The Role of Support Processes in the Restaurant Business - Term Paper Example

? Service Blueprints AFFILIATION: Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Introduction 3 Various Lines of interaction in service blueprint 4 Service Blueprint for leading restaurant in UK 5 Line of Visibility 5 Details of restaurant service blueprint 6 Conclusion 8 References 9 Introduction The service industries are the most crucial element of every developed and developing country as they have the expertise and professionalism in providing exceptional service to their customers. Chiu and Lin (2004) in their report stated that the service industries are the main components for the economic development of a country and they mostly provide services such as social and personal related, transportation, distribution, repair, advertising, finance and communication support for the manufacturing industries. According to the researches conducted by Dr. Sabine Moeller (2005) and Wong (2004), humans never get satisfied just by the products that they purchase; in fact, they are looking for the best service as well so that there complete service experience is enhanced. In order to survive in today’s dynamic and competitive environment, the organizations need to design blueprints for their services so that they have clear picture about the level of service as perceived by the customer and what they can do to enhance their experience (Weber and Sparks, 2004). According to Bitner et al. (2007), from the organization’s perspective, the service blueprint is best described as the perfect mix of all the components both physical and non-physical ones and the systems of the services must be designed incorporating appropriate processes of customers and achieving the desired level of service performance. According to Chuang (2007), service blueprint can be best described as “Service blueprinting is the most effective tool used by the service providers for developing a visual template of expressing their goals and desires and link them to the perceptions of the customers and their needs as well with the progress happening in the service delivery process.” Similar to the blueprints used by architects, these service blueprints will act as a communication tool for the service providers and also the service designers as well. The service designers will help their clients in understanding the complete mechanism of the service design and will enable them to keep the track and delivery status and level of their services. The best aspect of the service blueprint is that all the stakeholders can have a visual look at the complete service process and the customers can even discuss any modifications required in the blueprint so the service level of the service providers get enhanced to a much higher level (Spraragen and Chan, 2008). The main aim of the blue print as identified by Mueller et al. (2003) is to ensure that the highest quality of service is provided to the customers and every element important for the customers is incorporated in the service delivery process. Hence, it is rightly stated by Chuang (2007) that the service blueprint is the best tool for helping the service providers in designing appropriate service delivery mechanism so that the customers remain attracted and loyal to the companies. Hence, every service provider must design its service blueprint so that the customers are satisfied with the service quality and are able to generate good stream of revenues as well. Various Lines of interaction in service blueprint According to Dr. Sabine Moeller (2005), there are six major lines in the service blueprints that are crucial for monitoring the level of service provided by the service providers i.e. Line of provider influence (it is the word of mouth about provider or impersonal communication activities or the service provider), line of customer-customer interaction (the moment at which the interaction takes place on a customer level), line of provider-customer interaction (interaction between the customers and providers that is on bilateral level and the activities between the customer and service provider can be differentiated), line of visibility (the areas that are visible to the customers during the service delivery process), line of internal interaction (the separation between the direct value adding and supporting activities) and line of customer influence differentiates (service provider differentiates the autonomously planned activities form the already existing activities). Service Blueprint for leading restaurant in UK Green Lines indicate those areas where some problems might arise Red Lines indicate those areas which are the fail points for the service provider Line of Visibility The most important and core element for the service providers in the restaurant industry is the line of visibility. Although there are many things that are going on the backstage but how the service provider highlights the important and value added services to the customers are the moments considered by the customers. Hence, Chuang (2007) has rightly stated that the line of visibility must be used as the source of guidance for understanding and determining the service provider’s range of actions that will be visible to the customers and they need to be reinforced during the service delivery mechanism. The service providers need to understand the perfect mix of backstage and onstage activities that should be presented to the customers so that the customers are provided excellent customer service. The proper use of the line of visibility will direct the restaurant in separating the role of the onstage and backstage personnel. For instance, the manager for contact centre can develop the terms and conditions required for the service contract but it is the only backstage component. However, the manager of contact centre is the best personnel for handling all kinds of requests placed by the customers. Another important point for using the line of visibility is that it will help in understanding the human interaction points and the vertical lines that are drawn in between the provider actions and customers gives an idea when both of them will interact. The identification of interaction points will help the service provider to take advantage of these points and give the best service to their customers so that they remain loyal to the restaurants and provide exceptional service to them and earn a good stream of revenue. Details of restaurant service blueprint In the case of restaurant, the main areas of physical evidence are restaurant parking, hostess desk lobby uniform, eating area, menu of food items and other refreshments, presentation of food, deliver time, quality and appearance of food, table cleanliness, bill/receipt, ambience of the restaurant, colour scheme, furniture and music. All the aforementioned components of the restaurant are the critical points that the customers consider when making judgment about the restaurant’s service level. The customer line of interaction in the restaurant is the time when the customer arrives at the restaurant, the confirmation of reservation by the hostess, seating arrangement at the table, make order for the meals and drinks, how the food is served, proper cutlery is there on the table, the customer are given the bill and adequate payment is given to the waiters. The whole process must be done efficiently so that the customers are satisfied with the service provided by the restaurant. The onstage contact person in the restaurant has to perform the important tasks such as the hostess has to receive the customers and greet them with a smile, the hostess seats the customers and gives menu, the waiter then guide the customers and takes the order, he then delivers the food and drinks, when the customers are done with eating he has to clear the dishes and trash and then finally collect the payment and give the receipt. There are two important points that can create problems i.e. if the customer has to wait too long for the waiter to take the order or if the customer has to wait for the arrival of their order; both of these two points should be taken care of by ensuring that the customers are attended within two minutes after they are seated. The most crucial tasks of the backstage contact person are the people in kitchen and cash counter. In the kitchen, the people have to be notified of the new order from the customers and the data needs to be input in the server; the server will inform when the order is ready; once the customers have finished the meals, the kitchen people will have to wash the dishes and initiate the bill processing process. The support processes in the complete processes are the reservation system, food preparation, clean-up system and cash register system. The points of failure that are evident in the restaurant service blueprint are if there is some lack of treatment by the host or the reservation is not recorded in the reservation system, then the customer might not avail the services of the restaurant. Likewise, if the customers are not seated early, then they might leave the restaurant. Similarly, all the steps from the seating of the customers to the serving of food to final receipt payments are important and the restaurant service providers must give proper attention to each and every step of the service delivery process. Hence, some of the elements that must be incorporated in the service contract are that the customers reservation should be checked one day before the final date so that the service providers are ensured that the customers will be well-served; the customers must be seated within ten minutes of their arrival time; the waiters should take the order within the two minutes that they are seated; the order must be served within the stated time; the table must be cleaned within five minutes of the completion of the food and payment process must be completed within five minutes. The employees will have to record all of these aspects so that the performance level can be judged and any problem can be addressed immediately. Conclusion Hence, the restaurant service provider will be able to reap benefits from ensuring that everything is well-planned and scheduled. The service blueprint helps the companies to identify those points that can create problem for their services. Therefore, the companies should develop their service blueprints so that the complete service delivery process is provided to the customers and they are satisfied with the service and are willing to avail the services of the respective company repeatedly. References Bitner, M.J., Ostrom, A.L. and Morgan, F.N., 2007. Service Blueprinting: A Practical Technique for Service Innovation. [Online] Available at: http://people.ischool.berkeley.edu/~glushko/IS243Readings/ServiceBlueprinting.pdf [Accessed June 15, 2012] Chiu, H.C. and Lin, N.P., 2004. A Service Quality Measurement Derived from the Theory of Needs, The Service Industries Journal, 24(1), pp.187-204 Chuang, Pao-Tiao, 2007. Combining Service Blueprint and FMEA for Service Design. [Online] Available at: http://ir.nuk.edu.tw:8080/ir/bitstream/310360000Q/10863/2/Combining%20Service%20Blueprint%20and%20FMEA%20for%20Service%20Design-post%20print-final%20draft%20post%20refereeing.pdf [Accessed June 15, 2012] Dr. Sabine Moeller, 2005. Service Design. [Online] Available at: http://www.zo.ue.poznan.pl/files/ServiceDesign_SabineMoeller_Slides.pdf [Accessed June 15, 2012] Mueller, R.D., Palmer, A., Mack, R., and McMullan, R., 2003. Service in the Restaurant Industry: An American and Irish Comparison of Service Failures and Recovery Strategies. Hospitality Management, 22(4), pp.395-418 Spraragen, S.L. and Chan, C., 2008. Service Blueprinting: When Customer Satisfaction Numbers are not enough. [Online] Available at: http://www.dmi.org/dmi/html/conference/academic08/papers/Spraragen%20and%20Chan/DMIServiceBlueprintingFullPaperSSpraragen.pdf [Accessed 15 June 2012] Weber, K. and Sparks, B., 2004. Consumer Attributions and Behavioral Responses to Service Failures in Strategic airline Alliance Settings, Journal of Air Transport Management, 10(5), pp.361-67. Wong, N. Y., 2004. The Role of Culture in the Perception of Service Recovery. Journal of Business Research, 57(9), pp.957-63. Read More