Expectation Vs Reality- A Restaurant Visit

I had a chance of visiting a restaurant in Coimbatore situated on Avinashi Road, to learn about the business functioning as a part of some student Experiential Learning Activity. I read a few news articles about the restaurant and some blogger reviews about the ambience food and philosophy of service over there. But we were for a rude shock, as what we experienced was something entirely different. So what happened, we had a discussion with the owner,and these are some of my understanding about the issue.

Great Idea but Wrong Market:

The restaurant wanted its customers to experience the western style of dining where the meal goes on for 7 courses, but it did not have the capability nor was the price and quantity of food is appealing to Coimbatore's preference.

• The restaurant was totally unequipped for this aspiration, not enough chefs or service space for an upscale experience
• The price was mid range but the portion size was very small for the price.
• The tables were put close to one another and it further created a noisy environment.

Bloggers hype vs reality:

I was actually looking forward as some bloggers had portrayed a great picture of the particular restaurant and my expectations were set high. When i visited there it was not what i expected. The lounge and coffee shop was closed and the space was too small than what i saw in the pictures. So it created an immediate disappointment and further when i saw the pricing and quantity it was further vexing.

• The owner said they are having issues with high rents
• The management was remodelling and looking for new ideas to re-position their brand

Wrong Location:

This hotel situated on the crowded avinashi road, and the menu and design did not match with any of the market segments. They should have gone with the same upscale design concept and targeted only the cream of the society, but lack of parking space and poor choice of interiors did not justify the mid to high prices. Or they could have catered to the mass market and kept the prices low. This has become an issue with the restaurant as admitted by the owner who is now planning to revamp the entire operations and apply the learning elsewhere.

• The restaurant is surrounded by many authentic south Indian restaurant and it didn't have any outstanding aspect for the customers to come again
• The competition is fierce in this location and one bad experience will make the customers turn back

Most importantly I was expecting a different level of ambience and service, but I didn't get it. Moreover the price was not justified either by the quantity or the taste. So  a big learning is you should not set expectations high when you cannot consistently deliver results.

   

Customer Relations in Coimbatore a personal observation

When we talk about managing Customer Relations we always talk about big firms which uses fancy software's and some charts which show how it has increased the performance of the company because of good customer relations. But we never talk about the small firms and franchisees in small towns and how the customers interact and feel about them. I will list a few examples of my experiences as a customer in the city of #Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu India.

A friendly shop in time of distress:

#Demonitization was one big horror which many Indians cant forget. I too suffered and had no cash in hand and groceries were about to run out . I normally buy groceries monthly in a supermarket near my house. I had picked all groceries and came for billing, but the POS network  was busy so payment was not processed, there were around 20 customers like that, I was thinking they will ask to come and collect the grocery tomorrow. But to my surprise, they just collected our address and phone number and asked us to pay tomorrow when the network is free and they insisted on us taking the groceries home. This created a very positive impression for that shop and I regularly buy grocery from them . this prompted me to tweet immediately.https://twitter.com/a_samnaveen/status/797819941051215872

A very poorly maintained hotel:

There is a hotel near Ramanathapuram junction in Coimbatore . It had a very hyped up opening and they made a small puff piece come in location section in The Hindu. I visited the hotel along with my wife, the interiors were good and decorated tastefully, when we were about to finish our dinner the last order was lime juice, it came up and in it was floating a small cockroach. we were very disappointed and we came out and asked for the bill. they added the bill for the  drink we didn't drink. I shouted at them paid my bill minus the juice and came off. It is the last time I ever visited the hotel. I also recommend my friends to avoid the hotel. If they had jus apologized I might have thought of visiting the hotel again. Now they have got an active advocate against their business.

A Place with good memories: 

There is yet another hotel called Haneefa  near Nava India signal which I have frequented more times, just because the manager was very courteous and asked us if we enjoyed the food and ambience. It was truly a good experience and I frequent the place for the memories it created for me.

Customers are really watching firms on how they react and how they treat them, companies which creates delight for customers are the ones that created great lifetime value from their customers. and companies which really shines in anticipating the needs of customers and exceeding their expectations are the ones which really benefits from their customers.