el chico - mcmurry university | abilene, texas chico.doc · web viewel chico has quickly become a...

Training Seminar:

Dealing with customer complaints

~Contents~Organization selection:

El Chico . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Employment and Employees:

Flowchart of Authority . . . . . . 5

Job Descriptions . . . . . . . . . 6

Clientele Overview:

Who are customers? . . . . . . . . 8

Where are ideal locations? . . . . 9

What do customers expect?. . . . . 10

Training Proposal:

Needs Assessment . . . . . . . . . 11

Need for Training . . . . . . . . 12

Who Needs This Training?:

Data sources . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Interviews . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

What Information Will be Gathered?

Managerial Questionaire . . . . . .17

Server Questionnaire . . . . . . . 18

Guest Questionaire . . . . . . . . 20

Importance of Data Collected . . . 21

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El ChicoEl Chico Restaurants reflect sixty years of changing tastes, styles, and guests' preferences. El Chico has taken care to preserve the heritage while updating the decor and adding exciting new tastes to its menu.

Today, El Chico is still serving top-quality, traditional Mexican food favorites and does not hesitate when introducing guests to the next level of great Mexican food with exciting new menu items. The menu items are prepared fresh daily and made by hand.

Daily blackboard specials accompanied by the menu that is full of choices ensure that El Chico provides its guests with a wide variety of choices for every palate and appetite. The El Chico mission is to deliver quality food, large portions, and exceptional service in a clean, fun environment all at a value that is unsurpassed.

El Chico has quickly become a Mexican food tradition since 1940, when the Cuellar family opened its first restaurant in Dallas, Texas. Now there are numerous corporate and franchise owned restaurants located throughout Texas, Louisiana, and other southern states. This organization is a service- oriented institution with its focus being on keeping its guests satisfied and coming back.

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*Flowchart of authority*

The basic hierarchy of authority in a given store commonly goes by the following pattern:

Owner

General Manager/ \

Assistant Manager Assistant Manager___________________________

_______________________________________

Cooks Busboys Hosts Servers

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Job DescriptionsOwner:

There is an owner, whether is be a franchisee or corporate, who can

own one or many stores. A successful owner is typically one with

previous business experience and who is motivated, levelheaded, as

well as willing and able to assess and take risks. Organization of time,

space, and people is a key element for success.

General Manager:

An owner assigned a general manager to each restaurant. The general manager oversees all that particular restaurant’s affairs. Qualifications for such a position include strong business and people skills. Many people who fill these positions have a bachelor’s degree in business or in an otherwise related field of study and then experience on the job. The type of individuals typically employed by this organization for management positions are skilled, professional people with two or more years of restaurant management experience that have impressive leadership abilities, good communication and people skills, and have the desire and ability to motivate employees while providing guests with excellent food and quality service.

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Assistant Managers:

Under the general manager there are usually a few assistant managers who carry out many of the general manager’s duties and instructions while he is away from the restaurant. These individuals have shown responsibility and respect to the business, their bosses, and fellow employees.

Servers, cooks, hosts, expediters:

The rest of the restaurant’s employees all fall under the previously mentioned assistant managers. These employee’s qualifications are less exacting than that of managers. Most skills necessary for these jobs are taught as the employees are hired. And although a high school degree is not required, it is looked favorably upon. The ability to read, comprehend simple instructions, communicate with coworkers and guests, calculate simple mathematical problems, and apply common sense understanding when carrying out any and all instructions furnished in oral or written form are all very necessary skills. Among these job positions, there is no distinct level of status or authority in relation to the each other, though experience and length of employment do play a role in a particular person’s influence and power over others. Each position does require a few specific skills that are exclusive to that position.

Cooks:

Cooks must be trained and very familiar with the menu, preparation methods, and kitchen equipment.

Servers:

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Servers must be also be very knowledgeable about the menu, know some key ingredients to entrees, but more importantly trained with the computer system in order to be able to input orders to the kitchen.

Expediters:

Expos need the most training ofthese four positions. They are generally highly skilled and knowledgeable servers who are very familiar with the food and the processes it takes to prepare it. They must be able to communicate with the servers, cooks, and management team in order to effectively supervise and organize all kitchen activity to insure ticket times are low and food quality is high.

Hosts:

The position of host requires the least training or skill of all the positions in the restaurant. A host must be taught the store layout, seating procedures, and how to estimate wait times.

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Who are the customers?El Chico caters to the middle class, medium income person or family. The menu is reasonably priced to allow for individuals, couples, and families to dine even on limited funds.Recent polls have provided data showing that middle class families are choosing to dine out on a much regular basis more than in the past. The following data was gathered from a 10,000-person sample of middle class (defined by making $30,000-70,000 per year) Americans. The prediction for 2010 is also included to show the anticipated growth.

As this information clearly suggests, the demand for

fair priced, quality restaurants is rapidly

increasing and will continue to rise in the future, to the extent that nearly every middle class American will choose to dine out more often than stay home and cook.

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Needs AssessmentWho needs to be studied?

Servers-

As a server at an El Chico restaurant, one would be responsible for the majority of interaction with the guests. A server’s duties include, but are rarely limited to, keeping their section of tables clean, properly set up, make certain the service area is appropriately stocked, as well as the more obvious responsibilities of taking the guests’ food and beverage orders and insuring meal satisfaction and a pleasant dining experience at the restaurant.

Managers-

A manager at an El Chico restaurant is the overseer in charge of making sure everything at the restaurant is running smoothly, whether it is servers working together, cooks preparing meals properly, or guests getting served in a timely manner. If in any area of the restaurant, the manager sees a deficiency it is his responsibility to either instruct others as to how to compensate for it or even take it upon himself to correct the problem. It is not uncommon for a manager to sometimes have to help out in the kitchen or clean off a couple of tables when everybody else already has their hands full.

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Need for trainingThe best training topic for this particular organization is

competently dealing with customer complaints. This training would mainly pertain to new hires but would also be used as a reminder and reinforcement to current employees. If a complaint is handled in a timely, respectful, and polite style, the guests involved are much more like to return. The two positions that would benefit most from such training would be servers and managers. These are the people who are always dealing with the guests and are, in many cases, the only interaction the guests have with the restaurant. The guests’ perception of El Chico comes solely from the quality of service and attention they are given by its employees. These employees need to learn how to effectively and promptly handle complaints, in a manner that has been determined to be in best in compliance with both the corporate policies and the guests’ expectations. Guests don’t expect everything to always be perfect, but they do expect it to get fixed then something does go wrong. During a situation where guests are unsatisfied with some aspect of the service or product they do normally have some expectation. Guests typically expect an employee to listen to and empathize with their problem/complaint, offer an apology and take responsibility for the problem, act quickly to fix the situation, and lastly follow-up to insure the problem has been resolved and everything is now satisfactory.

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Data Sources:

General Manager: This person’s opinions and input are important when considering the training procedures that will be implemented. Ultimately, this is the person in charge and the one who will be enforcing and regulating all training that occurs in the restaurant. Employee evaluations are completed by the management team, however not all employees are always taken into account and this process is not completed on a regular basis.

Assistant manager(s): Again, the person/people filling these positions will have input and opinions that are influential in the creation and execution of the proposed training plan. The assistant manager(s), though not as powerful, influential, or authoritative in the company, still has much of the same responsibilities as the general manager, such as ensuring the rest of the employees are properly trained and then abide by the training and instructions they receive. The assistant manager should understand and feel comfortable with the customer service methods that are being taught, before he is expected educate and instruct other employees on that topic.

Servers: The servers are the employees who have the most contact with the guests. It is their actions, service, and attitudes that are judged by the guests. So therefore, it is the servers’ number one priority to ensure that every guest leaves the restaurant with a feeling of satisfaction, in terms of food quality, overall service, and atmosphere. There are occasional training sessions held to provide currently employed servers with guidance and reinforcement in correctly serving guests and therefore representing the restaurant. However, when a person is first hired the skills are not always adequately developed.

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Guests: Receiving guest feedback, whether the suggestions are of the positive or negative nature, can prove to be an effective and valuable tool when the restaurant is devising a plan to better serve the customers. By learning how the guests evaluated their overall dining experience and then what aspects of the service were great, adequate, or unsatisfactory, the restaurant can provide better service in the future. Available to the guests are comment cards that ask about the quality of food, speed, quality, and friendliness of service, and overall dining experience. These can be, and usually are, kept anonymous by the respondents.

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~Interviews~Interviews with various employees of the restaurant, including

both managerial and serving staff, will be essential to determine the exact route that will be most beneficial in fulfilling the training objective. The current condition of the restaurant, as well as the attitudes, approaches, and behaviors of its employees should provide us with a greater insight as to what direction this course of instruction should take. Meeting with employees in both individual and group settings will lend to a greater understanding of not only the individual employees, but also how they work (or fail to work) as a team for the benefit of the company. By meeting with employees on an individual basis and having them complete questionnaires and worksheets, the tendency to keep quite should be overcome.

Who will be interviewed?

Managers:All general and assistant managers should be interviewed to discover personal ideas and attitudes about the condition of the restaurant and service its employees provide. While individual interview sessions may be useful, group meetings will provide the most opportunity for all to be involved, brainstorming together in the effort to reach realizations of goals and possible methods of reaching them. They are all part of the restaurant’s managing team and have to come to a mutual understanding and work together to organize, influence, and instruct the other employees.

Servers:Assuming that interviewing all servers of the restaurant will be unnecessarily redundant and not to mention time consuming, a few servers should be selected to participate in personal interviews along with possibly group sessions involving management. The trainer should select the servers randomly. A limited number may be selected based on the experience, knowledge, positive attitude, and the good examples they demonstrate while on the job, as observed by their managers.

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~Managerial Questionnaire~

1.Full name and title you hold in this company:__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2.What are the most important personal qualities you look for when hiring/ promoting an employee for a serving position? Rank 1-7, (1 being most desirable)

___ experience___ education___ appearance___ communication skills___ good references___ overall attitude___ willingness to initiate conversations with guests

3.Which important personal quality do you feel is not stressed enough when it comes to the servers that are hired? Rank 1-7 (1 being least stressed)

___ experience___ education___ appearance___ communication skills___ good references___ overall attitude___ willingness to initiate conversations with guests

4.Is there a system or rewards (or punishment) in place for exceptional (or lacking) customer service? If so, please describe.________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________5.How do you think this system can be improved upon or started up in your restaurant?____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________6.What can be done to encourage all employees to focus more on the guests’ satisfaction?_________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________

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~Server Questionnaire~Circle the response that best fits you and your practices at

work.

1. I go out of my way to make my guests feel comfortable and satisfied.

1 2 3 4Strongly agree agree disagree strongly disagree

2. I am polite and treat each guest with the same courtesy and respect.


3. I do not place the blame on other coworkers, when a guest has a compliant/concern.


4. I know how to take the responsibility upon myself to fix most any problem a guest has.


5. I know and always follow through with the proper method of dealing with customer complaints as set forth by those above me.


6. When at work, my primary obligation is to my guests, ensuring their satisfaction with their dining experience.


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7. I make sure my guests know that I am there to serve them, readily available to do my best to meet any of their needs.


8. I set a good example to coworkers with my emphasis being on customer service and not conversing with other employees.


9. While at work, I feel like a part of a team and know that success depends on everyone’s working together.


10. Briefly describe what you say and do to best make your customers feel welcomed and appreciated from the time they sit in your section until they walk out the door._________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

11. Is/Are there any area(s) you feel other employees or yourself are lacking or unknowledgeable in?Check all that apply: ___knowing the menu ___up-selling techniques___handling complaints ___team work with coworkers___follow up procedures ___knowing the importance of “ticket

times” and how to control them to the best of your ability

12.In your opinion, are there any areas involving customer service that you personally, or the restaurant as a whole, needs to work on? Explain:___________________

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___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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~Guest Survey~Circle the response that best describes your feelings about your dining

experience.

1. How often do you visit this or any other El Chico restaurant?

First time A few times a month Once a week More than once a week

2. Rate your overall dining experience.

Excellent Good Fair Poor Unsatisfactory

3. Your server was attentive and courteous to you and your

dining party.

Strongly agree agree disagree strongly disagree

4. Your server made you feel welcomed and appreciative of your business.


5. From what you observed, the restaurant’s employees were on always task and ready to help or listen to any guests’ concerns.


6. During your visit to our restaurant, the manager was visible and available to guests at least most of the time.

Strongly agree agree disagree strongly disagree___________________________________________________________

We appreciate the time and effort you put forth while participating in our survey. We will use all information and feedback you have provided us with to improve out restaurant and your dining experience. ___________________________________________________________

Bring this completed survey on your next visit to El Chico and you will receive one free appetizer OR dessert.

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ResultsThe server questionnaire was given to 15 servers at the restaurant. Each participant received a number score based upon to what degree he/she agreed with each statement. A lower score, 0-12 points, shows that server to have a better understanding, attitude, and approach to their serving duties. A higher score, 25-36 points, shows that server to be lacking in areas of understanding, skill, and/ or competence. An average score, 13-24 points, is where the majority of servers should fall. This however does not mean they are not in need of some training as well.

As these results clearly reveal, the servers are in need of some training and direction. The desired outcome is to have at least 75% of the restaurant’s servers scoring 0-12 points.

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Results

The guest survey was completed and returned by 30 customers. The scoring of this survey follows the same method as the server questionnaire, with each response being assigned a numerical value. The most positive response, also the first choice given, is worth 1 point, and then the other responses are worth 2, 3, 4, and 5 points respectively. A poor score would be 18-25 points. An average score would be 9-17. A good score would be 0-8 points.

The results clearly reveal that the restaurant’s customers are not completely satisfied with the service they are currently receiving. It is desirable to have at least 70% of all completed guest surveys to score 0-8 points.

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Importance of Data Collected

The interviews will provide broader, more qualitative responses, lending to a more in-depth

evaluation and assessment of the employees’ current circumstances and opinions. Their abilities, skills, strengths, and determination will hopefully become increasingly evident, as will their weaknesses, lack of interest, or areas in need of

improvement. The questionnaires completed by the employees will insure that certain necessary topics are addressed and then analyzed. The employee’s perception of him own attitude, knowledge, and skill is the main issue being dealt with by this approach. Then they must be evaluated to see how their perceptions match up with how others, whether it is managers or guests, perceive them to be. The surveys intended for the guests, will hopefully offer a straightforward and honest assessment of the restaurant’s current status, in terms of the service, knowledge, and comfort they were offered during their visit. These surveys show what areas the employees and restaurant as a whole are weak in and what might need to be worked on. The guest’s input and opinions are of the utmost importance, considering the restaurant is totally dependent on them for success.

It is clear from the data gathered so far that this restaurant does need training and instruction especially in areas dealing with customer service.

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el chico - mcmurry university | abilene, texas chico.doc · web viewel chico has quickly become a...

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