Hospitality and the Importance of Customer Service

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As a food service professional, you need to realize the value and the impact of the internet on your reputation. The internet, more specifically the web, has become a hub for community building and citizen journalism more than any medium has ever been.

I heard a lot of nightmarish stories on blogs where customers were presented with food that looked so un-appealing they don’t even want to touch it. In this day and age, you can’t be off your game. As a chef, good customer service is not about standing outside and smiling at customers passing by the kitchen. Chefs should focus on maintaining the quality and presentation of the food.

Focus your energy on making the food the best you can make it with the highest standard of quality. That is the best service you can give customers. Forget about charisma at first. If you are not good, charisma won’t matter anyway.

I am not saying that socializing with customers is a bad thing. What I am saying is that socializing is only a good thing when you have the respect of your customers. It is hard to smile and be nice when people think you are not that good.

After putting the best effort in your work, a good way to develop good customer service is to change your mind set. Besides looking at your customer as a statistic, look at them as human beings. This way you can give the minimum personal touch for each unique person.

Courtesy can help save you even if you mess up somehow. Being polite is easy when you talk to people face to face. It is not so easy if they insult you or snicker behind your back. I suggest that you persist. Persist to be as polite as possible and even angry customers can become loyal regulars.

In my experience, even online restaurant reviewers will give an extra star to the restaurant if the people working there are polite and helpful. Sometimes, business is not just about skill and experience.

If you are someone who treats people with respect, they will most likely remember your attitude and write a good review of the chef. They will even add extra stars for you and your establishment, just for being professionally courteous and prompt.

You can try to look at blogs or review sites for services and look at how customers are likely to praise the skill of the cook before going to the serious business of reviewing the restaurant’s interior design.

The internet is a huge place, but people have learned to search for user reviews before they go eat at restaurants or hire catering services. User-generated reviews can be good or bad, but assuming that everything is on the straight and narrow, user reviews will help your reputation so much in the age of the internet.

Give the customer a great experience and they will surely remember the unique personal touch and your enthusiasm to give you a superb online review that you and your establishment can be proud of.

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