Delivery and Quality in Bar and Restaurant - Essay Example

DINESERV MODEL IN SERVICE DELIVERY AND QUALITY IN BAR AND RESTAURANT By DINESERV Model in Service Delivery and Quality in Bar and Restaurant Introduction In the recent two decades many scholars have attempted to measure the level of service quality in different segments of the service sector and, especially in the bar and restaurant sector (Knutson et al., 1990). Service quality is an integral part of the bar and restaurant industry as it can enable businesses gain competitive advantages as well as identification of strategies and systems for managing service quality (Zemke and Albrecht, 1985). Therefore, service and quality have been critical factors that all organizations have sort regardless of their sizes or resource capabilities to be able to remain relevant in the competitive business world. Improved levels of service quality delivery go hand in hand with increased profits, customer retention and increased market share. This essay evaluates and discusses the use of DINESERV model in ensuring consistency in service delivery and quality in bars and restaurants (Wu et al., 1999). The DINESERV model is an effective tool for measuring service quality in restaurants and bars. Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry (1988) came up with a scale of measuring service quality that was referred to as SERVQUAL, which was a multi-attribute scale that measured service quality in five dimensions; tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy. It examined the gap that existed between the customer`s expectations and their perceptions. It`s this multiple researches that led to the development of DINESERV model to be used in measuring the service quality in restaurants and bars. DINESERV was redefined from SERVQUAL after Stevens, Knutson and Patton adapted it the tool to the restaurant industry using their acquired experience and knowledge of drafting the LODGSERV (Stevens, Knutson, and Patton, 1995). The scholars thus went ahead to use the tool to measure consumer customer’s expectations concerning the quality of service they received in three segments of restaurants vis-à-vis, casual, fine dining and quick service (Bougoure and Neu, 2010). They identified the service quality dimensions that were almost similar to those of SERVQUAL except that their order of preference and importance was different. According to DINESERV, the five dimensions of quality services were as follows; reliability, tangibles, assurance, responsiveness, and empathy. The five dimensions were to measure and examine the level of perceptions and expectations in relation to restaurant services (Heung, Wong, & Qu, 2000) such as fine dining restaurants and airport food services (Kim, McCahon & Miller, 2000; Kim, Ng, & Kim, 2009). Evaluation of DINESERV model as used in restaurants and bars A research done in Zagreb city in Croatia using the DINESERV in restaurants revealed that customers` expectations are higher than their perceptions. In this research, a number of questionnaires were distributed to 12 restaurants in the city where the restaurant`s staff helped in distributing the questionnaires to the customers who participated in the study. The data was analysed using the SPSS while the descriptive method was used data to analyse the demographic profiles of respondents and the evaluation of their expectations and perceptions. From the analysis, the customers` expectations were measured on a seven-point scale using the DINESERV and the highest score was given to the highest expectation or perception. The research revealed that customer` expectations were higher than the customers` perceptions. Additionally, the study revealed that the reliability dimension expectation of the customers superseded their perceptions and thus the customers expected the hotel attendants to maintain speed and quality during busy times as well as providing prompt services and putting more efforts in handling special requests (Markovic, Komsic & Stifanic, 2013). Thus, the DINESERV model revealed that the hotel attendants did not meet the customer`s expectations under the dimension of responsiveness as they expected because the staff did not answer their questions, completely since they had not perfected the art of answering customer`s questions. The model also demonstrated that the customers expected the staff to have all the information pertaining to the menu items, ingredients and methods of preparation, which was not the case. Conversely, the tangible dimension of the DINESERV revealed that the customers expected quick correction of wrong services, accurate bills, and error-free orders. Thus, from the study the DINESERV proved to be an appropriate technique of gauging the level of service delivery and quality in restaurants as it revealed the customers’ expectations and perceptions as well as revealing the weaknesses of the staff in the restaurants. From the research, it is, therefore, evident that the DINESERV model is an appropriate model for measuring service quality in restaurants to enable management take the necessary precautions (Markovic, Komsic & Stifanic, 2013). Keith & Simmers (201), argues that customers always expect quality food, speed in delivery, friendliness and order accuracy. In their study using the DINESERV model, the researchers conducted a study on 82 major restaurants in the United States to determine the quality of service. The research used comment cards that were always in use in the major restaurants where the customers would leave their comments after dining. The comment cards were taken and analysed to evaluate the four dimensions of DINESERV model, vis-à-vis, reliability, assurance, responsiveness, empathy, and tangibles. The comment cards were further scrutinised and compared to the 29 service attributes that are suggested in the DINESERV model. The research revealed that reliability had the highest score as per the customer`s expectations and perceptions. Customers always expected quality food, speed in delivery, friendliness and order accuracy. Thus, from the DINESERV’s scale of measurement the researchers were able to measure all the five dimensions of service quality. This unraveled new findings on the weaknesses of the comments cards that the restaurants were using, in that, they only measured the service quality according to management’s view and not from the point of view of the customers since they plotted the questions that one way or another did not include all the five dimensions of serve quality that are defined by the DINESERV model. The DINESERV model was, therefore, proved to be a better tool for measuring service quality unlike the comment cards and this enabled management to realise customer’s expectations and factor them in their services to improve the quality of services provided to the customers (Keith & simmers, 2011). The DINESERV model was also used in a study in a Florida bar-restaurant to determine customer`s satisfaction and their perception after dining in the bar-restaurant. The study used mixed methods of collecting data such as personal interviews, questionnaires and focus groups and the collected data was analysed using the descriptive statistics and factor analysis methods to examine the aforementioned attributes. The five-point Likert scale was utilised to score the attributes in order to come up with the five dimensions of service quality determination articulated by the DINESERV model. The study revealed that reliability was the highest scored where the customers had expectations about the bartender and the safety of the bar-restaurant (Singh & Shih, 2011). From the analysis and findings, the DINESERV model revealed that the real interaction between the bartender and the customers would make them loyal and want to visit the bar-restaurant continuously (Singh & Shih, 2011). The DINESERV model also demonstrated that the quality of the drinks was a key factor that gave the customers motivation the customers to make a decision on whether to stick to the bar-restaurant or move on to other places (Singh & Shih, 2011). With these findings, the management was able to determine the customers’ expectations and what would give them the satisfaction and thus become loyal to the bar-restaurant. Thus, from the study, the DINESERV model proved to be an imperative tool for measuring the service quality in the bar-restaurant since reliability is one of the key dimensions of quality service that is provided by the DINESERV model (Barringer, 2008). Kit-Fai &, (2001) states that hotels and restaurants in Hong Kong have been facing competition from their competitors both from within their locality and from international investors that come with new ideas in the market. They go on to say that for the hotels and restaurants to remain relevant in the market, they have to redefine their service quality. For instance, the Salisbury YMCA of Hong Kong that operates in the business food, beverages, and room services, started experiencing challenges such as declining number of customers. Thus, they sought to carry out an empirical study to identify the key attributes of the quality improvement remedy the situation and increase the number of customers. The management decided to employ the DINESERV model to determine the aspects of service quality that were supposed to be improved. They collected data through personal interviews and questionnaires from the staff and some customers and after analysis using the DINESERV model, the management realised the dimension of reliability was not being met according to the customer`s expectations. For instance, DINESERV model revealed that the staff would not communicate customer`s opinions to the relevant authorities, and thus no change or improvements were made and this led to the dissatisfaction of the customers who reduced their numbers from visiting YMCA restaurant. The model also showed that, the food quality and the dining area was rated well but not excellent, and this was the cause of the reducing numbers of customers. The responsive dimension of DINESERV model was also available. The YMCA environment was not conducive to the customers’ customer’s expectations because they felt insecure and uncomfortable dining in the area. Therefore, from the research using the DINESERV model, the management was able to discover the areas of weaknesses such reliability, which involves the quality of service and product and took the necessary measures to improve service quality by focusing on the five dimensions of the DINESERV model (Pun, & Ho, 2001). According to Khan and Shaikh (2011), the tangible and responsiveness dimensions of the DINESERV model are imperative in ensuring their high customer retention and attraction in the restaurant and the bar industry. A research on restaurants in Pakistan where there were challenges of competition, to find out what customers’ expectations were concerning the level of service quality was conducted in four provinces where 400 customers were sampled to answer questions about the restaurants in Pakistan and data was collected in five weeks and analysed using SPSS using descriptive and correlation analysis (Kim, McCahon & Miller, 2003). The research findings indicated that many customers referred to tangibles dimension of service quality on why they would go back or not to the restaurants. They considered the tangible factors of the restaurant to be the reason they would or would not dine again. The tangible factors included the appearance of the restaurants both inside and outside and the furniture. The research also revealed the responsiveness factors such employees treatment, customer`s questions, the attention is given to the customers and the information the employees gave the customers regarding the menu, ingredients and method of preparation were the reason quality was not met. The DINESERV model, therefore, enabled the management was to identify the customers’ expectations to improve the level of service quality in the restaurants (Khan and Shaikh, 2011) In conclusion, DINESERV model serves as an important measure in the service industry particularly bar and restaurant industries, which trade on service provision. The five dimensions that include reliability, tangibles, responsiveness, assurance and empathy play a fundamental role in identifying the deficiency in service delivery in a particular sector. 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