Customer Service Table of Contents INTRODUCTION 1 APPROACH 1.1 Customer Satisfaction 1.1.1 We are in the People Business 1.1.2 Greeting Customer within 30 Seconds 1.1.3 Customer Needs 1.1.4 Team/Customer Interaction 1.1.5 Suggestive Selling 1.1.6 Team Awareness 1.2 Store Setting/Environment 1.2.1 Be the Customer 1.2.2 The Customer Experience 1.2.3 The Special Place 2 DEPLOYMENT 2.1 Service Deployment 2.1.1 Own Your Post 2.1.2 Eliminate Bottlenecks 2.1.3 All Service Areas, All the Time 2.2 Benefits of Service Deployment 2.2.1 Satisfied Customers 2.2.2 Customer Retention 2.2.3 Increased Productivity 2.2.4 Happy Environment 3 SPEED 3.1 Importance of Speed of Service 3.1.1 Speed as a Mind Frame 3.1.2 Effect of Speed on Customer 3.2 Wait Times 3.2.1 Customer Wait Times Chart
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INTRODUCTION There are three key elements to developing a customer base: • quality of product • quality of service • speed of service It is critical to have all of these factors carried out at the same time in order to develop, retain, and grow our customer base. Quality of product refers to consistently delivering top quality food and beverage items. The customer must always receive fresh and flavorful food and beverage items, because consistency is crucial to obtaining return customers. We never serve any items that do not meet our freshness standards, and if you ever doubt the freshness of an item you should bring it to the attention of management. Quality of service is an area that will be covered extensively in this manual. Without excellent customer service even the top product offerings will suffer. In fact, we would venture to say that customer service is a product in itself. With so many food establishments within walking distance of our cafes, the customer experience we provide will set Kitchen Gia apart and play a major role in whether a customer will be loyal to Kitchen Gia. Customers will want to return not only because of our fresh and flavorful food items, but to experience the way we treat our customers as well. Speed of service is extremely important to our customers. Not only must the food or beverage taste great and be delivered by a friendly and smiling team member, but it must be delivered quickly. People do not have long lunch breaks and we must ensure that they spend minimal time waiting for their food or coffee to be served. Speed is important in everything we do and making it a way of working is critical.
© 2006 Avanti Food Corporation. All rights reserved.
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1 APPROACH 1.1 Customer Satisfaction At Kitchen Gia our operating philosophy is simple: serve the best quality product with a happy, positive attitude in a timely manner. When the quality is high, the service is friendly, and the lines move quickly, we create satisfied customers every time. We believe in more than just service with a smile (though smiles are a good place to start!). We forge positive customer relations in all that we do. This recipe for customer satisfaction has been serving us well for more than 10 years! 1.1.1 We are in the People Business
We are in the people business, selling food. Our core focus revolves around treating our customers in a way that leaves a lasting positive impression that will ensure they are eager to return with a friend in tow, because they feel good being here! At Kitchen Gia we set ourselves apart from other fast casual food establishments, because we genuinely care about our customers new and old. Making personal connections is extremely important and is done by: • learning a customer’s name. • remembering their favorite drink or sandwich. • asking follow-up questions to previous conversations had with them. • asking how they enjoyed their panino or salad. Personally knowing your customer will establish a sense of loyalty, because they will feel we truly care about them and they will become return customers. Our focus remains on making the customer feel important and appreciated, and this should guide your behavior from the beginning to the end of your shift. Customers are the reason we are here, and we must focus our energy on customer satisfaction all of the time. 1.1.2 Greeting Customer within 30 Seconds
The customer must be greeted within thirty seconds of entering the café. When a customer enters and approaches the area they want to order from we should not let them wait there for more than thirty seconds before they are acknowledged. If you are having a conversation with a fellow team member, that conversation must stop and the focus must shift to the customer immediately. You may also find that you are busy preparing other customer orders or completing another task, but always be sure to turn to the waiting customer and smile while saying “Hello, I’ll be right with you in just a minute.” Do not let the customer wait without initiating any verbal interaction. This may cause the customer to feel like he/she is being ignored. Customers understand that we work hard to serve them. Proper and timely © 2006 Avanti Food Corporation. All rights reserved.
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communication ensures they will wait patiently for you to do so.
1.1.3 Customer Needs
It is very important to be aware of and provide for your customers’ needs and to be able to answer customer inquiries. It is each team member’s responsibility to discover customer needs and ask questions to determine what will suit them best. Always be willing to give explanations to questions, and if you do not know the answer ask management. Some customers might want to know about our all-natural ingredients and why they taste better, or someone might have a question about our free-range chicken; it is your role to happily answer any questions with which you are presented. Moreover, if a customer is having difficulty deciding what to order, be proactive and ask questions regarding what they like so you can offer suggestions to best satisfy their needs or wants. Be able to describe items and possibly offer samples of ingredients they may want to try. 1.1.4 Team/Customer Interaction
At Kitchen Gia we try to create a pleasant and happy workplace for our team members which will then translate into treating our customers with a courteous and positive disposition. We want to create a ‘sense of team’ and a unity among team members to work together in order to make this a fun and happy workplace. We want our customers to feel the same way so they enjoy their experience and interaction with team members when they visit. Being enthusiastically friendly with customers creates a positive and uplifting atmosphere; therefore it is very important to always smile and engage in pleasant conversation with our customers. At Kitchen Gia our goal is for every customer to remember us by the incredible customer experience they encounter, which will set us apart from other cafés. Following are five key elements that must be present when team members interact with customers: • Always smile and greet customers with enthusiasm. • Greet the customer by saying “Hi, how are you?” “How may I help you today?” or “What may I get for you today?” • Learn customers’ names and specific information about them. • Engage in pleasant conversation. • Before the customer leaves be sure to say, “Thank you for coming to Kitchen Gia and have a great day. See you again soon.” 1.1.5 Suggestive Selling
Suggestive selling is a practice everyone needs to be familiar with and apply to every order. This means to up-sell. In other words when a customer is paying for their salad, never say, “Is that it?” Instead suggest, “Would you like a drink with that?” © 2006 Avanti Food Corporation. All rights reserved.
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Another example would be when a customer orders a café latte; you might say, “May I get you a chocolate chip cookie with that?” If they are getting a sandwich, suggest Kettle chips or a featured beverage. Always try to increase sales by selling an item that goes along with their order. To add a personal touch, recommend items that have become favorites for you! A customer will be able to detect your genuine enthusiasm for a product, and this can go a long way in up-selling. These techniques will expose our customers to other products we sell and give them new items to enjoy.
1.1.6 Team Awareness
Being attentive to everything in the café is critical. Always be aware of when a customer walks in the door and where they go- look and listen! If a customer approaches your station you must be ready to welcome them to the café and quickly take their order. If you are performing a side task, stop and go back to your station immediately. Once you are finished serving the customer, return to your task. You must also be attentive as to when re-stocking or cleaning of the café needs to be done. It is the team’s responsibility to always be looking around the café (at tables, condiment bars, floors, restrooms, etc.) to see if they are clean and presentable. When you are not serving a customer your efforts must be focused on keeping the café clean and performing side tasks. However, DO NOT leave your station to complete a task without first alerting a manager or nearby team member. Keeping busy is expected and appreciated, but you are accountable for ensuring your station is monitored in your absence at all times! 1.2 Store Setting/Environment
Our goal at Kitchen Gia is to create a welcome escape, that special place, from busy and stressful days. Our customers should feel comfortable and want to visit us frequently. The environment we create determines whether a first-time customer will become a regular customer, or whether a regular customer begins recommending us to others. If we create a fun and friendly environment to complement our superior product offerings, customers will want to incorporate Kitchen Gia into their daily schedules (and in some cases we may entice them to visit multiple times in a day!).
1.2.1 Be the Customer © 2006 Avanti Food Corporation. All rights reserved.
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Envision yourself as the customer and consider what customers are seeing, hearing, and experiencing while in the café. Walk through the front door as a customer coming in for the first time and look around at what you observe and ask yourself the following five questions: • Is the store clean and are tables and condiment bars presentable and inviting? • Are team members happy and having fun? • Are team members smiling at customers and interacting with them? • Is there pleasant conversation among team members and customers? • Do customers seem to be happy and enjoying themselves? During every shift you work you should take a few moments to view the café through the customers’ eyes in order to make sure the answers to these questions are always yes. The store must always be clean, team members should be having fun and happy to be here, team member-customer interaction is very important and must always be pleasant and desirable; as a result of this, customers will be satisfied with Kitchen Gia.
1.2.2 The Customer Experience
Team members are in charge of ensuring that each customer has a positive and uplifting experience while in Kitchen Gia. The customer experience determines whether that individual will come back and perhaps bring a friend or recommend us to co-workers. In this business we want everyone to be a repeat customer so the overall customer experience must be our primary focus. What defines the customer experience? A combination of things need to take place in order to provide each customer with an unforgettable experience. The customer experience includes everything that happens once the customer enters the café to the time they leave. The four most important factors that must always be present are: • Store cleanliness. • Prompt greeting/acknowledgement of customers • Personal customer connections made over brief conversations (if time allows). • Speed of service. Ultimately, our team members need to go the extra mile to satisfy customers and impress them so they feel special and have a unique experience, which will in turn make them want to return and have that same experience again. The key is to make each customer feel important and show them that we genuinely care about them as people, which is what Kitchen Gia is all about.
1.2.3 The Special Place
Kitchen Gia is that special place where team members like to come to work and where customers want to keep coming back. It is up to team members to © 2006 Avanti Food Corporation. All rights reserved.
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create this special place for customers. This is a place where you don’t just get a sandwich or a coffee; instead you can be cheered up if you are having a bad day, share some good news with someone, talk about your family, or just come to relax and regroup. The special place is that one place where you feel at home and comfortable; it is simply a place that makes your day better, where team members and customers both leave with a good feeling. It is a place where you don’t have to go, but instead you want to go. Think about what this place is in your daily life and what makes it feel special to you. 2 DEPLOYMENT 2.1 Service Deployment Service deployment refers to placing or positioning team members strategically in a way that customers are served in a timely and efficient manner. Especially during busy times it is necessary that all team members know where they need to be and what they need to do. All team members are assigned to certain service areas in order to assist customers and keep the customers flowing through the café. Team members will thus be working more efficiently and not interfering with one another. It is your responsibility to check the station assignment sheet upon arriving for your shift. 2.1.1 Own Your Post
During a work shift each team member is assigned to a service area which is called your post or station. You must own your post. This means that you are in charge of that specific area during your shift. You are to work in that station and guard it at all times, even when you are doing side tasks or doing rounds to clean the café. As we previously mentioned, you are to stop doing your side-work when you see a customer approach your station; it is your duty to service that area and be there for the customer without keeping them waiting. You must understand the priorities and duties of your post in order to make the most productive choices on your own. For instance, before it gets busy your station must be stocked with all the essentials you need to run your shift and service customers quickly and efficiently. You should not be running around to stock your station during busy times and keep customers waiting.
2.1.2 Eliminate Bottlenecks
Team members need to be able to eliminate bottlenecks in the café. Bottlenecks may be created by those customers that are coming to Kitchen Gia` for the first time and are not familiar with our ordering system or flow of the café. It is your job to monitor customer traffic and keep the flow © 2006 Avanti Food Corporation. All rights reserved.
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continuous so there is no unnecessary waiting by any customer. Bottlenecks will slow down all other customers so you must politely direct them to the right area. Explain our products and find out what it is they are interested in ordering, then guide them where they need to go to place their order and pay. If a customer has reached your station and indicates they need more time, kindly help the next person and then get back to them when they are ready. The purpose here is to shorten the line of customers; thus reducing the wait time. During busy times the café will be full and we need to complete orders as quickly as possible to be able to serve everyone. 2.1.3 All Service Areas, All the Time
All service areas at all times must be open and attended to in the café. Any possible area where a customer might go to order an item needs to be assigned to a team member and covered by that person. During slower periods a team member may be responsible for covering multiple areas. A customer should be able to come to Kitchen Gia regardless of the time of day and order and receive any item or beverage on the menu. We do not shut down any areas early and we serve all products, all the time. In fact, the café is to remain open to serve customers until 10 minutes after the posted closing time. The following must never be done before closing time: • grills are not to be turned off and cleaned. • the sandwich case is not to be emptied. • the salad bar is not to be broken down and cleaned. • the espresso bar is not to be shut down. If a customer comes in near closing time and expects to get a salad or their favorite sandwich and the breakdown process was started early, that will result in a lost sale and the customer may not return to Kitchen Gia. Imagine how it feels getting to the bank a minute late and realize they are closed. 2.2 Benefits of Service Deployment If service deployment is executed correctly it will result in a highly productive team, satisfied customers, and will create a low stress, happy place to be for both customers and team members. Getting through a busy lunch rush is challenging but exhilarating; if all team members are deployed appropriately, shifts will run easily and smoothly. 2.2.1 Satisfied Customers
As you now know, our goal at Kitchen Gia is to create happily satisfied customers all of the time. If customers are able to come into our café, place their order, receive a quality product, experience friendly service, and pay for their order all in a short period of time they will be satisfied. Service deployment directly affects customers’ satisfaction with Kitchen Gia. Customers expect to be served happily and quickly, and that is why each © 2006 Avanti Food Corporation. All rights reserved.
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team member must be responsible for owning their post and serving with a smile. When this is done consistently we will have satisfied customers all of the time. 2.2.2 Customer Retention
Satisfied customers equal return customers. Service deployment has a direct effect on customer retention, because when it is easy and pleasant for a customer to come into a store and quickly order and receive what they want, the customer will remember this positive, stress-free experience and return. Customers are looking for happy team members who are ready to serve them quickly and efficiently, and having all team members deployed to each area of the café will ensure that customers can order anything and receive it in a timely fashion. Customers will appreciate this ease of ordering and speed of service and are sure to return.
2.2.3 Increased Productivity
Productivity increases as a result of team members always knowing where to be and what to do. Being in the right place at the right time and performing at or above expectation will make each team member more productive, hence able to serve a higher number of customers. All team members must be deployed accordingly at all times to ensure high productivity and to support and drive increased customer flow. Management will direct team members to the right spot at the right time, and team members will also be able to use their judgment on what needs to be done and where they need to be. 2.2.4 Happy Environment
Ultimately, when service deployment is in place and carried out smoothly the final result is a positive, fun work environment for team members and a happy place for customers. When things are organized and shifts run smoothly with everyone being deployed correctly you can have a good time interacting with customers and co-workers, and have a low-stress work environment where team members are happy and customers are satisfied. 3 SPEED 3.1 Importance of Speed of Service Speed of service is a critical component for success in our business. Work speed must be maintained in all that we do from serving customers, doing side tasks, cleaning the café, assembling sandwiches, to preparing catering orders, etc.
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3.1.1 Speed as a Mind Frame
All team members must adopt speed as a mind frame and perform all tasks in a timely fashion. The goal is to not just complete your work, but to perform quality work in a short period of time. This will allow you to get more done and to be a very productive member of the Kitchen Gia team. In everything you do you should be focused on completing your work quickly and efficiently and be ready to move on to the next task. There will be slow times for tasks and side work to be completed so you must take advantage of these times and work efficiently and with an eye for detail to complete your work. All team members must always work with a sense of urgency no matter the task.
3.1.2 Effect of Speed on Customers
Our customers value speed of service and have come to expect it. At Kitchen Gia, customers can come in, be greeted within 30 seconds, place an order, and receive it quickly. Team members must finish food and drink preparation (whether grilling a sandwich or tossing a salad) in a very short amount of time. People’s busy schedules demand that they do not spend more time than necessary waiting for their order and instead spend more time enjoying our products. 3.2 Wait Times Since speed of service is so important to our customers we have set standard wait times that need to be met. The following chart highlights the customer wait times for certain items from ordering to receiving.
3.2.1 Customer Wait Times Chart
ITEM Espresso Drink Grilled Sandwich Salad Toasted Bagel
WAIT TIME 2 minutes 4½ minutes 1-1½ minutes 1½ minutes
COMMENTS May be longer if there is a reasonable backup of drinks to be made. Actual grill time is 4 minutes. A salad should be tossed or chopped within 1 minute. Actual grill time is 1 minutes.
© 2006 Avanti Food Corporation. All rights reserved.
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Breakfast Sandwich Pizza
2-4 minutes
2 minutes
Croissants bake for 2 minutes and bagels bake for 4. Inform customer of wait time when completing the transaction. Bake in oven for 2 minutes and direct customer to pay while they wait.
Create a SPARK! Quality Customer Service, how to overcome difficult situations with customers. S…Stand in the customer’s shoes. Consider the situation from the customer’s point of view. P…Project your willingness to help. Pay attention to your tone of voice, body language, and words. A…Attentively listen. Resist distractions, and encourage the customer to talk. Let the customer know he or she is understood. © 2006 Avanti Food Corporation. All rights reserved.
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R…Relate to the customer and the situation. Show appreciation for something the customer has said or done. Acknowledge the customer’s situation. Assure the customer of good service. K…Keep it positive. Use the language of partnership: ask permission or suggest, focus on the positive, be confident, treat the customer with respect Ask Management team to role-play a situation where one is the customer and one is the manager. The scenario is a repeat large catering customer that was very upset because Kitchen Gia did not send the pastry order with the catering job. Example dialogue of how it should play out utilizing the SPARK technique! Customer: Mr. Manager I was very upset that my dessert tray wasn’t included in the catering order after we paid for it. We also had guest professors who we promised pastries with the lunch to, and when it wasn’t there, we were so embarrassed. Manager: (After attentively listening, and using good tone and body language) Mr. Customer, I apologize for us not having the pastry tray there when it was supposed be. It must have been a very awkward situation, and I understand why you would be upset. Customer: Yes, it was an awkward situation. Manager: We take full responsibility and would like to fully reimburse you and offer you a coupon towards your next order. Even if we make a mistake, I can assure you, we will always do our best to correct it, and make sure you receive the best service possible. By the way, did the rest of the event go ok for you? Customer, Well actually it did…the sandwiches were great, and everyone loved the salad. Manager: I’m glad to hear that it went well despite the pastry tray not being there. Thank you for allowing me to listen and help the situation. We would love the opportunity to service your next catering order. Customer: Ok, thank you for the reimbursement and coupon. I appreciate your attention to this situation. We will definitely be ordering from Kitchen Gia again.
Conclusion At the end of the day, creating a positive and high-energy environment for your customers will improve the quality of your day as much as it improves the quality of the customer experience. We have a wonderful customer base, and we hope you enjoy getting to know them as much as we have over the years! If you follow the guidelines of this manual, you will enjoy a fruitful time here at Kitchen Gia. Without any further ado, get behind the counter and start learning names and orders! The first time you have a customer’s favorite drink ready for them as © 2006 Avanti Food Corporation. All rights reserved.
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they approach the counter or you notice a customer that used to come in twice a week is coming in to see you everyday, you’ll know you have successfully made Kitchen Gia a special place for your customers, your team members, and even yourself. Good luck and thank you for choosing Kitchen Gia!
© 2006 Avanti Food Corporation. All rights reserved.
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