If you want to attract and retain more customers, you need to deliver value for money and serve them well. Veronica Johnston asks several food lovers what makes them go back to a cafe or restaurant and finds it depends on how good the service is.
By Veronica Johnston
Some say restaurants are more about the people serving them than the food. In other words, how the front-of-house performs matters more than what they serve their guests.
Anyone in any doubt about that need only listen to what some of the world’s front-of-house stars have to say. Xavier Rousset, who won the UK Sommelier of the Year competition when he was just 22, recently told Caterersearch.com: “I remember a well-known celebrity who once told me that when he pays a certain price in a restaurant, he expects the food to be good, but the reason why he will come back depends on how good the front-of-house is.”
Last year, Fernando Peire, director of The Ivy restaurant in London, asked members of our hospitality industry if they had ever been to a restaurant where the food was great but the servers were “a pain in the arse” because they hadn’t made them feel welcome, constantly interrupted them, then gave them an expensive bill at the end of the meal. Peire also said he wouldn’t go back to that restaurant no matter how good the food was and doubted whether members of his audience would either.
But he wouldn’t hesitate to go back if he’d sent a dish back to the kitchen of a different restaurant and an apologetic waiter returned with it perfect without charging them. “So I think that’s proof that restaurants are about a lot of things other than food,” he declared.
What exactly these other things are is what Hospitality magazine sought to find out, before the Rugby World Cup comes, by asking several food lovers about what they liked and disliked about dining out in New Zealand. Their feedback will hopefully help ensure all your customers (especially the rugby-mad overseas ones) rave about the food and service at your venue.
About the food
Most of the people we surveyed had nothing but praise for the fusion of French, Italian and Asian-inspired cooking here in New Zealand. “It’s much appreciated when dining out,” says Dave, a 43-year-old Canadian now living in Auckland. Though he says he’d love to see more classic dishes with a Kiwi twist like shepherd’s pie with fresh, minted New Zealand lamb.
Dave also loves how our meat, seafood and produce are mostly locally sourced or organically grown but reckons restaurants, pubs and cafes need to emphasise this more on their menus. One local chef who does just this – chef Francky Godinho – agrees it’s a great selling point. His menu indicates which dishes contain the herbs and vegetables he plucks from his onsite garden – and they’ve been very popular.
But dishes must be fairly priced warns food and beverage commentator Kerry Tyack, who fears a surge in “price-gouging” during the rugby tournament. He hopes restaurateurs will favour value over money. “It’s not about the cost, it’s about the value. If you think you’re offering $35 main course prices and it’s worth it then offer it, the customer will decide. But just because your next door neighbour in another restaurant is charging $45 – if you can’t add the value, then don’t offer that price because the average consumer is wise to it.”
Meanwhile Eloise, a 30-year-old Auckland-based writer who has lived in both London and Canada, says New Zealand does the best brunch. “Brunch – nobody does it like New Zealand. We know how to make a delicious, hearty late breakfast up to restaurant standard. And the quality of coffee is consistently high even at lower-end eateries.
That’s something Dave loves as well but he wonders why so many cafes close around 4pm: “I’d love to sit in a local cafe in the evening and have a cup of coffee or tea and just relax.”
While most agree New Zealand’s cuisine remains among the best, the same cannot be said for how some people with food allergies are treated. Eloise has Coeliac disease and struggles with staff not taking it seriously. “I have to ask about ingredients every time I go out. New Zealand restaurants are generally very helpful, and getting better all the time, but there are still those who forget or don’t properly check ingredients. There are lots of people on fad diets, and it must drive restaurant workers crazy, but not listening or taking care with meals can have real consequences for someone like me with a medical reason (not just a preference) for avoiding certain foods.”
She suggests checking how sensitive someone is if they say they can’t eat gluten. “They may have Coeliac disease, like me, and need you to take extreme care (for example, not preparing their meals on a surface that has wheat bread crumbs on it) or it may just be a preference, in which case you don’t need to be so careful.”
She says it’s nice to see more people catering for special diets though so keep up the good work.
About the service
Sadly, most of who Hospitality spoke to had more service-related gripes than positives to share. On the plus side, a 39-year-old Scottish woman living in Auckland named Kate (not her real name) says she has been served by staff with an “excellent knowledge of New Zealand produce ingredients” But she’s also encountered “a poor knowledge of the menu, inefficient staff too casual in style, slow service, unattractively presented cuisine and service without a smile.”
“It would be nice if more cafe and restaurant staff could smile a bit more, say ‘good morning’ and ‘thank you’ and generally express a more positive attitude towards customers,” adds Dave. “I don’t feel like eating in a place staffed by Mr or Mrs grumpy pants. Attitude is everything otherwise I’ll go somewhere else.”
While Eloise wonders whether the bad service she’s received is because waiting tables is still sometimes considered ‘just a holiday job’ for students, particularly in beach towns.
Restaurateurs have long had to rely on casual and part-time staff to fill in the gaps as they struggle to attract good staff finding the lure of higher salaries overseas hard to resist. Many also argue restaurateurs are still not investing enough time and money into mentoring and training their staff.
The global gap in perception between chefs and waiters due to a rise in cooking shows hasn’t helped much either. The likes of Jamie Oliver and Gordon Ramsay have “sexed-up” the role of the chef while front-of-house staff have yet to share the limelight. As one UK-based former restaurant manager puts it on Caterersearch.com: “Unfortunately, the only way waiters have been portrayed in this country [Britain] on television is by Manuel on Fawlty Towers.”
Still it’s not that hard to smile and greet customers is it? More customer-focussed training will surely help. Tyack suggests training casual and part-time staff as equally as permanent staff. He also suggests having an experienced maitre’d on hand at all times to oversee everything – especially in larger establishments during the Rugby World Cup – because chances are it’ll be the inexperienced part-timer that cops the more difficult customers.
Another way to help improve the service in your establishment is to reduce the number of items on the menu. Tyack says he’d rather see venues offer less but be more flexible. “If you’ve got 30 mains or choices on your menu, and you’re getting hammered over the world cup, the opportunity for things to turn to custard is much greater than if you’ve got eight things on your menu and you do those well. Eight done well is better than 30 done a bit poorly.”
That flexibility could also extend to having room in the booking sheet for walk-ins, and if you’re full, saying sorry, and offering a space for another night if possible because as Tyack points out, “a lot of these visitors won’t want to eat in their hotel living room, and they’ll be here for multiple nights so get in while you can.” You might even want to create another sitting or extend your closing hours?
Whatever you do, one thing’s for sure, now is not the best time to skimp on staff training and numbers in your establishment – because your people matter.