Service failure and recovery strategies in the restaurant sector

Abstract

Purpose -The purpose of this research is to explore the reasons for service failure in restaurants. The paper aims to give insights into customers' perceptions and response regarding service failure and recovery and to try to draw a parallel between consumers in a developing economy like India and the same in a developed society, such as USA. Design/methodology/approach -The paper is empirical and involves data from 200 respondents from India and the USA. The sampling unit is individual restaurant customers and the data collection instrument is a structured, non-disguised questionnaire. The questionnaires have been administered through personal interviews.Findings -The study found conclusive results on the reasons for service failure in the restaurant business in the context of developed and developing economies. It also sheds light on the behavioral aspects of customers' perception towards these failures and their responses to the same. The paper further looked into the recovery strategy employed by restaurants and the customers' perception towards the recovery strategies. Practical implications -The study has important managerial implications as it facilitates the understanding of where and how the failure-points occur and how customers perceive and react to them. The paper is also helpful in designing policies and procedures to proactively weed-out such failure-points and, in case of their occurrence, design responses to the same. Originality/value -The paper is valuable as very little has been done in the Indian context. It also creates a comparative perspective as to service failure in the restaurant sector between a developed and a developing country.

The influence of guarantees, active requests to voice and failure severity on customer complaint behavior

“…The inevitability of service failure, that is, where the service fails to meet customers' expectations, in the restaurant context is well recognised (Dutta et al, 2007;Jones et al, 2002;Kim and Chen, 2010;Namkung and Jang, 2010). The high contact, multi-stage nature of restaurant service means that achieving zero failures is not feasible (Namkung and Jang, 2010).…”

“…This is important for the restaurant industry because repeat customers account for between 60 and 75 per cent of its sales (Tanyeri and Cobe, 2010). Competition in the restaurant industry is fierce and customers have many options to choose from (Dutta et al, 2007;Han and Ryu, 2009;Mueller et al, 2003), further highlighting the importance of customer retention (Lam and Tang, 2003). Finally, negative WoM can taint others' attitudes and intentions toward a particular restaurant (Nyer and Gopinath, 2005).…”

Service Failures in 3- to 5-Star Hotels in Accra, Ghana

“…Although multinational hotels are globally recognized for their high standards of excellence in management, operations, and innovations (Dutta, Venkatesh, & Parsa, 2007), the affiliated or managed hotels on the Ghanaian scene, such as La Beach Hotel, Accor, Golden Tulip Worldwide B.V. (Mensah, 2009), Best Western, Holiday Inn, and the recently opened Möevenpic Ambassador, also face the challenge of delivering quality services to guests. This is because that although Ghana is growing fast as a business travel destination, nothing is being done to prepare qualified staff to take up the required responsibilities (Sheriff, 2013).…”

“…Service failures in hotels and restaurants are primarily due to inefficient and unfriendly staff, unavailable and slow services, incorrect billing of guests, and service facility/equipment failures such as slippery floors and defective products (Dutta et al, 2007). Others are the quality of F&B services, poor sanitation, unhelpful staff, missing reservations, poor ambience, undelivered promises (Chung & Hoffman, 1998), malfunctioning electrical fittings, and disruptive behaviors of other guests (Chung, Goldschmidt, & Hoffman, 2004).…”

Three dimensions of service recovery: examining relationship and impact

“…The discussion on SR and the important role it can play in organisational improvement is an area that has received limited attention within operations management literature (Miller et al, 2000;Metters and Marucheck, 2007;Johnson and Michel, 2008). Most studies in SR field has involved industries such as airlines (Heskett et al, 1994;, hotels and restaurants (Dutta et al, 2007), and retailing (Kelly et al, 1993). These studies have indicated that the outcome or performance of SR varies as a function of the context in which the failure occurred (Smith et al, 2010).…”