MAIN ISSUE
The author all in all personally visited three (3) restaurants in Sheffield. Generally, the restaurants in Sheffield were following high standards in terms of food and beverage service quality. It was just the case that only one of the three restaurants that the author personally visited had the necessary modern facilities that made their service quality more complete and satisfying. The other restaurants which have yet to acquire these modern facilities made it up by their excellent and entertaining staff service. The following were the detailed observations of the author regarding the service quality of the restaurants in Sheffield.
On the first restaurant, the atmosphere was overwhelmingly beautiful and exhilarating. The environment outside the restaurant was very colorful, surrounded by numerous flowers and ornamental plants. The security personnel were courteous enough to greet the author upon entering the restaurant and that set the tone for a great stay. Upon the author’s entry to the restaurant, several musicians seemed like serenaded the author with classical music that really made the author feel very relaxed and comfortable. It didn’t take long before a restaurant staff flashed her smile upon the author and asked for the author’s order. As the author glanced over the menu list, the author noticed the variety of meals that the restaurant offered, and with reasonable prices for a visitor like the author. After the author made the order, it only took around 10 minutes before the meal got served. The author was surprised because while waiting the author was still glued to a television set in the restaurant watching a great movie. Anyway, from the appearance alone, the food looked tasty on the eyes of the author. And the food really tasted great. Truly, the money that the author spent was worth it. And when it was time for the author to say goodbye, the musicians had one last parting piece. The author bade goodbye and thanked the restaurant’s staff for a wonderful stay.
Meanwhile, the author’s experiences over the other two (2) restaurants in Sheffield were quite the same. While the environment outside of the two restaurants was not as appealing as the first restaurant that the author visited, these 2 restaurants had their own gimmicks after all. While it was obvious that these 2 restaurants didn’t have the modern facilities that would have significantly improved the service quality of these 2 restaurants, they made it up through other gimmicks such as the presence of extremely entertaining and fun filled activities for the guests / visitors of the restaurants as well as an eat all you can promo for a certain affordable price. These gimmicks were the two restaurant’s solution to somehow make up for the lack of modern facilities. The author as well as the guests in fairness truly enjoyed staying at these two restaurants.
Critical Service Quality Improvement Factors
For Sheffield restaurants to become a viable player in their industry, the following service quality improvement factors are critical:
· Financial Stability
Financial stability is crucial especially in the pursuit of service quality management and development activities. In the hotel and restaurant industry, it is important to remain updated with the latest service quality management developments to be able to stay competitive in the market.
· Product and Service Performance and Price
The production of the best food and beverages comes as a result of well-funded service quality management and development activities. The strong performance of Sheffield restaurants could also be linked to the cost-effectiveness of their foods and services. However, Sheffield restaurants have to be aware of the positioning strategies in terms of process so as to maintain satisfactory profits margin and remain competitive.
· Marketing Strategy and Distribution
High brand awareness among the tourists and visitors has created the need for aggressive marketing, and access to strong distribution channels is critical for the introduction of new products.
Benefits of Efficient Restaurant Service Quality
· Economies of Scale and Scope in production and operations management and development.
· Unique Quality Foods, Beverages and Services owing to heavy emphasis on Service Quality
A restaurant’s commitment to service quality management & development activities has always been one of the top strategies to remain competitive in the market.
· Differentiated Products
Through the restaurant’s production and marketing of differentiated products and services originating from the service quality management and development activities, the restaurant is able to create its own specific advantages. The continuous pursuit of service quality management and development processes enables the restaurant to produce a steady stream of originally differentiated products and services which makes it difficult for competitors to find substitutes. Because of this differentiated approach, the restaurant is able to market their products and services worldwide, which enables them in turn to maximize the returns on service quality management and development expenditures.
RECTIFICATIONS/ RECOMMENDATIONS
Deriving from the analysis between Sheffield’s restaurant industry, service quality management and capabilities of the restaurants involved, many strategic options would become imperative. It is therefore essential to evaluate these strategic options as to whether they are appropriate to the issues addressed, whether they are feasible enough to be implemented and their acceptability to key stakeholders.
A. Sheffield Restaurant Level Strategy
There is definitely a need to reconcile both the inside-out and outside-in capabilities. While Sheffield’s restaurant service quality management involves focusing on its core competencies with market position following its resource base, they will be put into a disadvantageous position should they choose to neglect both the macro as well as the entire hotel and restaurant industry environment within Sheffield and UK. Therefore, Sheffield restaurants have to be aware of the latest service quality management changes, as well as changes in political, economic, legal and even demographic trends within their city in order to develop the outside-in capabilities, such as market sensing, customer linking, channel bonding and technology monitoring.
The advantages enjoyed by most Sheffield restaurants may come in the form of increased revenues. Knowing what the market demands and the latest trends could help these restaurants fully exploit their service quality development capabilities to come out with products and services which are not only cost-effective but also high in quality. The strategic option can even be used as marketing tool where the focus is on staying close to their customers and listening to their feedbacks. On the flip side of the coin, there will be huge mobilization of resources involved, and the associated risks bestowed on the restaurants of Sheffield.
Nevertheless, the mentioned strategic option seems the most practical in the wake of globalization, since there is a sudden shift towards a more integrated and independent hotel and restaurant industry not only in Sheffield but in the entire England as well. The key stakeholders too should not have any objections so long as Sheffield restaurant’s core business is not threatened. By virtue of the restaurant’s centralized control of their business, it is being expected that major barriers should not exist in carrying out such an option except additional time may be required given the scope and span of their operations.
Understanding the strategic importance of service quality is something that the restaurant owners of Sheffield have to be familiar with. They normally practice a centralized and globally scaled configuration of their restaurant’s operations and capabilities. This allows information dissemination to be retained.
B. Network Level Strategy
There are various strategic options available for Sheffield’s restaurants. These are enumerated as follows:
· Tie up with various local restaurants
· Collaborate with major competitors
· Alliances with leading players in food and beverages such as suppliers
A tie-up or merger with various local restaurants offers tremendous benefits in terms of access to their service quality management policies, infrastructure and even their resources. However, every Sheffield restaurant must not lose sight of its core competencies while pursuing these tie-ups. Otherwise, the image of this restaurant might be put in jeopardy.
Meanwhile, the collaboration of Sheffield restaurants with their major competitors can be seen as a ridiculous move at first. However, upon close examination, this move could pave the way for Sheffield restaurants to improve even more their service quality. The bottom line is both sides would be able significantly gain in such an alliance. The strengths of Sheffield’s restaurants in food and beverage development combined with the service quality management capabilities of their competitors can transform them suddenly into an unbeatable force to reckon with. One possible setback, however, is the differences in the cultures of the restaurants involved. Another possible setback could be whether any of Sheffield restaurant’s competitors has the need to form alliances.
The third option also focuses on alliances, but this time with either one of the suppliers specializing in food and beverages. The benefits of these alliances should outweigh the costs in the long run.
Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com
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