Michigan State University Extension
Tourism Educational Materials - 33300010
06/06/02
Consumer Satisfaction Evaluating Food Service Establishments...Key Check Points
List of files and visuals associated with this text.
by Robert D. Buchanan, Restaurant, Hotel and
Institutional Management Specialist
HE-211
The manager of a food service establishment and/or the
manager and his superior need to take the time to make
an overall analysis to determine the results that the
organization is actually obtaining. This should be done
several times a year. The evaluation should determine
how well the food service operation is doing and where
improvements should be made. Then some priorities,
objectives, methods, and deadlines for improvements can
be established.
This is one of a series of pamphlets describing how a
person can fairly comprehensively, yet in less than a
day, provide an overall evaluation of a food service
operation. The key items, or food service conditions,
to evaluate under each major category are described.
Taken together, the key indicators of general
conditions measure the degrees of efficiency (minimal
costs) and effectiveness (optimal organizational
satisfaction). A major category that has a deficient
key indicator should be investigated further, and
corrective adjustment should be considered and/or made
where appropriate. A discussion of facts by management
with the operating personnel is perhaps most needed to
develop mutual understanding of the problems.
Attainable performance objectives should be jointly
established and reviewed at a later date.
If all key indicators are satisfactory in a major
category, other aspects of that category are probably
being handled with similar care. If all of the key
indicators are high, but the profit is not adequate,
then it will be necessary to examine the operation for
inefficient purchasing and receiving practices,
improper menu pricing, inaccurate records or financial
statements, inventory method and method of computing
the value, production waste, plate waste, security and
pilferage, and so forth.
These operational analysis guidelines may be used by
the manager of a single food service establishment for
self-analysis, or by the unit manager's supervisor.
1 Management Planning, Organizing, and Controlling
(HE-202)
2 Personnel (HE-203)
3 Purchasing (HE-204)
4 Receiving, Storage, Issuing, Inventory (HE-205)
5 Food Preparation (HE-206)
6 Food Presentation and Service (HE-207)
7 Maintenance of Building and Equipment (HE-208)
8 Sanitation and Housekeeping (HE-209)
9 Statistical and Ratio Analysis (HE-210)
10 Consumer Satisfaction (this publication)
10. Consumer Satisfaction
The ultimate goal of food managers is to create the
best possible consumer dining experience to bring about
repetitive business and effective word-of-mouth
advertising. Effective consumer evaluations can be
important management tools because they reflect what
the consumer actually thinks and experiences. They
identify problems that need solutions. An effective and
successful evaluation program must be made on a regular
basis by consumers.
The best way to learn what consumers are thinking and
experiencing is to talk to them. Of special concern is
to learn of consumer dissatisfaction. The best way to
learn of consumer reaction is to have a representative
of management circulate throughout the dining area,
pouring a second cup of coffee and soliciting opinions
of the food and service. Management can train hosts and
hostesses, cashiers and service personnel to constantly
look for disgruntled consumers. Many food service
establishments will go to almost any length to prevent
the loss of a consumer because it is estimated that a
regular consumer is worth $800 per year.
Once a dissatisfied consumer has left the restaurant it
is very difficult to regain his favor. Negative
word-of-mouth comments also have devastating effects.
Management may delete unsatisfactory items from the
check, pick up a consumer's check, give a free meal for
the next visit, or appease the guest before he leaves
the facility by a complimentary appetizer, entree or
dessert in an attempt to make the situation right. Many
organizations have a top level management
representative personally answer all specific
complaints and include a "Be My Guest" meal card to
entice a customer to try the restaurant again.
The operator may wish to monitor consumer acceptance of
a new menu item, or a change in decor, or the
introduction of wine, or consumer reaction to a new
drive-through window. Subject matter is not limited,
and the target for a consumer survey questionnaire can
be a chain operation or a single unit.
Evaluations can be implemented to:
- pinpoint problem areas
- spotlight outstanding employees
- highlight excelling units
- evaluate management under unsupervised conditions
- test popularity of various menu items
- measure consumer acceptance and preference of
prepared foods
- use as a guideline for bonus programs or incentives.
This publication identifies techniques to evaluate
consumer satisfaction, namely: (1) a basic consumer
questionnaire; (2) open-ended verbal questions; (3)
patterned consumer interviews; (4) customer comment
cards; (5) consumer evaluation system; (6) consumer
preference of prepared foods; (7) popularity of
menu items; and (8) other ways to obtain consumer
feedback.
Basic Consumer Questionnaire
A consumer questionnaire can be completed either by an
interviewer or directly by the consumer. A basic
consumer questionnaire would consider ten topics
evaluated on a one-to-five point scale, as shown in
Figure 1.(Vis. 1)
Open-Ended Verbal Questions
The degree of consumer satisfaction can be obtained by
asking the following open-ended verbal questions to at
least 25 representative consumers:
1. Do you like to eat here or not?
2. Why do you like or not like to eat here?
3. What would you like the organization to provide or
do that is not currently being done?
4. How could your meal be made more attractive?
5. What is your overall impression of the food and
service?
The interviewer should record and summarize he results
of the interview.
(Vis. 1),
(Vis. 2),
(Vis. 3)
A more detailed list of open-ended questions is given
below. It is important to select a few key questions
important to your business and to keep the interview
short.
1. What would you say about the waiting time?
2. Did you receive your selection as described on the
menu? If not, explain.
3. How did the food look?
4. How did the food taste? Make specific comments
describing the taste.
5. Was the temperature of the food proper? (hot, cold,
warm, barely warm)
6. Describe the attitude of the food service
employees.
7. Describe the appearance of the service employees.
8. Describe the cleanliness of the menu, table, chairs,
glasses, silverware, etc.
9. Describe how you obtained desired condiments.
10. Indicate the quantities of food thrown away.
11. What would encourage repeat visits?
12. What would discourage repeat visits?
13. What is Your overall attitude toward the meal?
14. Additional comments.
The greater freedom afforded to the consumer in the
open-ended interview provides an opportunity to discuss
at length any points he or she would like to talk
about. This may be particularly valuable in bringing to
the interviewer's attention any information, attitudes,
or feelings that are often concealed by more rapid
questioning of the consumer.
Patterned Consumer Interviews
The most highly structured type of interview is the
patterned interview. It adheres closely to a highly
detailed set of questions on specially prepared forms
such as shown in Figure 2.(Vis. 2) The questions are
asked of the consumer during the course of the
interview. The data on the right side of the interview
form are not directly used with the consumer but,
rather, are designed to help the interviewer obtain
complete information that can be easily tabulated. A
number of consumer responses can be recorded on a
summary sheet.
Customer Comment Cards
Customer comment cards are used to learn strengths and
weaknesses, degree of customer satisfaction of specific
key items, effect of advertising programs, and to
pinpoint problems to a day, time of the day, or even
particular employees. The main reason for consumer
comment cards is to identify problem areas and respond
to dissatisfied consumers. Questions are usually kept
to a minimum to increase the number of responses.
Some organizations want to identify problem areas of
the major concerns of the business, and utilize the
check-type answers to make it simple for the customer
to complete and management to tabulate. (Vis. 3).
Other organizations do not want to direct the focus of
the consumers' comments. They learn individual
perception by providing a blank space for the consumer
to mention compliments, problems, or complaints. See
Figure 4.
A few restaurants attempt to gather additional
information such as: frequency of visits; distance
traveled; waiting time; how you were greeted by the
host; popularity of menu items; portion size; decor;
kind of advertisements seen; what influenced you to
visit the restaurant; type of activity prior to the
restaurant; why you would/would not recommend the
restaurant to others, aspects that would encourage and
discourage repeat visits.
Customer comment cards are placed on the table or are
available at the cash register; cards are left at the
cashier's station, dropped in a box or mailed. Comments
are tabulated and reviewed by high level management and
specific complaints are personally answered.
Figure 4
Bobbie McBee's
1234 Purdue Street
West Lafayette, Indiana 47933
Please assist us in maintaining high standards of
quality, cleanliness, and service. We will appreciate
any comments or suggestions to improve your enjoyment
of Bobbie McBee's.
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
_____________________________________________
Server's Name or Number______________________
Date________________Time of Day_______________
Name_________________________________________
Address______________________________________
City__________________State_____Zip
type of activity prior to coming to the res-
why you would/would not recommend the restaurant to
others, aspects that would encourage and discourage
repeat visits.
Customer comment cards are placed on the table or are
available at the cash register; cards are left at the
cashier's station, dropped in a box, or mailed.
Comments are tabulated and reviewed by high level
management, and specific complaints are personally
answered.
Consumer Evaluation System
A rather extensive evaluation form can be completed by
a representative sample of consumers. Topics that might
be included in a comprehensive evaluation are:
- Facility and Appearance
* outside
* inside
* general layout and flow
* rest rooms
* lighting
* noise level
- Service
* hygiene
* appearance
* manners
* follow-up
* suggestive selling
* waiting time
* condition of menu
- Food
* received as described
* overall appearance
* garnish
* taste
* temperature
* freshness
* size/cost value
- Management
* circulating
* available
Consumer Evaluation of Food Preferences
THE HEDONIC SCALE METHOD. Food items can best be
evaluated by actual consumer acceptability and
preference. Prepared foods should be served during the
customer evaluation period in the regular and normal
manner of the establishment. This method is suggested
in preference to a trained panel, as the trained panel
serves as an analytical tool to replace the objective
method.
As the ultimate success of the business lies with the
desires of the customer, it is strongly recommended
that customer reaction and preferences be solicited
first. Experience has shown too that customer
evaluation serves as a better predictor of the
acceptability of convenience foods than panels composed
of traditionally trained staff members, whose opinions
and preferences may not represent the target market.
The trained panel is carefully selected, highly
trained, and hypercritical as compared to the general
customer. Distribution of age, sex, income, and general
intelligence will reflect the customer population only
by accident. Baker et al. (J. Food Sci., 26: 377-385)
correctly concluded that a point of prime importance in
all customer acceptance testing compared to the trained
panel is that the direction of preference is not
specific and that many customers are indifferent to the
characteristic being tested.
The consumer evaluation method and/or form should be
kept brief and simple. The hedonic scale method has
proved a very useful tool in food research. Consumers
should evaluate four menu categories at one time on a
nine- point hedonic scale, after they have finished the
meal. The consumer evaluation scale is shown in Figure
5. Numerical values would range from "like extremely" =
1 to "dislike extremely" = 9. The instructions on the
consumer evaluation scale have two functions: to
describe the mechanism of the evaluation, and to
encourage freedom of response. The intent is to have
the consumer's answer on the basis of his first
impression and, to a considerable extent, his feelings.
The hedonic scale method is predicated on the belief
that direct response is more valid for predicting
actual, consumer behavior toward food than are
responses which depend more on reasoning and emphasize
the intellectual approach; i.e., one involving
conscious reasoning and judgment.
(Vis. 4),
(Vis. 5)
Four different food items from four food categories
could be evaluated at one time by this method. This
process would be repeated four times (probably on
different days and by different consumers) to evaluate
the same type food items from four different suppliers.
An alternative method would be to present the same type
of food item from four manufacturers in succession, ask
the customer-evaluator to decide how much he likes or
dislikes each one, and mark the scale accordingly.
The major advantages of using the hedonic scale are:
- Its simplicity makes it suitable for use with a wide
range of population.
- Consumers can respond meaningfully without previous
experience.
- The data can be handled by the statistics of
variables--an advantage inherent in rating scale data.
- In contrast to other methods, within broad limits the
results are meaningful for indicating general levels of
preference.
NUMBER OF EVALUATIONS. It is best to work with an
experimental population that truly represents the
target market of the food establishment. About 75
customer evaluations are adequate to select most
important differences if taken randomly (say every
fifth customer) throughout the serving period. The use
of larger numbers of people will improve
discrimination.
PSYCHOLOGICAL CONTROLS. A customer-evaluator will
respond to the total situation. A person's rating of a
food item reflects not only his feeling, comprised of
many factors, both transitory and relatively permanent
but generally some irrelevant to the purposes of the
evaluation. This is the reason for attempting to keep
the situation as constant and normal as possible,
keeping it quiet and comfortable and eliminating
outside pressures.
Such code designations as 1, 2, 3, 4; X, Y, Z - or A-1
are likely to have acquired meanings which could
influence decisions. This source of error can be
eliminated by the use of three digit-codes generated
from a table of random numbers for each item tested.
The products evaluated should be uniformly presented
for each test. Important factors to consider are: same
portion size, consistently merchandising and garnishing
the food in the normal manner, and the products served
and consumed at the correct serving temperatures. Care
must be taken to provide a uniform background from test
to test using the same room, plates, knives,
atmosphere, same degree of noise level and temperature.
The personnel administering the evaluation must be
carefully impersonal and neutral. Giving any hint of
the expected results must be avoided. The evaluator
should be instructed to avoid discussion about the
products being evaluated. Personnel should let the
customer know that they are pleased to have them
evaluate (this is good for motivation), and will be no
less pleased whatever the results. Education of the
entire organization is the best solution, so that an
evaluator won't be influenced by someone's opinion
during the test: "It's the best beef burgundy I've ever
tasted."
DIFFERENCE TESTS. In some instances management may want
to learn if customers can actually tell the difference
between products such as made-on-the-premises items
compared to convenience items, or which product has
textured protein added, and in preference testing at
the customer level.
In the Triangle Test, three coded samples are presented
to the customer. He is told that two samples are
identical and he is asked to indicate the odd sample.
(Vis. 5) If the customer is unable to detect the odd
sample, it is assumed there is no difference between
the samples and, thus, no preference for one over the
other. Figure 6 (Vis. 5) shows a sample questionnaire
and example of the triangle test difference analysis.
In the Paired Comparison Test, a pair of coded samples
represent the standard or control. The customer is
asked to indicate which item has greater or lesser
degree of intensity of a specific characteristic-such
as sweetness and hardness. If more than two treatments
are being considered, each treatment is compared with
others in the series. Customers can also be asked which
of the two samples have the better appearance, which
tastes better, which has the more pleasing aroma, and
which has the better texture. Figure 7 shows an example
of a paired comparison preference questionnaire.
The unpublished thesis by Sandra Kay Lowry provides an
excellent illustration of utilizing the difference
tests. She set up a research method of identifying
acceptance levels for varying percentages of soy
protein in meat loaf, chili, and beef patties. She
investigated the consumer reaction to 30 percent soy
protein to higher and lower levels. A taste panel
consisted of high school students eligible for the Type
A lunch. The factors examined included flavor, texture,
aroma, and appearance. A triangular test and a paired
comparison test were used to collect the data. Her
study showed the most significant factor identified was
the aroma. The least acceptable quality was produced by
the aroma of the textured vegetable protein.
Figure 7
Paired Comparison Preference
Date_______ Time__________
Product_____________________________
INSTRUCTIONS: (A) Here are two samples;
indicate which sample you prefer.
- 622 or - 244
(B) Indicate the degree of preference between the
two samples.
- Slight
- Moderate
- Much
- Extreme
Popularity of Menu Item
Each menu entree is ranked by the categories of like,
acceptable, dislike. Sub-categories for each menu item
evaluated as like, acceptable, dislike are flavor,
degree of doneness, tenderness, moisture content,
freedom from grease. The results serve to indicate menu
item popularity and the degree of specific preparation
problems. Figure 9 (Vis. 7)illustrates how consumer
opinions can be obtained.
Other Ways to Obtain Consumer Feedback
Consumer feedback is obtained by comments to personnel,
letters, surveys (telephone and mail), manager's
circulating to obtain the pulse of consumers, probing
employees privately or at general meetings, and
soliciting opinions from friends of the restaurant.
Summary
The foregoing examples of consumer evaluation
techniques show how management can become more aware of
problems and areas that need improvement and take the
necessary steps to correct them. Frequently, food
service managers are so preoccupied with "day-to-day"
operations and are so familiar with the operation that
they are unable to see what the consumer sees. The
concept of regular consumer evaluation keeps management
abreast of problem areas that exist through constant
communication with consumers. These methods of
evaluation help spot problem areas which consumers may
experience, but again, which may be unknown to
management.
(Vis. 6),
(Vis. 7)
References
Buchanan, Robert D. "How to Use Customer Comment
Cards," in Food Service Marketing, April 1978.
McNichols, T. C. "How do Consumers See Your
restaurant?" in Food Service Marketing, April 1977.
Other Publications, Catalogs, Correspondence Courses
National Restaurant Association
One IBM Plaza, Suite 2600
Chicago, Illinois 60611
Educational Institute of the
American Hotel and Motel Association
Stephen S. Nisbet Building
1407 South Harrison Road
East Lansing, Michigan 48823
National Institute for the Food Service Industry
120 South Riverside Plaza
Chicago, Illinois 60611
Cahners Books International, Inc.
221 Columbus Avenue
Boston, Massachusetts 02116
Small Business Administration, 575 N. Pennsylvania St.,
Indianapolis, Indiana 46204, has the following
management assistance series covering a wide variety of
topics:
Management Aids (Free)
Small Marketers Aids (Free)
Small Business Bibliographies (Free)
Small Business Management Series Booklets
Starting and Managing Series
Small Business Research Series
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