If you're a restaurant owner, then you know that customer satisfaction is key to your success. Without happy customers, you won't be in business for long. Yet, it can be difficult to ensure guest satisfaction and improve the customer experience if you don’t really stop to make it a focus.

In this blog post, we will discuss how to improve customer satisfaction for restaurants, bars, cafes, and other food service businesses.

The Importance of Customer Satisfaction To Businesses in the Food and Beverage Industry

When consumers feel the need to reduce spending, going out to eat or stopping for a beverage is one of the first things to be cut. This summer, while facing increased inflation across the board, the average American cut their monthly spending on dining out by around 9%.

Providing an excellent customer experience is crucial if you want your business to stand out and encourage repeat business when consumers are looking for ways to slash discretionary spending.

According to the American Customer Satisfaction Index, customers rate the biggest factors in their customer experience as:

• Food order accuracy (92%)
• Waitstaff courtesy and helpfulness (90%)
• Mobile quality (86%)

Additionally, customers say they like the availability of well-designed mobile apps (82%) and websites (81%) to help them order conveniently.

7 Ways Restaurants Can Improve the Customer Experience

Are you catering to your customers or working to ensure guest satisfaction? Here are the top ways you can increase customer satisfaction to help increase loyalty and repeat business.

1. Focus On Service

90% of consumers have a better experience if your staff is courteous and helpful.

One way to increase customer satisfaction at your restaurant is by providing great service. This means that your servers should be attentive, friendly, and efficient. If guests feel like they're being ignored or treated poorly, they will not have a good time and are unlikely to come back.

Make sure that your servers are properly trained and know how to handle different situations. Support your staff with convenient processes and enough people on hand to keep your kitchen from becoming a stressful environment — even during the busiest of times. This will go a long way in ensuring that your guests have a positive experience.

2. Reduce Wait Times

Another way to ensure customer satisfaction is by keeping wait times as low as possible. Nobody likes to wait around, especially when they're hungry!

There are a few things you can do to help reduce wait times:

• First, make sure that your kitchen is properly staffed so that orders can be prepared quickly. 
• Use kitchen technology to help your kitchen staff see orders instantly and prepare orders accurately.
• Offer online ordering and designate a screen for carry out orders so your customers can order before they arrive.
• Provide accurate order updates and SMS text alerts to help your customers arrive at the right time for their orders.
• Track your average order times based on the order type (dine-in, carry out, etc.) to understand where you may be able to improve on wait times.

You may also want to consider offering guests a drink while they wait — especially if the wait time is longer than expected. This will help to take the edge off of their hunger and make the wait seem shorter.

3. Set Expectations

Oftentimes when a customer is unsatisfied, it's not because of the actual experience but rather because of how the experience compares to their expectations of the experience. 

For example, if you go to a BBQ restaurant with your heart set on baby back ribs only to find ribs are sold out then you're going to be disappointed — even if the pork sandwich was delicious. The same is true of wait times, particularly for online orders. A customer may be perfectly happy to wait 45 minutes for their food if you tell them that upfront. However, if you tell a customer it will be 20 minutes and then it actually takes 45 minutes, the customer is more likely to be irate. 

On the other hand, if you tell a customer that it will take 45 minutes and it only takes your staff about 15 to put the order together, then your customer may have a poor experience with food that is no longer fresh or the optimal temperature.

It’s important to understand what your team can accomplish and keep your customer in the loop. By setting clear expectations about things like wait times and menu item availability you increase your chances of satisfying your customers.

4. Provide Accurate Services

92% of customers say order accuracy is a crucial part of a good experience.

Your customers trust you to get their orders right and give them what they want. Some customers might even depend on you to keep them safe when they mark allergies or request certain ingredients are kept off their order.

To provide a great customer experience, it’s crucial your staff cares about getting the orders correct. You can help your staff improve order accuracy by using a kitchen display system that keeps orders clear and organized on a screen that is easy to see from their workstation. Consider choosing someone to be responsible for double-checking orders before they go out to customers (especially for carryout or delivery orders where it’s more difficult to make up for a mistake or when allergies are noted on an order and could pose a health concern).

If an order is prepared incorrectly, you can improve customer sentiment by making it up. This might mean including something extra (like a drink or side) or providing the customer with a special coupon for their next order to encourage a return visit.

5. Offer A Variety Of Options

If you want to please a larger audience, you need to offer a variety of food and drink options. This includes having vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free options available. By doing this, you'll be able to accommodate guests with different dietary restrictions and preferences.

In addition to offering different types of food, it's also important to have a good selection of drinks. Make sure to have both alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages available so that everyone can find something to enjoy.

Don't forget about dessert! Dessert is often an afterthought, but it's actually a very important part of the meal. After all, who doesn't love a little something sweet after a savory dish?

Offering a variety of delicious desserts will not only make your guests happy, but it will also give them something to look forward to. This can help increase customer satisfaction and keep people coming back for more.

Consider partnering with local farms, bakers, or breweries to offer fresh or seasonal items. This will keep things interesting and give guests a reason to come back again and again. 

6. Offer Promotions and Discounts

Who doesn't love a good deal? Offering promotions and discounts is a great way to increase customer satisfaction. This is because it shows that you're willing to go the extra mile to please your guests.

There are a few different ways you can offer promotions and discounts. You could run a special on certain days or offer a discount for ordering a certain amount of food. You could also offer a loyalty program where guests can earn points that can be redeemed for freebies.

Whatever you decide to do, make sure that your promotions and discounts are clearly advertised so that everyone knows about them. Make it easy for your customers to use their rewards so they are more excited to earn them.

7. Collect and Listen To Feedback

If you want to know how to increase customer satisfaction, then you need to listen to how they feel about their experience. It’s difficult to get a good measure of feedback if you don’t specifically seek it out — many customers will only make their feelings known if something goes really wrong.

The best way to find out what your guests think about your restaurant and what you can do to improve their experience is to ask them and listen carefully to the responses.

Try to get feedback from as many people as possible. You can do this by asking for feedback on comment cards, conducting surveys, or simply talking to guests. You can even request feedback on your receipts or through emails sent to your contacts through your loyalty program or online ordering platform. As you request feedback, don’t forget to encourage them to leave you positive reviews on Google or social media to help you increase your reach and boost business.

Make Improving the Customer Experience an Ongoing Focus

Keeping the customer experience at the forefront is crucial for the success of any restaurant or food and beverage business. When your customers feel valued and receive consistent, high-quality service, they are more likely to return and spread positive word-of-mouth. Ensuring that orders are accurate, timely, and delivered with a smile is essential to building a loyal customer base. 

Fresh KDS supports these initiatives by streamlining kitchen operations, reducing order errors, and speeding up service. With features that allow you to track orders in real time and ensure every dish is prepared perfectly, Fresh KDS helps you maintain the level of service that keeps your customers coming back.

Start your free trial today to see how our kitchen display system can help your team provide an even better experience that stems from a productive back-of-house.