Survey Done on Three Restaurants Services - Case Study Example

Introduction Marketing is the aspect of determining the market needs and conforming to them so that you may attain the goals set by the organizations management. Issues which are considered include how the customers view the services offered compared to those offered by other firms dealing with the same goods and services. In consideration, also is how customers would like to be served or what they would like to see included in the menus. In this case, three restaurants were selected and a survey done on their services. The survey was aimed at determining whether a customer is influenced by large portions of meals, being served by competent employees, the quality of food served, atmosphere in the hotel, the prices of the foods and drinks and the level of satisfaction. Review of the Literature According to Wooldridge, J. (2006), customers are in need of varying needs for their money. To him, a customer is motivated to visit a business venture for services and goods by the prices in offer. Prices determine the buying willingness of a customer. For any organization to be able make tangible sales, one of the factors to consider while designing a product or a service is the price. Many people are willing to pay at medium price other lower or higher prices. Although according to him further, higher priced products and services are thought to be of high quality although not always. To Richmond, H (2008), the level of customer satisfaction determines whether he/she will be willing to come again. A customer is always pulled to seek for services in a restaurant or any business venture if satisfied by the services/products offered. If not satisfied, coming again is a problem. To him, each and every business venture always struggles to satisfy their customers since it is from them that, profits accrue. To retain customers and to get new ones depends on the ways they are treated. This ranges from the services they are offered, their quality price among many other considerations. However, according to Mailu, S (2004), the level of employee competence says a lot in terms of the work ethics. Generally, a competent employee is likely to be aware of all the ethics involved in the job. To him, customer highly value goods and services offered by competent employees as they confidence in them. To him further, employees are the ladder through which an organization can prosper. Quality of the service offered on the other hand has a lot to say. Gary, R (2007) argues that, the quality of a produce is the key to successful entrepreneurship. An entrepreneur should always consider the quality of the produce/service to offer since it is on the basis of this that customer’s gauge an organization or a venture. In a restaurant, the quality of the services may include cleanliness, taste of the food stuffs, and the way the employees cater for the customers. Macdonald, N (1999) argues that, businesses are valued according to the way of process transactions. Like every other business venture, restaurants are not left behind in this in that, owners/management should be aware that, customers are from different backgrounds as well environments. In this regard, their needs should be met with the speed they require. To Macdonald, N (1999), customers have high motivation when they are catered for in the shortest time possible. Customers come from different backgrounds. In this regard as Posner, R (2007) puts it, any service or good provided to the customers should be to the required size. In restaurants, this applies to the size of the meals (quantity) and this may be a plus to some customers who feel like they need a lot to fill their tummies. Further, the size shows a positive side of the venture in that, it shows that customer money is not what they need most but the customer welfare. To Lake, L (2008), to come up with market mixes which will likely sale a venture, then a lot has to be put into consideration. To her, the quality of the produce/service, the employees serving in the venture, their speeds among many other requirements in the job place have to be considered with great will. To her, if all is well, then to cut a niche in the market is easier. Methodology To carry out the research study, some 200 customers were selected to take part where males were 118 while females were 82. A questionnaire was used to collect data from customers. Issues of satisfaction, quality of the services, employee competence, the atmosphere in the restaurant, how the services were delivered (speed), size of the portions among many other issue required the customer to respond. Data was collected and entered into a computer for analysis. Results Table 1: Portions Large Portions 3 4 5 6 Very Important Which steakhouse restaurant are you most familiar with? The Black Angus Steakhouse 2 12 45 15 12 Hogs Breath Cafe 4 29 29 3 Lone Star Steakhouse and Saloon 8 32 9 From the table above, it is evident that customers using the services of Black Angus Steakhouse. 12 customers recorded portion as very important. Very few customers recorded portion as being un-important. 43% of the customers said they knew about Black Angus Steakhouse compared to 32% and 25% who knew about Hog’s Breath Café and Lone Steakhouse and Salon respectively. 72% of the customers who took part in the survey said that that the portion is very important to them and determine whether they will visit the place again. Table 2: Competence of employees Competent Employees Not Important at All 2 3 4 5 Which steakhouse restaurant are you most familiar with? The Black Angus Steakhouse 24 51 11 Hogs Breath Cafe 7 16 28 14 Lone Star Steakhouse and Saloon 3 18 28 50% of the customers said the competence of employees is very important against 50% who said it is not. Hog’s Breath Café and Lone Steakhouse and Salon received the highest responses for importance of competent employees. Table 3: Food Quality Food Quality 3 4 5 6 Very Important Which steakhouse restaurant are you most familiar with? The Black Angus Steakhouse 8 33 45 Hogs Breath Cafe 4 13 25 21 2 Lone Star Steakhouse and Saloon 7 42 70% said the food quality was very important against 30% who said it was not. Black Angus Steakhouse had the largest number of responses in this. Table 4: Speed of Service Speed of Service 4 5 6 Very Important Which steakhouse restaurant are you most familiar with? The Black Angus Steakhouse 5 16 19 46 Hogs Breath Cafe 7 20 25 13 Lone Star Steakhouse and Saloon 11 29 9 Likewise, the speed the services are provided is also an important factor according to the customers. Black Angus Steakhouse led in speed of serving customers. Table 5: Atmosphere Atmosphere 3 4 5 6 Very Important Which steakhouse restaurant are you most familiar with? The Black Angus Steakhouse 5 6 53 16 6 Hogs Breath Cafe 12 31 17 5 Lone Star Steakhouse and Saloon 8 6 28 7 Atmosphere of the business venture is also very important. Like speeds of service delivery, Black Angus Steakhouse was the best in atmosphere. Table 6: Prices Reasonable Prices 3 4 5 6 Very Important Which steakhouse restaurant are you most familiar with? The Black Angus Steakhouse 6 30 32 18 Hogs Breath Cafe 3 30 22 10 Lone Star Steakhouse and Saloon 10 15 24 Many customers place emphasis on the prices offered for the various services. 45% said the prices are very important Table 7: Satisfaction Satisfaction 4 5 6 Very Satisfied Which steakhouse restaurant are you most familiar with? The Black Angus Steakhouse 20 22 44 Hogs Breath Cafe 14 36 13 2 Lone Star Steakhouse and Saloon 6 24 16 3 Customer in Black Angus Steakhouse recorded being highly satisfied by the services in offer. Generally, all the customers recorded some level of satisfaction. Table 8a: portions Which steakhouse restaurant are you most familiar with? Mean N Std. Deviation The Black Angus Steakhouse 5.27 86 .951 Hogs Breath Cafe 4.48 65 .687 Lone Star Steakhouse and Saloon 5.02 49 .595 Total 4.95 200 .861 Of the three competitors, Black Angus Steakhouse is concerned about large portions with majority of the customers saying that they are very important. Hog’s Breath Café and Lone Steakhouse and Salon have the same customer rating about the portion which is below the rating for Black Angus (Appendix). Table 8b: Competent employees Which steakhouse restaurant are you most familiar with? Mean N Std. Deviation The Black Angus Steakhouse 1.85 86 .623 Hogs Breath Cafe 3.75 65 .919 Lone Star Steakhouse and Saloon 4.51 49 .617 Total 3.12 200 1.355 Lone Steakhouse and Salon has high competent employees than the Black Angus and Hog’s Café. All the three ventures have a significant difference in terms of employee competence (Appendix) Table 8c: Food Quality Which steakhouse restaurant are you most familiar with? Mean N Std. Deviation The Black Angus Steakhouse 6.43 86 .660 Hogs Breath Cafe 5.06 65 .950 Lone Star Steakhouse and Saloon 6.86 49 .354 Total 6.09 200 1.023 The food quality of the three ventures is different with Lone Steakhouse and Salon considering high quality followed by Black Angus. All of them have emphasis on the quality of food (Appendix). Table 8d: Speed of service Which steakhouse restaurant are you most familiar with? Mean N Std. Deviation The Black Angus Steakhouse 6.23 86 .954 Hogs Breath Cafe 5.68 65 .920 Lone Star Steakhouse and Saloon 5.96 49 .644 Total 5.99 200 .905 The Black Angus has high rating in terms of high speed in service delivery. The mean difference in service delivery is significant with Lone steakhouse being similar to the other two competitors while Hog’s Café and Black Angus being different (Appendix). Table 8e: Atmosphere Which steakhouse restaurant are you most familiar with? Mean N Std. Deviation The Black Angus Steakhouse 5.14 86 .870 Hogs Breath Cafe 4.23 65 .844 Lone Star Steakhouse and Saloon 4.69 49 .918 Total 4.74 200 .954 Black Angus has very good atmosphere in general. All the three competitors had different atmosphere levels with Black Angus having the best followed by Lone Star and then Hog’s Café (Appendix). Table 8f: Satisfaction Which steakhouse restaurant are you most familiar with? Mean N Std. Deviation The Black Angus Steakhouse 6.28 86 .821 Hogs Breath Cafe 5.05 65 .738 Lone Star Steakhouse and Saloon 5.33 49 .774 Total 5.65 200 .961 On satisfaction, Black Angus satisfied customers well than the other two competitors. The level of satisfaction by Black Angus was better than the other two which have same level of satisfaction. Recommendations From the above analyzed data, it is evident that Black Angus Steakhouse is likely to do better than the other two competitors. This is so because, all the customers said their services are good in terms of portions, quality, speed, atmosphere and overall satisfaction. However, in terms of competent employees, the management should improve and make sure that customer’s confidence in the workforce is restored. The target market is correctly identified in this case. Table 9: Checklist Attribute\Venture Black Angus S. Hog’s Cafe Lone Star S. Portions ** ** ** Speed of service ** ** ** Employee competence * * ** Food Quality ** ** ** Satisfaction ** ** ** Atmosphere ** ** ** *- Not fully satisfied, **- Fully satisfied. Reference Freed, M. et al. (1991). Handbook of Statistical Procedures and Their Computer Applications to Education and the Behavioral Sciences. NY: American Council on Education, Macmillan Publishing Company Gary, R (2007). Born to Build, Not to Play: an Entrepreneur’s ‘Curse’: Chris Lyman tried to live a life of leisure. The New York Times. 19th May 19, 2008. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/28/business/28invent-side.html?ex=1351224000&en=4d8c965e298e4788&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink Lake, L (2008). Developing Market Mix. 19th May 19, 2008. http://marketing.about.com/ Mailu, S (2004). Work Ethics: Nairobi: General Printers MaryAnne, V (2004). Product Environmental Impacts: How to contain them. London: Penguin Macdonald, N (1999). Macroeconomics and Business: An Interactive Approach: Thomson Learning McNamara, C (2008). All about Marketing. 19th May 19, 2008. http://www.managementhelp.org/mrktng/mrktng.htm Posner, R (2007). Customer delight. 19th May 19, 2008. http://gurusoftware.com/Gurunet/Business/Topics/Delight.htm Thompson, A (2002). Customer Satisfaction in 7 Steps. 19th May 19, 2008. http://www.sitepoint.com/article/satisfaction-7-steps Richmond, H (2008). Customer Satisfaction: What the Management Ought to Know. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Wooldridge, J. (2006). Introduction to econometrics, 3rd edition, MIT publishers, London Appendix Multiple Comparisons Dependent Variable: X1 -- Large Portions LSD (I) Which steakhouse restaurant are you most familiar with? (J) Which steakhouse restaurant are you most familiar with? Mean Difference (I-J) Std. Error Sig. 95% Confidence Interval Lower Bound Upper Bound The Black Angus Steakhouse Hogs Breath Cafe .79(*) .130 .000 .53 1.05 Lone Star Steakhouse and Saloon .25 .142 .084 -.03 .53 Hogs Breath Cafe The Black Angus Steakhouse -.79(*) .130 .000 -1.05 -.53 Lone Star Steakhouse and Saloon -.54(*) .150 .000 -.84 -.25 Lone Star Steakhouse and Saloon The Black Angus Steakhouse -.25 .142 .084 -.53 .03 Hogs Breath Cafe .54(*) .150 .000 .25 .84 * The mean difference is significant at the .05 level. Multiple Comparisons Dependent Variable: X2 -- Competent Employees LSD (I) Which steakhouse restaurant are you most familiar with? (J) Which steakhouse restaurant are you most familiar with? Mean Difference (I-J) Std. Error Sig. 95% Confidence Interval Lower Bound Upper Bound The Black Angus Steakhouse Hogs Breath Cafe -1.91(*) .120 .000 -2.14 -1.67 Lone Star Steakhouse and Saloon -2.66(*) .131 .000 -2.92 -2.40 Hogs Breath Cafe The Black Angus Steakhouse 1.91(*) .120 .000 1.67 2.14 Lone Star Steakhouse and Saloon -.76(*) .138 .000 -1.03 -.48 Lone Star Steakhouse and Saloon The Black Angus Steakhouse 2.66(*) .131 .000 2.40 2.92 Hogs Breath Cafe .76(*) .138 .000 .48 1.03 * The mean difference is significant at the .05 level. Multiple Comparisons (I) Which steakhouse restaurant are you most familiar with? (J) Which steakhouse restaurant are you most familiar with? Mean Difference (I-J) Std. Error Sig. 95% Confidence Interval Lower Bound Upper Bound The Black Angus Steakhouse Hogs Breath Cafe 1.37(*) .118 .000 1.14 1.60 Lone Star Steakhouse and Saloon -.43(*) .128 .001 -.68 -.17 Hogs Breath Cafe The Black Angus Steakhouse -1.37(*) .118 .000 -1.60 -1.14 Lone Star Steakhouse and Saloon -1.80(*) .135 .000 -2.06 -1.53 Lone Star Steakhouse and Saloon The Black Angus Steakhouse .43(*) .128 .001 .17 .68 Hogs Breath Cafe 1.80(*) .135 .000 1.53 2.06 Dependent Variable: X3 -- Food Quality LSD * The mean difference is significant at the .05 level. Multiple Comparisons Dependent Variable: X4 -- Speed of Service LSD (I) Which steakhouse restaurant are you most familiar with? (J) Which steakhouse restaurant are you most familiar with? Mean Difference (I-J) Std. Error Sig. 95% Confidence Interval Lower Bound Upper Bound The Black Angus Steakhouse Hogs Breath Cafe .56(*) .144 .000 .27 .84 Lone Star Steakhouse and Saloon .27 .157 .083 -.04 .58 Hogs Breath Cafe The Black Angus Steakhouse -.56(*) .144 .000 -.84 -.27 Lone Star Steakhouse and Saloon -.28 .166 .090 -.61 .04 Lone Star Steakhouse and Saloon The Black Angus Steakhouse -.27 .157 .083 -.58 .04 Hogs Breath Cafe .28 .166 .090 -.04 .61 * The mean difference is significant at the .05 level. Multiple Comparisons Dependent Variable: X5 -- Atmosphere LSD (I) Which steakhouse restaurant are you most familiar with? (J) Which steakhouse restaurant are you most familiar with? Mean Difference (I-J) Std. Error Sig. 95% Confidence Interval Lower Bound Upper Bound The Black Angus Steakhouse Hogs Breath Cafe .91(*) .144 .000 .63 1.19 Lone Star Steakhouse and Saloon .45(*) .156 .005 .14 .75 Hogs Breath Cafe The Black Angus Steakhouse -.91(*) .144 .000 -1.19 -.63 Lone Star Steakhouse and Saloon -.46(*) .165 .006 -.79 -.14 Lone Star Steakhouse and Saloon The Black Angus Steakhouse -.45(*) .156 .005 -.75 -.14 Hogs Breath Cafe .46(*) .165 .006 .14 .79 * The mean difference is significant at the .05 level. Multiple Comparisons Dependent Variable: X6 -- Reasonable Prices LSD (I) Which steakhouse restaurant are you most familiar with? (J) Which steakhouse restaurant are you most familiar with? Mean Difference (I-J) Std. Error Sig. 95% Confidence Interval Lower Bound Upper Bound The Black Angus Steakhouse Hogs Breath Cafe -.88(*) .137 .000 -1.15 -.61 Lone Star Steakhouse and Saloon -1.56(*) .149 .000 -1.86 -1.27 Hogs Breath Cafe The Black Angus Steakhouse .88(*) .137 .000 .61 1.15 Lone Star Steakhouse and Saloon -.69(*) .158 .000 -1.00 -.37 Lone Star Steakhouse and Saloon The Black Angus Steakhouse 1.56(*) .149 .000 1.27 1.86 Hogs Breath Cafe .69(*) .158 .000 .37 1.00 * The mean difference is significant at the .05 level. Multiple Comparisons Dependent Variable: X13 -- Satisfaction LSD (I) Which steakhouse restaurant are you most familiar with? (J) Which steakhouse restaurant are you most familiar with? Mean Difference (I-J) Std. Error Sig. 95% Confidence Interval Lower Bound Upper Bound The Black Angus Steakhouse Hogs Breath Cafe 1.23(*) .129 .000 .98 1.49 Lone Star Steakhouse and Saloon .95(*) .140 .000 .68 1.23 Hogs Breath Cafe The Black Angus Steakhouse -1.23(*) .129 .000 -1.49 -.98 Lone Star Steakhouse and Saloon -.28 .148 .060 -.57 .01 Lone Star Steakhouse and Saloon The Black Angus Steakhouse -.95(*) .140 .000 -1.23 -.68 Hogs Breath Cafe .28 .148 .060 -.01 .57 * The mean difference is significant at the .05 level. Read More