In the competitive world of the restaurant business, the key to success extends beyond the taste of the food. It encompasses the entire dining experience. Apart from good food, there are many other factors responsible for the success of your restaurant; one such factor is exceptional customer service. It is the equal responsibility of every stakeholder in the restaurant business, be it restaurant managers, restaurant waiters or waitresses, or restaurateurs, to make sure that everyone receives exceptional customer service. This exceptional customer service helps to improve customer satisfaction, which further helps in retaining existing customers and attracting new ones.

In this article, we will discuss strategies to improve customer service and enhance the overall guest experience in your restaurant. In fact, these customer service strategies can be applied to cloud kitchens, fast food places (QSR), fine dining restaurants, pizzerias, and food trucks.

1. Practice Customer Service Etiquette

There is a common saying in English: ‘The first impression is the last impression,’ so the moment a guest enters your restaurant sets the tone for the guest experience. Your restaurant staff should greet each and every guest in a warm and friendly way. A welcome greeting goes a long way in making customers feel important and boost positive perception about your restaurant.

It is the responsibility of the restaurant manager to make sure that waiter or waitress are well-trained to greet customers courteously and provide excellent customer service. Here are a few customer service etiquettes for your better understanding.

• Train Restaurant Staff: Train your restaurant staff to have a customer experience mindset while dealing with guests. This includes simple steps, for example, having a smiling face while greeting or answering their questions, understanding their needs before they demand it like refilling water glasses, and keeping extra napkins to enhance the dining experience.
• Warm Welcomes: Train your staff to greet guests with a genuine smile, eye contact, and a friendly salutation. This sets the tone for a positive interaction from the very beginning.
• Attentive Service: Train your staff to be observant. Anticipate guests’ needs, refill drinks before they run low, and be readily available without being intrusive.
• Menu Masters: Train your staff with in-depth menu knowledge to answer questions about ingredients, preparation methods, and dietary restrictions. Restaurant staff should be able to recommend dishes that suit specific preferences.
• Going the Extra Mile: The little touches make a big difference. Train your staff to remember guest preferences, offer birthday treats, or personalize recommendations. Food should be served and removed from the left side of the diner, but when it comes to drinks, they should be poured and refilled from the right. 

These gestures show you care and create a memorable experience. 

2. Always Provide Service Within Reasonable Time Frame

One of the main reasons for guest dissatisfaction related to restaurant guest experience is delays. Delay can be of many types, like delay in availability of seat, taking food orders, serving meals, or presenting the bill.

a.     Communicate Wait Times: If there’s a long queue and you anticipate a longer-than-usual wait time, you must communicate this to your guests, this improves their perception about wait time. Nowadays, modern POS systems have the option to collect customer details such as names, email addresses, and mobile numbers. These sophisticated POS systems inform customers when a table is available for them. Similarly, when serving food, waiter or waitress should proactively inform customers if a particular dish needs more time to prepare. This helps to set the right expectations and improve the perception of your restaurant, and increase customer satisfaction.

This is equally important for online food delivery; restaurants should inform customers about the food preparation time and estimated delivery time. Foodship is one of the leading restaurant technology service providers. Their Online Food Ordering System has helped many restaurants in Australia automate their food delivery businesses. With Foodship, restaurants can send customized messages with estimated food preparation and delivery times, thus enhances customer perception about estimated time of delivery.

b.     Keep your restaurant customers Occupied: Restaurants can also set up a TV in the waiting area to prevent boredom. Ensure that your waiting area has Wi-Fi access, and consider providing table games to entertain customers during their wait, thus enhancing the guest experience.

3. Be-open to New Technology

Modern-day technology has significantly benefited the restaurant business in several ways, such as expediting the order-taking process and facilitating quick payment processing. This result in shorter wait times for customers and a improve turnover rate for restaurants. These applications enable customers to place orders and make payments using their smart phones, eliminating wait times and enhancing overall efficiency. Some of latest technologies that your restaurant can implement to increase efficiency are:

• QR Code Ordering System:The QR code system allows restaurant guests to access menus, place orders, and make payments using their smart phones, reducing physical contact and wait times. This technology enhances restaurant efficiency by requiring less manpower to handle and process orders. Foodship offers a QR code ordering system for free with its Restaurant Food Ordering system and Restaurant POS system.
• Online Table reservation system:An online table reservation system simplifies restaurant operations by allowing customers to book tables in advance with ease, anytime and anywhere using a mobile device, enhancing the table booking experience. Foodship offer online table reservation system as a part of bundled deal with its online food ordering system.
• Online Food Ordering System:An online food ordering system makes it convenient for customers to place orders, leading to increased sales for restaurants. Foodship offers its online food ordering system to enhance restaurant’s efficiency, giving customers the ease of ordering their favorite meals online with just a few clicks
• Digital receipts:Digital receipts are electronic versions of traditional paper receipts that are generated and delivered electronically to customers after a transaction. They offer convenience for customers, making it easier to track expenses and facilitate expense reimbursement. Overall, digital receipts enhance the customer experience by easing the receipt collection process in the email and offering a more eco-friendly option. Foodship is a service provider that provides digital receipts with its Point of Sale Software and Online Food Ordering System.

4. Built Customer Loyalty through Personalized Greetings and Discounts

Sending birthdays and anniversaries a wish is a great way to build a stronger bond with your restaurant customers. By sending personalized greetings via SMS, email, or WhatsApp on their special day and offering a discount as a goodwill gesture, not only make them feel valued but also encourage them to revisit your restaurant thus enhance customer satisfaction.

5. Create a Peaceful Dining Ambiance

Many guest, dine in at restaurants not only for the good food but also for the overall experience. As a restaurateur, you must ensure that your restaurant offers a unique and pleasant dining experience. Cultivating a soft and soothing environment in your restaurant is essential for eg: loud music can be disruptive and lead to a poor guest experience, especially for diners who come for business meetings or personal conversations with loved ones. Restaurants should avoid large speakers and opt for smaller ones with surround sound, playing soft music to enhance relaxation and comfort.

6. Maintain Cleanliness and Hygiene in Restaurant

Maintaining cleanliness in a restaurant is crucial, as dirty plates or tables can lead to poor customer experience. Therefore restaurant staff must ensure that toilets are clean, as guests often visit them to wash their hands before and after the meal, there is no insect in the kitchen or dine in area. Restaurant in Australia must Follows Australian Food Safety Practices. Pay attention to small details, as they can significantly improves customer satisfaction and impact service quality for your restaurant.

7. Offer Diverse Payment Options

Restaurants should offer a variety of payment options to their customers, as modern-day patrons prefer the convenience of cashless payment systems. Limited payment choices could give guests the impression that the restaurant is outdated and doesn’t match with modern day technology. Service providers like Foodship bridge this gap by offering solutions that accept payments from all major sources, for example debit cards, credit cards, cash, and online payments. They have integrated with all major payment gateway service providers of Australia for example Stripe, PayPal, E-way, Poli, Razor Pay and Tyro to boost guest experience.

8. Reward your Loyal Customer

A recent study has revealed that even a modest 5% increase in customer loyalty can lead to 25% to 95% boost in revenue. Thus, customer loyalty is critical for all restaurant businesses. When your customers are more satisfied with your restaurant’s service, they are more likely to share positive experiences with others and are inclined to return. Therefore, to encourage this customer loyalty, you can reward your loyal customers with reward points through Foodship reward point system, motivate them to return and redeem these points. This approach not only enhances customer experience but also serves as an incentive for them to continue ordering from your restaurant.

9. Ensure Guest Safety as Top Priority

To ensure a secure dining environment, restaurant must take measures such as keeping sharp objects out of reach especially in case of children to prevent any accidental harm. Additionally, when certain areas are under renovation or maintenance, restaurants must clearly mark or block the area to prevent anyone from entering inadvertently.

10. Pet-Friendly Dining

In today’s times, owning a pet is very common in Australian families. However, leaving a pet alone at home when going out can present a challenging situation. To address this concern and cater to pet owners, the idea of creating a separate pet-friendly area within a restaurant is a promising idea. You can create a dedicated space, where guests can bring their pets and safely secure them in a confined area. Moreover, the restaurant can arrange for essential amenities such as water and food to ensure both the comfort of the pets and enhance the dining experience for guest.

By implementing the strategies discussed in this article, you can master the art of exceptional customer service and improve the overall guest experience in your restaurant. Whether you operate a casual café, fast-food joint, fine dining restaurant, pizzeria, or food truck, these customer service strategies are applicable across the board. Don’t forget to encourage your satisfied diners to share their experience by leaving a Google review, and make the review process even easier with a well-designed QR code presented along with the bill.