Customer service is vital in any industry, as your customers are the lifeblood of your business. In the food industry though providing excellent customer service is even more important. Whether your business is a restaurant, takeaway outlet or caterers, you need to keep your customers coming back for more over and over again in order for your business to be successful in the long term.
Costly items like cars or furniture may only be bought by consumers every few years, but the food industry is providing products that people buy every day. Everyone has to eat and so a competitive industry has sprung up to cater to this, our most basic human need. You need to stand out from this stiff competition in order for your business to thrive and be sustainable.
Although people generally eat around three times every day, they don’t need to go to a restaurant, takeaway outlet or event in order to feed themselves. The reason they do though, rather than always eat at home, is because it’s convenient and it feels like a treat. So you need to make sure that your restaurant or takeaway outlet is giving them the convenience and special treatment that they’re looking for, otherwise they’ll have no problem finding somewhere else to give them what they want.
Customer Service in the Catering Industry
Similarly, in the catering industry, your clients want those they are entertaining to feel like they are having a good time and being treated well. Providing a great experience will lead to more word of mouth referrals from both your existing client and those they’ve entertained, but word will spread just as fast if anyone has a negative experience at an event you’ve catered for.
Good customer service means more than just providing the food or service that you’ve agreed to. You need to make them feel like you value their custom and that their business is important to you (which it hopefully is). This comes from the politeness and enthusiasm of you and your staff when serving food, looking for small ways that you can go above and beyond to make them feel special and also how you and your staff deal with any problems or issues that arise.
The times when things go wrong are when you can really stand out. It’s easy to get irritable, stressed and defensive if a customer is in any way unhappy with their food or service. However if you and your staff see this instead as an opportunity to show how great your customer service is you may well win over a customer who not only remains loyal to your business but who also sings your praises and spreads the word on your behalf.
This is the double advantage of good customer service. Making your customers happy will lead to loyal repeat customers who buy from you again and again, as well as helping you reach new customers through word of mouth, reducing the burden of both the cost and time taken for marketing your business. On the other hand, if people aren’t returning to your restaurant or takeaway or reusing your catering services then you’re eventually going to run out of customers.