With negative reviews given about food quality soaring by 10% (an increase from 8% to 18%) between February and September this year, it is unsurprising that food expectations are the number one grievance for consumers in pubs and bars.
However, according to the latest data from guest feedback service Feed It Back, speed of service remains the second top gripe, with 17% of negative reviews relating to poor speed of service, despite a 4% fall from February.
Feed It Back chief executive Carlo Platia said “The really interesting part is when you dig down into the granular detail of the data and find out that it’s actually the wait time between the starter and the main course that is frustrating customers. With this richness of insight, you have the tangible information you need to improve your customer experience.”.
Our GO Technology Report produced in conjunction with CGA, which polls 5,000 UK adults, backs up these stats, reporting that customers put swift service and convenience at the top of their list of priorities, with 72% of those surveyed claiming food not coming fast enough as their number 1 frustration. With nearly half of customers wanting more speed when it comes to food orders arriving on time, it’s a complaint common to all age groups, particularly at lunchtimes, when many are watching the clock and every second counts.
This is where integrated systems really come into their own, because they can get serving and kitchen staff working in harmony to give customers what they want: good food, served quickly and accurately.
To reduce this frustration, technology can help ensure orders are taken correctly, processed accurately and arrive in the kitchen efficiently. Zonal has developed a number of solutions to tackle these issues.
When it comes to taking orders quickly and accurately, iServe, is a cost-effective replacement to the traditional order pad, which can be installed on any Apple iOS device to create a mobile EPoS app. Team members can take orders and print and process payments from anywhere in the venue, without the need to return to the POS.
With iServe, orders are processed faster with staff visits to the bar and kitchen reduced, giving the team more time to focus on delivering a great customer experience. iServe can also drive spend per head through upsell prompts and links with Zonal’s online booking and table Management and loyalty systems to deliver a truly integrated solution.
Once the order has been taken, Zonal’s comprehensive kitchen and service management solution provides visible real-time information to both kitchen and service staff. It removes the risk of delays in the kitchen and poor communication between waiting and kitchen teams, which can be a cause of frustration for consumers.
There is no doubt that technology, driven by consumer demand, is transforming the hospitality industry, and the key to success is integration. In order to overcome issues such as speed of service, operators need to embrace change and unify their systems, automate everyday interactions, allowing them to extend their competitive advantage.
You can read more on the topic of speed of service in our GO Technology ‘The Need for Speed’ report. Download now.