Service improvement
So there I was, sitting in a booth table by the window in a not-too-fancy burger restaurant, shivering from the cold with my coat over my knees. Was it the ice-cold beer? No, I was cold on the outside, not the inside. Was it the close proximity to the windows? No, they seemed to be double glazed and were not cold to the touch. Was it the air conditioning unit blowing cold air in our direction? No, it wasn't switched on. Perhaps the heating was turned off due to the exorbitant prices businesses are having to pay for energy these day? I mentioned the lack of warmth to the waitress and she merely agreed with me and said "it's always cold down this end".
I couldn't let it lie and I eventually found the root cause of the problem: a 5mm gap down the length of the door. It was a particularly cold night outside and the wind was strong enough to push a fairly sizeable quantity of cold air in our direction. The rest of the restaurant did not seem to be suffering from this predicament.
The simple act of fixing a length of insulation brush down the side of the door would keep a whole table of people warm three, maybe four, times a night. Imagine the difference that would make to the reviews section on Google Maps.
Despite the cold, we had a lovely evening, probably due to the attention to good service that would have been implemented by the management: regular checks from the staff, food delivered promptly and correctly, a clean environment etc, so it wasn't from lack of caring that the table we had chosen was so cold.
My two takeaways from this experience were: i) service improvement is the responsibility of everyone and some of the smallest improvements may create the biggest gains if they are identified by those with jobs closest to the customer; ii) everyone needs to be empowered to contribute to service improvement - they should be able to speak up and be listened to, whatever their role in the business.
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