Improving Customer Service at Wasabi Restaurants

This assignment delves into customer feedback received by Wasabi restaurants, aiming to identify areas for improvement in their customer service. It requires an analysis of various factors influencing customer satisfaction, including service quality, employee interactions, and operational efficiency. The analysis should culminate in actionable recommendations for enhancing the customer experience at Wasabi, such as increasing server staff, providing targeted training on coordination and time management, and implementing strategies to address common customer concerns.

CONSUMER SERVICE
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Table of Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................5
1.1 Reasons for using customer service policies......................................................................................7
1.2 Purpose of evaluating a customer service policy, indicating how this can assist future staff
training and development........................................................................................................................8
LO2 Understand the purpose of promoting a customer-focused culture......................................................9
2.1 evaluate different communication methods and how these are used to best effect.............................9
2.2 analyze how customer perception is influenced by customer service provision...............................10
LO3 be able to investigate customer requirements and expectations.........................................................10
3.1 assess sources of information on customer requirements and satisfaction levels.............................10
3.2 carry out research on customer requirements and satisfaction levels for a selected business,
suggesting potential improvements........................................................................................................11
LO4 provide customer service within business and services contexts to meet required standards.............12
4.1 deliver customer service in a business and service environment..........................................................12
4.2 review own performance in the delivery of customer service and make recommendations for
improvement..............................................................................................................................................13
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................................13
References.................................................................................................................................................15
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Figure 1 Wasabi restaurant..........................................................................................................................5
Figure 2 Consumer service policy...............................................................................................................8
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About Wasabi restaurant
Wasabi is a bright, clean as well as modern restaurant of Japanese style that started in the year
2003 where its first branch was opened in Japanese cuisine. It offers wide choice of food and
fresh delight from Japanese cuisine. It is the first restaurant in UK that offers wrapped pieces of
sushi individually and thus have been able to serve the needs of Londoners who want something
new, unique as well as healthy (Wasabi, 2017). Other than this, flavorful hot bento dishes,
noodle soups, salads as well as side items are also served to the guests who can also watch the
chefs as to how they are creating a diversified set of menu.
Since then the brand has grown and improved itself thereby having a presence of around
39 branches all over UK that are spread around London, Leeds as well as New York. The firm
has further started its first branch in United States which is a big achievement for the restaurant.
The staff basically follows friendly as well as modern approach to dining and the
restaurant further aims to deliver favorable as well as affordable dining experience in a fast
manner. This has been possible as the managers as well as chefs work alongside in the kitchen so
that positive as well as harmonious prurience can be created in order to meet up the service
standards.
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Introduction
Consumer service is the overall process by which needs of clients are taken care of by providing
as well as delivering them with a professional, helpful and quality services before, during as well
as after the purchase (Lee, Verma and Roth, 2015). The need on part of management of any
organization is to formulate proper consumer policies so as to increase the satisfaction of
consumers with respect to products and processes of the company (Han, Bonn and Cho, 2016).
The current report has thus laid emphasis on discussing the consumer service policies of UK
based Wasabi restaurant who recently saw a 5 percent increase in consumer complaints as
compared to previous year. Focus of the study will thus be on assessing the reasons for usage of
these policies followed by evaluating it in context of Wasabi restaurant. Purpose of promoting a
customer-focused culture by focusing on different communication methods has also been carried
out. This is followed by carrying out research on consumer satisfaction level who are visiting
Wasabi restaurant followed by suggesting recommendations for the same.
About Wasabi restaurant
Wasabi is a bright, clean as well as modern restaurant of Japanese style that started in the year
2003 where its first branch was opened in Japanese cuisine. It offers wide choice of food and
fresh delight from Japanese cuisine. It is the first restaurant in UK that offers wrapped pieces of
sushi individually and thus have been able to serve the needs of Londoners who want something
new, unique as well as healthy (Wasabi, 2017). Other than this, flavorful hot bento dishes,
noodle soups, salads as well as side items are also served to the guests who can also watch the
chefs as to how they are creating a diversified set of menu.
Figure 1 Wasabi restaurant
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(Source: Wasabi, 2017)
Since then the brand has grown and improved itself thereby having a presence of around 39
branches all over UK that are spread around London, Leeds as well as New York. The firm has
further started its first branch in United States which is a big achievement for the restaurant.
The staff basically follows friendly as well as modern approach to dining and the
restaurant further aims to deliver favorable as well as affordable dining experience in a fast
manner. This has been possible as the managers as well as chefs work alongside in the kitchen so
that positive as well as harmonious prurience can be created in order to meet up the service
standards.
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LO1 Understanding of customer service policies within business and services context
1.1 Reasons for using customer service policies
Consumer service policy can be regarded as a sum total of what the firm does in order to
meet up the client expectation and produce utmost satisfaction for them (Oliver, 2014). As a
supervisor of Wasabi, I feel that customer service policies are very essential in the organization.
 To meet up consumer expectation – the overall expectation level of consumers has seen a
drastic increase and clients are not just happy with a simple thank you from staff. They
expect customized services for them in form of preparing some food items on table itself;
providing discounts on birthday, anniversaries etc.; giving a complementary birthday
cake among others.
 Consumer loyalty – it is a known fact that if a consumer is pleased in restaurant then he
maintains a high level of loyalty. Hence consumer service policies are essential so that
there is a presence of some parameters in order to please the clients.
 Provision of information – these policies aid in providing needed information to the
consumers which can be in form of menu options, table booking, presence of discounts
on credit cards, availability of table in restaurant among others (Ryu, Lee and Gon Kim,
2012).
 Feedback – The policies further have a presence of feedback column which tells the
consumers about their overall experience which is likely to aid the supervisor in finding
out as to what improvements can be made in restaurant with respect to service provision.
 Increases in profit – Presence of a proper consumer service policy frees the company
from competing on prices with the competitors. This is as people visiting the restaurant
are ready to pay more if great service is provided to them (Set consumer service policies
that satisfy, 2017).
 Cost efficiency - It further aids in creating a productive as well as stress free environment
as presence of great service policy generates happy consumers and less conflict within
the organization (Chen, 2014). Less time is further wasted on taking complaints and
correcting the issues which ultimately benefits the firm.
 Increase in goodwill – presence of sound consumer policy increases the overall reputation
in the consumers and also the reputation of Wasabi restaurant.
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Overall it can be said that the presence of strong consumer service policy in Wasabi is most
likely to separate it from rest of the restaurants within UK. Hence it should work on formulating
as well as managing an effective service policy which is likely to generate an increased profit
figures as well as sales revenue for it.
1.2 Purpose of evaluating a customer service policy, indicating how this can assist future
staff training and development
Figure 2 Consumer service policy
(Source: Toister, 2015)
It is very essential to evaluate the overall performance of consumer service policy so as to
make the consumers coming to the restaurant satisfied. This can be done by properly monitoring
the outcomes and taking immediate steps as per the requirement (Lee, Verma and Roth, 2015). In
this regard, various methods are used by Wasabi restaurant for evaluating the consumer service
policy which is in form of consumer feedbacks, polls as well as surveys. The strategies have
often aided the restaurant in knowing the overall viewpoints of consumers towards the services
that is provided to them. The restaurant has attained awareness about the weakness and
initiatives are then taken as per necessity so that consumer service standard can be improved
(Han, Bonn and Cho, 2016). Staff members in this regard, are made aware of any promise that
has been made with respect to service and are trained in such a manner so that service
requirements are met. This assists in carrying out training and development sessions to be carried
out for staff members in the near term future. A training plan can then be developed so as to
assist the employees as well as staff to find out the areas where service standard has failed
(Pizam and et.al., 2016).
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LO2 Understand the purpose of promoting a customer-focused culture
2.1 evaluate different communication methods and how these are used to best effect
Presence of an effective communication strategy is very essential in the restaurant industry.
In this regard, various communication methods can be adopted in order to generate a consumer
focused culture within Wasabi restaurant (Lee, Verma and Roth, 2015).
 Communicating through body language – Wasabi restaurant is Japanese in origin hence
the consumers who will pay a visit to it will be mostly from Japan. In this regard, it is
well known that Japanese culture focuses more on body language while communicating
with others (Ryu, Lee and Gon Kim, 2012). Hence consumer focused culture can only be
built within the restaurant if staff members pay more attention on their body language
while communicating with consumers. This can be done by keeping a happy facial
expression, maintaining a soft voice tone and posture should reflect that they are
interested in serving the consumers (Pizam and et.al., 2016). It is further very essential to
maintain an overall eye contact with the consumers which are an essential format of non-
verbal communication. The way the staff member of Wasabi restaurant looks into the
eyes of consumer can result in communicating a lot of things. Other than this, gestures
have different meanings across different cultures hence must be done properly so as to
avoid any miscommunication with the consumers. For example, the staff members should
bow in front of Japanese consumer as it acts as a sign of respect for him or her.
 Face to face communication – Other than this, communication must be done with the
consumers in a face to face format so as to ensure that message regarding menu items,
discount schemes, pricing etc. has been clearly delivered to the consumers and has also
been understood by them. It will further assist in giving a personal touch to
communication which will be liked by Japanese consumers.
 Written communication – this form of communication also plays a crucial role in
restaurant business as information present with respect to discount offers, menu items,
pricing, take away policies etc. are written on the menu card or website (Solomon, 2014).
The restaurant is thus required to be careful as it is there in records and can be used as a
future reference by consumer if any discrepancy arises.
Other than this staff members should also make sure that the communication method done
with the consumer who are vising the restaurant is devoid of any abbreviations or jargon which
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can waste time in giving explanation thereby diminishing the overall consumer service quality
(Nagamachi, 2016). Other than that consumer focused culture can only be developed within
restaurant if more emphasis is given on listening skills.
2.2 analyze how customer perception is influenced by customer service provision
Consumer perception is a marketing concept that includes areas such as overall impression;
awareness as well as consciousness about the offerings that have been rendered by any company.
This concept has a direct impact on how new consumers can be attracted towards the
organization and the method in which good relations can be maintained by current consumers.
The manner in which Wasabi restaurant provides services to the consumers acts as a key source
of its overall success (Han, Bonn and Cho, 2016). Hence it is very essential for management to
give an increased emphasis on overall perception of consumers so as to attain sustainable growth
as well as competitive advantage over rival firms. All the consumers who pay a visit to Wasabi
restaurant carry out proper research before visiting. The research is done through viewpoints of
other consumers, website of restaurant as well as other feedback sites (Lee, Verma and Roth,
2015). If the consumer expectations does not match with the perception after coming to the
restaurant then it is likely to put a negative impact on customer service provision but if vice versa
happens then the impact is positive (Bujisic and et.al., 2014). Hence, the restaurant must be
realistic as well as reasonable in what I promised to the consumers through the websites. For
example, if all the items are not there as per menu list published on website then it should not
advertise them as well. In that case, consumer is most likely to have an unsatisfactory experience
and hence he may not come to the hotel again as he has developed a negative erection towards
the services. In the same way, if waiters take time in serving food to the consumers then client
will get negative towards the service.
LO3 be able to investigate customer requirements and expectations
3.1 assess sources of information on customer requirements and satisfaction levels
As there has been an overall increase in consumer complaints by 5 percent as compared to last
year hence a research study is required to be carried out so as to gain information on consumer
requirements as well as their satisfaction levels. The sources of information in this regard are
inclusive of primary as well as secondary data collection (Pizam and et.al., 2016). Primary data is
the one where information is collected through interviews and survey session from the
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consumers who paid a visit to Wasabi restaurant. Questions can be asked with respect to overall
satisfaction level, reasons for complaints and suggestions which can be in both open as well as
close ended format. Face to face interview can be taken with them so as to assess the overall gap
in service quality that has resulted in an increased complaint from the consumers (Ryu, Lee and
Gon Kim, 2012). These methods can aid in getting a detailed insight about the data but is
disadvantageous in form of being time consuming. Moreover, quality of collected information
may further go down if interview process or the questionnaire set is too lengthy. Other than this,
employees can act as a main source of information who can provide data on what exactly the
consumers felt about overall food quality, waiting time, meal preparing and serving.
Then is the secondary data sources which includes sales record of company, consumer
databases, financial information etc. in the same way, consumer feedback website can reveal data
about what kinds of issues are being faced by the consumers. This data format is advantageous as
it takes less time as well as cost but can be out of date and may lack in presence of having
accurate content. The best results about consumer complaints with respect to Wasabi restaurant
can only be obtained when both the data sources are utilized (Han, Bonn and Cho, 2016).
3.2 carry out research on customer requirements and satisfaction levels for a selected business,
suggesting potential improvements
Aim
To assess the requirements as well as their satisfaction level of Wasabi restaurant consumers.
Objectives
 To assess the needs of consumers with respect to Wasabi restaurant.
 To assess the issues on consumer satisfaction level with respect to Wasabi restaurant.
 To suggest steps for improving the overall satisfaction level of consumers.
Research techniques
There can be usage of primary data collection by usage of survey on consumers of Wasabi
Restaurant. Interview sessions can be conducted with the staff members being servers and
managers of Wasabi restaurant so as to identify the issues faced by consumers with respect to
overall service quality. This can be followed by use of secondary data sources in form of books
and journal articles on consumer satisfaction. Qualitative and quantitative analysis of data can
further be carried out.
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Results
After carrying out overall analysis of collected data it has been found that there was an increase
in overall consumer complaints with respect to the offerings given by restaurant. The complaints
majorly surrounded around consumer service which was not up to the mark. The restaurant is
always full of diners hence there is often an issue with respect to delay in taking as well as
delivering the orders. There is also an absence of severs around the table who can supervise over
the needs and requirements of guests. There have been situations when often wrong order is
placed at the table or the requirement such as salt, extra cheese etc is not delivered at all.
Recommendations
 It can thus be recommended to the management team of Wasabi restaurant that there
should be an increase in overall number of staff members so that prompt taking as well as
delivery of order can be done (Han, Bonn and Cho, 2016).
 Training and development sessions are further required to be given to the servers and
other staff members so that they are present around the diners and are able to respond to
their request in a prompt manner.
 Overall time management strategy should also be clarified to the servers by rendering
them tips for the same so that they are able to carry out effective service even during busy
hours.
LO4 provide customer service within business and services contexts to meet required
standards
4.1 deliver customer service in a business and service environment
As a supervisor of Wasabi restaurant I was required to handle a team of Japanese delegate form a
well-known company who had come into the restaurant for lunch. I made sure that the team
members under me had arranged the table in a proper manner and were dressed in a neat and tidy
manner. As soon as the guests arrived they were greeted by me and one of the servers served
them with welcome drink. Order was also taken by him that was supervised by me and was
passed on to the main chef who made sure that quality food was prepared by the cooks and
presented in a proper manner. While checking the final arrangement I found that one of the plate
was not clean enough which was changed at the same time. I also found that the Potato Sticks
was less than the one demanded by the guests. I immediately worked upon the issue and asked
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the chief chef for the same who told that this was not told to him by the server. After making the
suitable changes, the order was delivered by the server and served in respective plates. I made
sure that the guests were comfortable in terms of eating and extra cheese was also delivered to
one of the guests who asked for it. At the end I asked them for their overall feedback and also
ensured that server took away the plates. However billing of the order took some time and one of
the cashiers was new to the work and was not able to prepare the bill at good speed. This
somewhere increased the waiting time of next consumer who had already booked the table in
advance.
4.2 review own performance in the delivery of customer service and make recommendations for
improvement
Although I was able to perform my duty towards the guests in proper manner but still there is
always a scope for improvement. In my case also I would like to suggest several
recommendations that are as follows;
First of all, there could have been an overall improvement in the service quality if there was a
presence of increased coordination between the server and chief chef which led to difference in
number of potato stick plates ordered by the guest. I made sure that proper training was delivered
to all so that coordination level with each other can be improved.
The other strategy was to train the front desk members about the methods by which they can
keep the waiting consumers engaged till seating gets vacant for them (Ryu, Lee and Gon Kim,
2012). They can be made to fill form about the overall décor of the restaurant and what kind of
service they would like to receive. Same strategy can be applied while the bill arrives at guest
table who can be kept engaged by making them fill a feedback form with respect to their opinion
about food and services that was delivered to them. This will aid in getting varied opinions so
that services can be improved if a need is felt.
Conclusion
From the above report it can be concluded that consumer satisfaction is of utmost importance to
any firm including Wasabi restaurant. Hence the need is to formulate consumer service policies
in such a manner so as to serve the clients as per the need and requirement. This will not only
increase the overall brand loyalty of consumer towards Wasabi restaurant but also aid in
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generating positive word of mouth publicity. Other than this, there is a presence of varied
communication methods that can be used by Wasabi restaurant in form of verbal, written as well
as the one made through body language. Research study carried out on consumer satisfaction
level has further revealed an increase in consumer complaints due to less number of servers who
were not able to attend guests in proper manner. It is thus recommended that number of servers
should be increased by the company followed by training the existing ones in the area of
coordination, time management among others.
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References
Books and Journals
Bujisic, M. and et.al., 2014. Not all smiles are created equal: Investigating the effects of display
authenticity and service relationship on customer tipping behavior. International Journal
of Contemporary Hospitality Management. 26(2). pp.293-306.
Chen, L.F., 2014. A novel framework for customer-driven service strategies: A case study of a
restaurant chain. Tourism Management. 41. pp.119-128.
Han, S.J., Bonn, M.A. and Cho, M., 2016. The relationship between customer incivility,
restaurant frontline service employee burnout and turnover intention. International
Journal of Hospitality Management. 52. pp.97-106.
Jüttner, U. and et.al., 2013. Customer service experiences: Developing and applying a sequential
incident laddering technique. European Journal of Marketing. 47(5/6). pp.738-769.
Lee, M.K., Verma, R. and Roth, A., 2015. Understanding customer value in technology-enabled
services: A numerical taxonomy based on usage and utility. Service Science. 7(3).
pp.227-248.
Mok, C., Sparks, B. and Kadampully, J., 2013. Service quality management in hospitality,
tourism, and leisure. Routledge.
Nagamachi, M. ed., 2016. Kansei/affective engineering. CRC Press.
Oliver, R.L., 2014. Satisfaction: A behavioral perspective on the consumer. Routledge.
Pizam, A. and et.al., 2016. Customer satisfaction and its measurement in hospitality enterprises:
a revisit and update. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality
Management. 28(1). pp.2-35.
Ryu, K., Lee, H.R. and Gon Kim, W., 2012. The influence of the quality of the physical
environment, food, and service on restaurant image, customer perceived value, customer
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satisfaction, and behavioral intentions. International Journal of Contemporary
Hospitality Management. 24(2). pp.200-223.
Solomon, M.R., 2014. Consumer behavior: Buying, having, and being. Prentice Hall.
Online
Set Customer Service Policies That Satisfy. 2017. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.allbusiness.com/set-customer-service-policies-that-satisfy-4113438-
1.html> [Accessed on 28th December 2017].
Toister, J., 2015. Managing a customer service team. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.lynda.com/Business-Skills-tutorials/Managing-Customer-Service-Team/
167069-2.html> [Accessed on 28th December 2017].
Wasabi, 2017. [Online]. Available through: <https://wasabi.uk.com/who-are-we> [Accessed on
28th December 2017].
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