Family Business Improvement

[chestynuts]

Our family owned restaurant has been running for 5 years and I can say that we are doing well. But I think, we need to review our service as it has not gone any changes. A customer suggested to have a survey on customer satisfaction and suggestions. I am not quite sure how to go about it. Any ideas?Is there any cost effective way to do this?

[disneysteve]

Do you currently have any type of online presence for the restaurant? An email list of customers? A facebook page? If you do, you could e-mail the survey to your mailing list and post it to your facebook page. That would cost you nothing. Use a free survey site like SurveyMonkey.com.

To capture customers who aren't connected in those ways, you could print hard copies of the survey and hand them out at the restaurant. I've been to many restaurants that had little surveys that were handed to me with the bill. It is usually no more than 5 questions (Quality of food, quality of service, cleanliness of restaurant, and a line for comments). That's a cheap and simple way to survey people also and is something you could do on an ongoing basis.

[JanKlein]

hmmmm all ideas are nice and good... I like it and do search etc

[chestynuts]

Thanks for the suggestion. Yes, they are all okay, but the most practical would be through the social networking sites, after all it is free. But another option is to have someone to the job for us. However, we have to weigh which would be beneficial for us in the long run.

[Kasey Del Bosque]

Yes that's true social networking sites is the best way to do it. Free, with wide reach and easy to manage.

[Fishindude77]

I always appreciate it when the owner or manager of a restaurant stops by the table and thanks you for doing business there, asks if everything is OK, and if there is anything they could do better. In your case, could also ask if there are any improvements or changes they would like to see. If you hear the same thing enough times, you might have a valid idea to work with.

CAUTION - Keep it short and sweet unless the customer extends the conversation. Some managers can be a pain in the rear, spending too much time at the tables interrupting the customers time out with friends or family.

Also, you mention that the business is going pretty good. Might be smart to leave well enough alone and just work on simple things like improving speed of service, cleanliness, etc. It's a real tough business to succeed at, and we've all seen a few that had a good business, made changes, then things went downhill. People want to know they can go to a restaurant and expect the same, consistent service and food time after time. That's why they come back.

[disneysteve]

we've all seen a few that had a good business, made changes, then things went downhill.

Ugh. I hate when that happens. There are a few places that we used to frequent that we stopped going to when they made changes. And I can think of at least one chain that ultimately went out of business but their decline began when they changed some key menu items.

I don't know why some places feel they have to change when what they're doing is working.