Business Communication - Cafe de Coral - Case Study Example

Business Communication Name: University Affiliation: Tutor: Date: Business Communication Introduction Today, many businesses including restaurants fail due to ignoring some minor aspects of the enterprise. (Kotler, 2012). In this report, I will assume the role of quality control manager of Café De Coral restaurant and will seek to identify the causes of the decrease in profits in the past few three months. Executive summary Café de Coral is a known restaurant in Hong Kong and its profits have dropped by thirty percent in the past three months. This report aims at discovering the causes for the situation and coming up with possible recommendations of increasing the firm’s profits. According to customers, they explained that the food and services provided by the restaurant were not as good as they were before. Furthermore, the human resource manager had become reluctant and was not monitoring the activities of the employees. Here, the change in behaviors of the employees can be attributed to lack of motivation as the management took minimal steps to increase staff morale. Another possible reason for the decline in profits is increased competition by other operators such as McDonald’s Corporation and Fairwood Holdings Limited. Lastly, the restaurant lacks adequate strategies of attracting and retaining customers. To increase its profits, the company needs to introduce several measures. For instance, they need to introduce a training program for employees and listen to the complaints of customers. Also, the management can increase the staff morale by raising their salaries or rewarding exemplary employees. The company can also create diverse services to curb the increased competition. Statement of the Problem The purpose of this report is to determine the causes of the poor performance in Café De Carol restaurant over the past few years and the methods of solving the problem. Methodology To conduct the investigation, I visited several Café De Coral restaurants during working hours, researched about their recent activities and then interviewed few employees and customers. Interview conducted on Customer Gender A-Male (17) B-Female (33) Age A-Under 18 (13) B-18-30 (16) C-31-60 (14) D-Up to 60 (7) Atmosphere of the restaurant A-Poor (10) B-Fair (13) C-Good (14) D-Very Good (10) E-Excellent (3) Have you encountered any service failure during the past 12 months? A-YES B-No Which type of service failure have you encountered in the past 12 months? A-Staff Attitude (21) B-Long waiting time for queuing (14) C-Timely staff assistance (13) D-Long waiting time for food delivering (10) E-Wrong order (7) F-Wrong food delivery (3) G-Others (11) Have you considered not to visit Café de Coral after you discovered the service failure? A-YES (20) B-NO (30) Please indicate your level of satisfaction with the overall service performance of Café de Coral. A-Very Dissatisfied (6) B-Dissatisfied (10) C-Neutral (22) D-Satisfied (7) E-Very Satisfied (5) Interview conducted on staff What is the best part about working here? A-Recognition (1) B-Your supervisor (1) C-Working Environment (3) D-Other (6) What improvements should our restaurant make? A-Communication (2) B-Work Organization (4) C-Management (3) D-Training Programs (0) E-Benefits (1) If you were the manager, what would your priorities be? A-Communication (3) B-Hiring Better Qualified Employees (1) C-Training (6) What would make your job easier? A-Better Supervision (6) B-Different Equipment (1) C-Other (3) What career growth do you want to see in the next five years? A-Other Duties B-More Responsibility C-Promotion Findings During a visit to one of the Hong Kong restaurants, I discovered that the employees did not show enthusiasm when attending to customers. I could also observe that some of them did not enjoy what they were doing. Also, some customers commented on the poor services provided by some of the employees. Others agreed with me that some of the foods were not as good as those offered by their competitors. Furthermore, I researched and found out that there were minimal employee motivation programs. Summary of the investigation To fully identify the changes that have taken place in the past three months, this investigative reports addresses areas such as quality, services provided, the atmosphere of the restaurant, opinions of customers, the efficiency of employees, competition, and poor performance. Quality of food and drinks Café De Coral emphasizes on providing consistent food quality in all its restaurants hence it deploys professional management, expert monitoring and regular training (Café De Coral, 2016). However, recent responses by customers indicate that the quality of food provided in the restaurant has reduced. Some of them indicate that some ingredients were missing while others explain that the quality was poor in general. The investigative team settled in one of the restaurants in the area and acted like normal customers. They found out that the quality of black coffee that was served was not fresh and suspected that it could have been prepared in the previous day. This situation is likely to have contributed to the poor performance. Services In all the major branches of the restaurant, there is a human resource manager who ensures that employees provide best services to customers. However, research indicated that these managers had become reluctant and did not follow up the activities of the employees strictly. Nevertheless, the enterprises did not reduce the number of services they provided but rather introduced others such as home delivery. Atmosphere of the restaurant Café De Coral is among the best restaurant in Hong Kong when it comes to the matters of a relaxing environment. In the past months, the management has installed several pioneering industry measures such as the introduction of table edges where customers can hang their handbags. There has not been a significant change in the atmosphere of the restaurant that could have led to the fall in profits. Customer’s opinions According to the restaurant’s website, the management value the opinions of customer and hence provide them with such platforms as email and feedback forms to facilitate response (Café De Coral, 2016). However, the system of collecting the opinions of customers is effective but according to research, acting on the stated issues is the major problem. Complaints especially those concerning the behavior of employees are mostly overlooked and this could have contributed to a significant fall in the profits of the enterprise. Restaurant management and staff morale The management believes that it is through consistent training and motivation of employees that businesses succeed. The restaurant has developed a management academy where employees are trained so that they can provide customers with ‘Heartfelt Services’ (Tao, 2010). Also, the management motivates employees by reviewing their attitudes and performance. However, exceptional employees are not usually rewarded and neither do the staff feel satisfied with the promotions that take place. They are also not provided with enough time for resting between working hours which could affect their morale negatively. Competition and overall performance Although Café De Coral is the biggest fast food restaurant company in Hong Kong, it experiences constant competition by other operators such as Fairwood Holdings Limited and McDonald’s Corporation (Tao, 2010). These companies may not have as many branches as Café De Coral, but they pose stiff competition to smaller branches such as those at Maxi Mall and San Fung Avenue. These branches end up sharing their profits with their competitors hence reducing the income of the larger company. However, the performance of the company has been stable, and the management has introduced new strategies such as supporting the EatSmart Restaurant campaign which was created by the health department. Here, the possible causes for the decline in profits are higher rates of competition and inability to improve performance at the expected level. Conclusion From the findings and the discussion of the possible reasons for the decline in the company’s profits, below is a summary of the causes of the poor performance. Lower quality of foods and drinks than expected Inadequate monitoring of employees Failure of the company to respond to complaints of customers Inadequate employee motivation through rewards and promotions Increased rates of competition Lack of adequate strategies of attracting and retaining customers. The poor performance of the company can be attributed to the factors stated above, and the management should implement changes to solve each one of them. Recommendations Based on the findings and conclusion of this report, the following are the recommendations The company should introduce new programs to train employees on how to make the best quality food. The human resource manager should come up with a system to ensure that all employees act in accordance with the goals and objectives of the company. The management should not only listen to the complaints of the customers but also act on them accordingly. Exemplary members of the staff should be rewarded with an increase in salaries to keep the employees motivated. The company needs to diversify its services so that it can outdo its competitors. The management should come up with a committee charged with the task of developing new strategies of ensuring the services of the company attracts and retains more customers. References Café De Coral - To Our Stakeholders, our customers. (2016). Cafedecoral.com. Retrieved 11 April 2016, from http://www.cafedecoral.com/eng/corp_social_respon/our_stakeholders/index.jsp/ Kotler, P. (2012). Rethinking Marketing: Sustainable Marketing Enterprise in Asia. FT Press. Tao, L. (2010). Cafe de Coral reports flat earnings. Chinadaily.com.cn. Retrieved 11 April 2016, from http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/hkedition/2010-11/30/content_11626904.htm/ Read More