The changing face, and future, of service in Hospitality

McDonald’s are increasing sales simply through introducing the self-service order points into their restaurants. Why? 

With the ability to serve ourselves, we’re feeling less pressure to keep to the normal, rigidity of menu boards, and staff staring at us, waiting for our order; In fact, there’s nothing worse than standing in front of a member of staff staring up at the menu boards, trying to choose! and so when faced with the privacy of self-ordering points, we’re ordering more, without any of that pressure or guilt.

This flies in the face of all normal rules of service, that personal skills, especially from recommendation and upselling, will lead to greater revenues for the establishment.

And yet there are other businesses that are doing really well without having to rely on service to boost revenues; Vapiano is one case in point, that provides an element of service in that the chefs cook exactly what you want, but other than that the interaction with staff providing service is minimal. Vapiano is about to open its 7threstaurant in the UK, at a time when many restaurant brands have been reducing estates, or growing minimally, and this is on the back of growing LfL sales in its established sites.

But I’m not advocating that we abandon all elements of service, as this reduces the restaurant experience to something akin to just refuelling. A recent visit to a Gourmet Burger Kitchen, with the ordering process conducted through the app, meant that I didn’t actually engage with any staff other than to thank them when they brought my food and drink to the table. I didn’t thank anyone at the end of the meal, as I didn’t engage with anyone at all as I left the restaurant. The whole transaction (which it was, rather than a meal experience) was conducted via the remote technology of my phone, even though I was sat at a table in a restaurant.

Some operators really need to provide better service, through which it will easily become apparent that good service leads to greater revenues; I am amazed on a daily basis that coffee shops don’t try to upsell to all those people sitting at their tables not eating or drinking anything! If those people are working, or in a conversation, they don’t particularly want to have to get up to go back to the counter to order something else, and so they don’t; A simple question from the team member clearing tables would lead to the majority ordering additional drinks – at no additional labour cost.

The UK consumer still believes that Pubs offer the best service, even though we’re left waiting at the bar trying to get the barperson’s attention; but, we do like the interaction with bar and waiting staff, and of course the idea of ‘mine host’ is exemplified by the pub landlord (not Al Murray!). Interestingly, the self-service beer pumps and ipads introduced by Tabology (formerly the Rocket Pub Company) into The Thirsty Bear in Southwark have not been widely embraced into the industry, 8 years on from being introduced – we still like to be served by a person.

And so it was interesting to hear of a new benchmarking service, in a presentation at the MCA Marketing Conference, from Mike Bell, from www.59ClubFood.com which concentrates the focus of venue audits on the commercial benefits from service standards. 59ClubFood doesn’t simply conduct a mystery shopper visit for a group, that allows one site in the group to compare itself to others in the group; rather, it compares any one site, with other competitors within the local area, which is far closer to the actual benchmarking that happens with guests – we compare sites that are in our repertoires not different sites in the same group.

These benchmarking services will enable operators to concentrate on those elements of service that will deliver real commercial benefits, and therefore the best ways to engage with guests to give them what they really want – and that has to be the future of service.