Growth concepts pick up the pace

“The people who won’t weather the storm are those who cut labor and quality,” he says. “That will separate the real players from the pretenders.”

So will a strong marketing effort, according to Linda Duke, chief executive of Duke Marketing, based in San Rafael, Calif.

About 43 percent of fast-casual executives do not conduct customer-satisfaction surveys, according to the 2007 Fast Casual State of the Industry Report from Fast Casual magazine. Twenty percent conduct them annually, 7.5 percent do them monthly and weekly and 5 percent conduct them quarterly.

Those numbers surprise Duke.

“One of the things I was totally blown away by is that the area that needs the biggest help is marketing,” she says.

Some restaurant managers do a good job of marketing to the communities around their stores, Duke says, but many others are lagging in this area.

“They’re really not doing a lot of communication,” she says. “There’s a big opportunity to improve.”

Duke sees a shake-up coming in the segment, with weaker brands falling by the wayside. For those chains that market effectively, she says, “your brand will stand out.”

Local store marketing, including direct mail and community involvement, is the best way to sustain the viability of a concept, says David Wolfgram, chief executive of San Francisco-based Forklift Brands.

See http://www.nrn.com/article.aspx?id=346566

Components of a Feedback Management System

Recently, the “light” has turned on for many companies to see the value of providing a feedback management system that allows their customers to participate in a two-way communication channel.  If this is a recent undertaking for you, let me suggest 4 essential components of a successful feedback management system.

#1  Accessibility.  Access to your feedback system must be easy and freely given.  If your feedback system is too hard to access or too difficult to find you will not get the kind of feedback you are looking for.  Customers will give up pretty quickly if they find access to your system difficult.  It is best to have multiple ways that your customers can access your feedback system.  It could be through your website, a customer portal, a software application or an online survey.

Read The Rest Here http://blog.ideascope.com/public/item/167262

Here is your Burger and would you like a perfume too

We were on vacation in Fort Lauderdale Fl on 2-14-07 and stopped at the location near the airport. I would guess 17th street. After placing our order, the girl behind the counter asked us if we would like to buy any designer purses or shirts. These were clearly counterfiet items. We kept telling her no we just came for lunch. She kept on pestering us the whole time we were waiting for the chicken to finish cooking. We came to KFC for food, not to be bothered by the cashier. My husband and I were furious. She had them sitting right on the counter. The customer before us either bought something from her or was her distributor because they had an order placed. The girl didn’t have on a name tag but the whole time she kept smacking herself on the top of her head. We came to get take out and enjoy our vacation, not to be harassed by the employee selling her fake goods.

I would like this restaurant checked into. The employee’s conduct was horrible. Reimbursment for our luch would be great. 10 pc meal and a popcorn chicken combo. Thank you, Tina

http://www.planetfeedback.com/index.php?level2=blog_viewpost&topic_id=296520

The Survey Says…

Want to know what consumers think? Put down the comment cards and poll them online instead.

Don’t trust online polls. That’s what traditional-minded researchers have been telling business owners for years. The Internet isn’t diverse enough to be a valid testing ground, they argue, so data gathered online is bound to be skewed.

If that argument was ever valid, it no longer is. Consumers of all stripes are giving feedback to businesses online. One out of every four American Internet users–about 33 million people–has rated a product, service, or person online, according to a recent study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, an initiative of the Washington, D.C.-based Pew Research Center. That number is expected to grow as consumers become accustomed to having more interactive relationships with companies, says Lee Rainie, director of Pew Internet. “We’re well past the time when this was an activity of early adopters,” he says. “This is how consumers want and expect to communicate with businesses.”

At the same time, new technology offered by companies such as SurveyMonkey, based in Portland, Oreg., and WebSurveyor, based in Herndon, Va., is making it easier for companies to conduct online polls. The polling software aggregates hundreds of responses to multiple-choice questions into easy-to-read documents, complete with graphs and charts, that can be mined for information on everything from customer satisfaction to product development.

http://www.inc.com/magazine/20051001/handson-technology.html

Sweet Tomatos Diners feedback

To deliver on that promise, Sweet Tomatoes strives to serve foods with no preservatives or added ingredients that are sourced from farmers with which it has long-term relationships. Inherent to its soup-and-salad-heavy menu is a health-minded focus whose appeal continues to grow.

The company devotes considerable time and resources to customer survey call logs. It responds to complaints and takes seriously all suggestions and feedback.

Sweet Tomatoes’ kitchen cabinet of consumers is expected to provide the next level of guest feedback.

“It’s a group of guests from all parts of the country who sign on for a two-year commitment to give us feedback,” Scharff says.

See Full Article  http://www.rimag.com/archives/2006/09a/cic-sweet.asp

Cheesecake Factory Guest Feedback

Guests at The Cheesecake Factory are very vocal—which is not at all a bad thing. Evidence can be found in the hum that emanates from laughing, chattering guests who fill the cavernously large restaurants, and it’s also seen in their penchant for expressing likes, dislikes and ideas to unit- and corporate-level employees. And when they speak, top executives listen closely.

“We don’t forget who pays the bills,” says Howard Gordon, senior vice president of business development and marketing for the four-time R&I Consumers’ Choice in Chains winner. This year, it also has the survey’s highest overall score as well as attribute-high scores in food quality and service.

Guest feedback—culled mainly from online comment forms and store-level conversations—helped drive what Gordon describes as the company’s most comprehensive menu update in a decade, which launched in August.

See Full Article  http://www.rimag.com/archives/2006/09a/cic-cheesecake.asp

How Restaurateurs are using feedback

Turning the Tables

Guest feedback not only leads to simple operational fixes, it also tells you more about who your customers really are.

By Kate Leahy, Associate Editor

Kabuki Japanese Restaurant uses positive feedback to reward high performing stores. Au Bon Pain added more vegetarian soups to its menu in response to customer requests.

Listening to customer feedback can be as fun as taking medicine. But the payoff amounts to much more than a spoonful of sugar.

Thalia Loffredo thinks so. When the New York City restaurateur opened Jovia in the fall of 2005, she invited diners to don critics’ hats and fill out questionnaires to help her improve the new operation. She mailed $20 restaurant gift certificates to all who offered their address on the user-friendly form.

After compiling responses, Loffredo made important changes. She switched out the hip music at lunch for a softer sound, saving edgier tunes for dinner service. She worked with the chef to add a vegetable component to a bare-bones fish preparation. She installed a bright red awning over the front door after guests had trouble finding the restaurant. And she walked away with a brand-new guest database.

With this exercise early after the restaurant’s opening, Loffredo set a standard for acting on guest feedback. A valuable source of input, customer evaluation can guide menu changes, fine-tune service and décor and keep service in check. On a larger scale, it can help companies track brands and build guest databases. It can even establish stronger bonds between customers and operations.

Menu Focus

Many operators use feedback as a way to gauge the success of menu items. That’s the case at Arterra, a restaurant at the San Diego Marriott Del Mar Hotel that boasts a changing seasonal menu.

“Based on feedback, on a day-to-day basis we determine how long a dish will stay on the menu. Those guest comments have an effect on how and when we make those changes,” says Joe Emma, assistant general manager of the hotel.

See Full Article  http://www.rimag.com/archives/2007/02/bus-feedback.asp

Waiters and diners lay their complaints

Denver waiters are lazy, greedy incompetents who insult customers, expect big tips and work in restaurants because they aren’t qualified to do anything else. Denver diners are boorish, stupid slobs who treat waiters like dirt, demand total attention and then leave a few pennies on the table. Honest, that’s what some diners and waiters told us when we recently asked what irritated them the most about each other. Many of the remarks e-mailed to us from diners and waiters were pointed – some were unsuitable for a family newspaper. It’s not just us versus them: We received a significant number of pet peeves from waiters about other servers and diners about fellow eaters.

Click here for full story

Finding Feedback – Article in Pizza Today

Do you know what’s on your customers’ minds, or how your operation stacks up against the competition? You can easily find out – and widen your customer loyalty base at the same time – without hiring a pricey consultant or market research firm.

Why go to the trouble of seeking customer feedback? Simply, it encourages retention. According to loyalty guru Frederick Reichheld, author of The Loyalty Effect, even a small rise in customer retention can double a company’s profits – and speed its growth.

One reason Domino’s Pizza shot off like a rocket in its formative years was its willingness to listen. Founder Tom Monaghan spent a year conducting marketing research on the fly. Over and over, he asked one question: “What’s important to you about a pizza?” Most customers cited a desire for delivery. In the early 1960s most pizzerias shunned delivery service, unless they were new – and even then, they delivered only until dine-in business took-off.

See http://pizzatoday.com/backoffice_articles.shtml?article=NTc5M3N1cGVyNTc5MHNlY3JldDU3OTc==

Jebra Turner is a freelance writer living in Portland, Oregon. Her last feature was on kitchen safety. If you have questions or comments, contact Jeremy White.

http://pizzatoday.com/backoffice_articles.shtml?article=NTc5M3N1cGVyNTc5MHNlY3JldDU3OTc=

Eatery asking for client feedback

INDUSTRY – Pacific Palms Conference Resort is planning a new restaurant – and the facility is seeking your input.

The 650-acre hotel and conference center complex is soliciting feedback from clients and others in the community as to what kinds of food and beverages Elements Grill & Bar should serve.

“We’re becoming more of a lifestyle property and we’re trying to find out what people really want, based on the community’s lifestyle,” said Michael Swyney, vice president of marketing. “We think we have at least 23 different types of customers that we need to serve.”

Pacific Palms has e-mailed a survey to its various customer groups, which include leisure clients, corporate customers and its golf clientele, among others.

See Complete Article http://www.whittierdailynews.com/business/ci_4557247