Structured Interview on Guatemalteca Bakery Restaurant - Research Paper Example

Structured Interview on Guatemalteca Bakery Restaurant Introduction A structured interview is mainly used when the researcher is dealing with either qualitative or quantitative data. According to Levashina, et al (2014), the researcher will employ a survey research and ensures that the interview conducted has exact questions, and they are arranged well. The responses from the participants are then assessed using a standard procedure and rating schemes. Additionally, the questions will be based on thorough analysis of Guatemalteca Bakery restaurant’s activities. The research paper will, first of all, describe the research participants. The participants will include the following units; potential users, experts in research and the government official. According to this research, the potential users are the customers and workers of Guatemalteca Bakery restaurant. As a prospective researcher, both the customers and the staffs will undergo the interview since they are deemed to provide relevant information that will benefit my research. Second, the research experts who are part of the participants have a bigger role to play. Experts are professionals who have carried out research in various fields, and also they have a vast knowledge of it. Therefore, the research experts must be included in this particular research. Experts who have knowledge of restaurants and bakery and specifically, Guatemalteca Bakery would benefit this research more. Lastly, the government also plays a role in this research and, therefore, their views are welcomed. The government has policy frame that governs the operations of many enterprises and specifically, the restaurants. The government has the policy to oversee food safety in the restaurants. Also, the government has the authority to issue licenses that will allow the restaurant to carry out its operations. For this research paper, there will be a minimum of ten interviews that will comprise of four employees, four customers, one government official, and one research expert. All the participants will be selected randomly to avoid biases. First interview: The first person to be interviewed was the manager of Guatemalteca Bakery restaurant, and the interview was conducted in his office. The interview process will involve the researcher directing questions to the respondents, and recording the answers on questionnaire. I am an external research consultant doing research on Guatemalteca Bakery restaurant. The research will entail a structured interview and, it will consist of ten questions; however the questions will duel mostly on activities on Guatemalteca Bakery restaurant, brief history about the restaurant, and the relationships between customers and workers. The following were the questions that the researcher asked the manager during the interview. 1. Could you show me around this restaurant? 2. For how long has this business been in operation? 3. Do you offer other services other than operating as a restaurant and bakery? 4. How many employees do you have? 5. Do customers frequently visit your restaurant? 6. What is your view on the customer’s feedback about the location of Guatemalteca Bakery restaurant? 7. Do you intend expanding this building? I learnt a lot from my interview with the manager and I came to know that, the business had been in operation for over 38 years. The manager was able to show me around the restaurant and I identified the various sections within the building. Also, customers frequently visit the place and the location is ideal to anyone around Los Angeles. The management has a plan to expand the structure to accommodate more activities. For this particular interview, the participant was cooperative enough, and this gave me ample time to carry on with my interview process. The interviewee understood the questions well hence less time was consumed. However, one of the challenges I faced was noise from the various activities going on in the restaurant. This destructed my attention and that of the interviewee. Second interview The second interview was carried out in one of the offices inside the restaurant. The person who was interviewed was a research expert. The purpose of this interview was to get information concerning spices used in preparing food, payment system and arrangement of the restaurant. Also, the research expert was expected to give information on the level of workers training and appealing colors to use. The following are the questions that the interviewer asked the research expert. 1. Could you tell me about the last time you ate at Guatamalteca Bakery restaurant? 2. What is your opinion on the payment system used in this restaurant? 3. Do you agree with the interior design of this restaurant? 4. In your opinion, is the colors used in this restaurant appealing? 5. What should the management look before recruiting workers? 6. What is your opinion on the sitting arrangement in this restaurant? 7. What type of spices or ingredients should Guatemalteca Bakery restaurant use? 8. What should be considered when designing a restaurant plan? After the interview I learnt that the restaurant only accept credit cards and cash as a means of payment. Also, the interior design and the arrangement of the furniture are up to standard. When designing a plan for the restaurant, the following factors need to be considered. The factors include; aroma design, lighting design, the storage and ventilation needs, and bathroom and brand immersion. The interview went on as usual but it was time consuming since the research expert had to explain some of the concepts in details. The new thing I learnt from the interview was about the types of colors to use and how to design a good restaurant. These two factors will determine if customers will love your restaurant. Third interview The third interview was carried out in the same office, and it involved interviewing a government official. Particularly, the government official was a food nutritionist. The purpose of this interview was to gather information on food safety, time of operation and licensing. The researcher asked the food nutritionist the following questions. 1. Could you describe to me how you inspect food in restaurants? 2. What is the recommended time to operate this type of business? 3. What quality level should restaurants produce? 4. What are your policies frameworks about Guatemalteca Bakery restaurant? 5. After how long should the management renew their operation license? 6. Should all the employees be qualified to work in this restaurant? 7. What food safety rules should the management follow? What happens when they do not follow the rules? The government official made me to understand and learn some concepts. All food must be inspected by the head chef after the preparation to ensure it is safe for consumption. The ideal time for the business to operate is between five o’clock in the morning and late night in the evening. Additionally, it is not ideal to keep cooked leftovers for more than four days since it would not be conducive for customer consumption. Similarly, the restaurant must have more than one refrigerator to keep all perishable food. The government official was friendly and he was frank with his answers. The interview was one of the hardest I have ever conducted. There were challenges in this interview and one was on the use of jargon. The government official used complicated terms to give explanations to his points. Therefore, there was large amount of details generated and this consumed much time. Fourth interview The fourth interview was also conducted in the same office, and it involved interviewing the head of catering in Guatemalteca Bakery restaurant. The purpose of this interview was to get information regarding food offered, the environment in the kitchen and the relationship among the workers. The researcher asked the head of catering the following questions. 1. Could you show me around your kitchen section? 2. What variety of food do you offer? 3. Do customers appreciate your services? 4. What happens when customers launch complaints about the food you offer? 5. Between traditional Guatamalteca food and the modern food, which variety do customers like most? 6. What is your relationship with your junior employees? 7. What is your strategy to ensure that the food being offered to customers are of high standards? 8. What measures have you put to safeguard your workers from accidents in the kitchen? 9. What are some of the challenges you come across when assessing your work? What I found from this interview is that, customers prefer traditional Guatemalteca food to modern food. They like traditional food because they appreciate their culture and would like to continue with it. In case of complaints from customer, the management always acts promptly by holding meetings to address the situation. It was easy to conduct this interview because I was in position to ensure the interviewee understands the questions well. However, the problem I realized was exaggeration of the answers. The respondent seemed to give dishonest answers and this will affect my final analysis and results. Fifth, sixth and seventh interviews: The fifth, sixth and seventh interview involved interviewing the junior employees of Guatemalteca Bakery restaurant. The interview took place in the same office. However, the primary purpose of this interview was to get information on the employees’ view about the restaurant and also their work. There was a total of four junior employees, and each of them was interviewed separately, but the questions were the same. The following are the questions that the interviewer asked the subordinate workers. 1. Could you briefly tell me about the department you are working? 2. What is your opinion on the working environment? Do you feel motivated to continue working? 3. What made you choose Guatamalteca Bakery restaurant over another restaurant? 4. Have you ever considered doing other jobs other than working in a restaurant? 5. Have you ever been confronted by a customer? What will you do when a customer confronts you? 6. What is your opinion on the management of Guatamalteca Bakery restaurant? 7. Do you think there is a need for more policies to govern the operation of this restaurant? The workers gave their responses and I found out something interesting. Guatemalteca Bakery restaurant has various department which include; catering, accounting, cleaning and sanitation and communication department. Also, out of the four workers, three were motivated to continue working at the restaurant. Some employees were confronted by the customers and this affected them psychologically. Some of the challenges I faced include the following. Some respondents misunderstood the questions and hence their answers were out of context. Second, I realized I was developing desire to help them and by so doing I will be breaking the research rules. Eighth, ninth and tenth interviews: This was the last interview to be conducted. However, it involved interviewing the customers. The interview was carried out in the same room as the previous interviews. The main reason for this interview was to get information on customers’ view about Guatemalteca restaurant. The interview comprised of four customers randomly selected. Customers were interviewed one after the other, and the nature of the questions did not change. The following are the questions the researcher asked the respondents. 1. Could you briefly tell me what you know about Guatamalteca Bakery restaurant? 2. Are you satisfied with the types of services rendered to you? 3. Do you queue for a long time before being served? 4. How often do you visit Guatemalteca Bakery restaurant? 5. Why do you choose to shop at Guatemalteca Bakery restaurant? 6. What other design do you recommend to Guatemalteca Bakery? 7. Are the colors used in this restaurant appealing to you? 8. Could you describe your relationship with the employees in this restaurant? For this section, the customers had various views. Therefore I found that, most customers visit the restaurant three times every week. The relationship between the employees and customers is healthy. Also, there is the grocery section which offers traditional Guatemalteca food. The colors in the restaurant is appealing to the customers. Similarly, I found that customers do not queue for long to get served. Customers were much willing to take on the interview and this gave me an easy time to choose the participants. However, interviewing the customers was another big challenge. Some of the customers had faulty memory therefore; they could not understand the questions well. Noise was another issue since various activities was going on in the restaurant. Therefore, the interview process was destructed most of the time. Summary The paper represents the interview process carried out at Guatemalteca Bakery restaurant. As researcher, I hope I would receive positive feedback for the work I did and also I would like to discuss the challenges I went through with my fellow researchers. Generally, the interview process was successful since all the participants cooperated. My future interview will involve the following improvements. First, I would like to improve on time taken to complete each interview. Also, I would refine my language and questions so that the respondents may not find it difficult to understand my statements. I will also try to change my reaction towards the respondents. I found that I felt angry with how some of the respondents reacted to my questions. A researcher should be able to control his or her feeling and have respect to the respondents. Therefore, mutual respect is more important. Work Cited Levashina, Julia, et al. "The structured employment interview: Narrative and quantitative review of the research literature." Personnel Psychology 67.1 (2014): 241-293. Read More