Changing Strategy and Menu to Match Customer Expectations

The Challenge:
An experienced restaurant management group was unaware that their delivery was not matching customer expectations in a joint-use, restaurant-club location.

The Client:
Private Club and Fine Dining Chain

Situation:
The client is a very well managed, customer-focused fine dining chain that operates private clubs attached to several of their high-end restaurants. They have utilized traditional mystery shopping services for many years.

Historically, management assumed that customers on the private-club side of the locations were more satisfied than those on the public dining side. This logically made sense to them, because the two outlets share the same kitchen, menu, and wait staff. Sporadic mystery shops had borne out this hypothesis. The original locations utilizing this approach recently celebrated their 25th anniversary, so this approach was well entrenched.

Action:

1. Mindshare was installed to allow our client to get immediate daily input from their customers. The point-of-sale receipt for each meal included a printed offer to call a toll-free number and receive an incentive. Customers called the number or visited the website, answered a few questions via the telephone keypad, and received a redemption code good for their next visit.
2. In addition to the quantitative response, each customer also may leave a verbatim voice recording of their feelings about the service received.
3. "Alert" reports are triggered immediately to management when customers give negative responses.
4. Management is able to use quantitative survey responses AND have wait staff listen to the CUSTOMER'S OWN recorded voice to train them on appropriate practices.

Customer experience feedback was recorded across a wide range of areas, along with overall satisfaction, and intent to return.

Results:
After using Mindshare for only two weeks, management noted that the public restaurant side of the business was receiving higher scores than the private club. After delving deeper into the problem, they determined that the private club customers' perception was that they were paying for an exclusive service, yet were receiving the same food and service that the public-side patrons were receiving. Chain management changed the menu and wait-staff procedures on the Private Club side and the value perception scores immediately improved. "What gets measured gets managed."

Mindshare helped an experienced restaurant chain's management group change the way they provide their Private Club customer's a differentiated experience.

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