Elders always have their own way of passing on wisdom. It is quite similar to what professors teach in marketing classes, several sessions/case-studies later. But more often than not, it ends up looking like Team India’s batting line-up before the World Cup victory – very good on paper.

Not far from this truth is the service provided by a lot of restaurants around you. Ever received a wrong or incomplete order while getting food delivered to your home? Met an arrogant or discourteous delivery boy or a waiter? Did the delivery boy not carry change for a Rs.500 note for you? Waited an hour for your order to arrive at a classic fine-dine (umm…on your anniversary…)? Was Mousse passed off as Tiramisu? If this gives you a sense of déjà vu, then read on.

A restaurant can be rated on three broad parameters – food, service and ambiance (for dine-out places). While food remains the priority and is the primary product of a restaurant, poor service can ensure that the food never gets to you. Also, the bad news is that you can’t make up for bad food with exemplary service. And as clichéd as it may sound, the proportion of lifestyle-conscious population in India is increasing rapidly. With loads of choices around for everything including food, it’s very simple for these folks to ‘opt out’ if they don’t like something. While we have nothing to say about places which serve bad food, the ones doing justice to the cuisine often mess-up the game in the customer service department.

Good customer service is about meeting or exceeding customer’s expectations at various touch-points. Service at a lot of outlets would be a lot better even if the manager simply makes a list of touch-points where the customer experiences their brand. Based on our experience in the market, here’s a list of important touch-points followed by an analysis. For the sake of keeping ourselves short (really! we tried), we have limited ourselves to home-delivery in this article.

The menu is the first thing that a customer picks up for selecting items. The quality of paper, printing, typos, alignment, colors, fonts and general aesthetics scream loudly about what to expect from the place. A 17-page menu (yes we’ve seen it!) will only confuse the customer leading to an ‘opt out’, as against a simple 1 page menu with limited (but signature) items. The choice is between Jack and Master.

Even if one of the several phone numbers on the menu doesn’t work, there’s a risk of ‘opt out’.  The telecom service provider can screw it up for restaurants – that’s force majeure. There’s enough technology in the market to solve this problem.

Then there is the point when the restaurant answers a customer’s phone call. This is the point where most restaurants commit hara-kiri. Often, the restaurant manager doubles up as the customer service executive without doing justice to either role. Nearly 65% of the calls to restaurants (based on an internal Zomato study) are in the English language – something that is not reciprocated by around 20% restaurant managers at the other end. While the customer service officer is out for a stroll, the innocent waiter usually fills-in for him and that’s when disaster prefers to strike. According to us, a good, dedicated English speaking customer service executive is one of the most important investments that a restaurateur should make. Especially since our cities are becoming more cosmopolitan in these times and our guests from abroad don’t have the faintest knowledge of Hindi.

The greeting from the customer service desk can actually make or break the call. The most common ways of greeting are ‘Hello’, ‘Haanji’, ‘Yes’. However warmly spoken, it doesn’t serve the purpose. The customer is more interested in knowing whether their call has landed at the right place and hence, saying the name of the restaurant makes more sense. Some pizza chains have taken this too far though (hellowelcometoMommyNo’spizza wouldyouliketotryourpastaand chocolatecavacakealongwithyourpizza deepbreath)!

If the first obstacle is negotiated successfully, the cardinal sin of not knowing the names of the menu items is normally committed. We don’t mind giving some credit to the executive for dealing with horrible accents and bad pronunciation. However, an average IQ, a decent educational qualification or common sense on part of the executive can compensate for this problem.

Peak hours are pressurizing. It’s not uncommon to see customer service executives trying to prompt customers to hurry up and complete the call. Bad move. Indecision and afterthoughts in the mind of a customer are natural. A smart executive is likely to read the situation and recommend dishes to resolve the situation. Caution: Recommend, don’t hardsell.

After struggling through the meandering course of a call, it’s important to close it on a good note. Repeating the order proactively ensures a lower probability of a goof-up and so does noting down the address and phone number correctly. Ideally, the executive should be well versed with the catchment area of the restaurant. Understanding landmarks that way is easy. In case the POS (point-of-sale) is automated, repeating the bill amount is a good practice. Any commitment of delivery time should be made on prior experience and sound judgement.

Aah! We empathize with the delivery boys. The poor chaps have the honour of getting ‘face-time’ with the customer. It can’t be at a worst time – when the customer is hungry (read irritable). Ground rules: Smile. Do not flip the boxes. Hand over the food first, then the bill. Carry change of 500 and 1000. In case there is an error in the order or billing or the food is delivered cold, hard luck mate! No guesses for where money should be invested – training the delivery boys to handle crisis situations. Providing a phone to the delivery boys ensures that escalating the case to the manager is easy in case things get out of hand. If things turn out fine, there’s still a chance of messing things up by ‘demanding’ a tip. Can’t blame the guys with their kind of salary. But this is where training plays a crucial role.

It doesn’t get over yet. Invariably, customers discover a wrong or short order AFTER the delivery boy leaves. The instant reaction is a call back to the executive and demand an explanation. Yet another crisis situation which demands a cool head at the other end. In our experience, the best way to handle the situation is not to challenge the customer. The customer could be mistaken but no amount of pacifying will help. Why? Have you ever seen anyone being reasonable when hungry? Rare. Its best to make sure that the right order is sent. While it is a cost to the restaurant, but not greater than the cost of an upset customer who is otherwise loyal. In fact, the gesture will be much appreciated resulting in customer retention.

Another facet which is normally ignored is hygiene. A well groomed delivery boy with neat clothes will portray the image of a hygienic place. Customers tend to judge this subconsciously. They can’t do anything about it once the food arrives but rest assured the next order may never come.

There are quite a few ideas some innovative restaurant owners have come up with to delight their customers. Some of these ideas include:

1. A restaurant owner in Delhi stores the numbers of his customers on the cell and addresses them by name during repeat calls. It’s a nice personal touch.
2. A delivery service in Mumbai hires mute and deaf delivery boys. This builds employment opportunities for the differently abled. On top of it, these guys are extremely courteous, humble and well-prepared for each delivery and its difficult to vent anger on them.
3. A restaurant chain in Pune has started taking orders on twitter. This is a great gesture for twitter addicts who tweet 712 times a day.
4. A biryani maker in Mumbai has equipped delivery boys with 5 kg of biryani storage on a vehicle. Each delivery boy is assigned an area and waits at a central location in that area. The moment an order is placed, the delivery boy in that particular area is asked to deliver. Delivery time: Max 10 mins !!!

Till the time the ‘unorganized’ restaurant industry realizes the importance of customer service, we will have little choice but to put up with the odd incident. One can always opt out, but only the second time. A humble request – please don’t trouble the delivery boys – their bosses are responsible for any mess that happens.