses a martini bar, dining rooms of various configurations and an inner courtyard dining room decked to resemble a garden. Lush and luxuriant, Gaia features plush leather booth seats, elegantly comfortable arm chairs and a glass-enclosed wine cellar cum private room that seats 10.
What is fabulous service? How do you define a “delightful experience”?
To many, an exceptional encounter is a heroic one, epitomised by a smiling human being who jumps through flaming hoops to provide memorable encounters.
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Customer service is one of the most talked about topics in Singapore. Hell hath no fury like a Singaporean customer scorned. At the same time, we have this incredible obsession to share what we eat, wear, buy and do, often with “value-added” comments (“yay” or “nay”).
Unfortunately, retailers and F&B operators are often oblivious of what their customers think. While a few do trawl the web to search for answers (good or bad), most continue their operations in blissful ignorance.
Considered the world’s largest restaurant chain serving 64 million customers daily, McDonald’s is probably the most pervasive fast food chain on the globe. Founded by Ray Kroc in 1955, McDonald’s worldwide generates some US$24 billion in annual revenue from more than 32,000 outlets (mostly franchisee and affiliate run restaurants).
Famed for its superior supply chain management, ultra-efficient service quality, lightning speed kitchens, and franchise business model, its ubiquitous golden arches is probably the most instantly recognisable brand symbol in the world. Here in Singapore, McDonald’s serves some five million customers a month from over 115 restaurants islandwide.
First established in 1979 with an outlet in Liat Towers (once the world’s best performing McDonald’s restaurant), the hamburger chain is encouraging members of the public to participate in its “Open Doors” global initiative. Since 2009, over 5,000 customers have participated in this programme, inclusive of a guided kitchen tour. I suppose this is a good initiative to combat some of the controversies surrounding the burger behemoth.