Successful Customer Relations (3 lessons)

[Chef Dave]

Culinary I, Unit 2: Successful Customer Relations
2.1 The Importance of Customer Service
2.2 Bussing and Serving Techniques
2.3 The Manager’s Role in Customer Service

Unit 2: Successful Customer Relations
2.1 The Importance of Customer Service
Objectives: Students will:
a) Recognize and state the importance of customer service to food service.
b) List the reasons and the ways to make a positive first impression in the food service industry.
c) Describe a variety of customers who may have special needs.
d) Distinguish between effective and ineffective communication with customers by giving examples.

Correlation to Arizona State Standards:
16.1 Apply interests, skills, and personal orientation to careers
16.2 Collect career opportunity information
18.1 Demonstrate communication skills
18.2 Demonstrate problem solving and critical thinking skills
18.4 Discuss work ethic

Vocabulary: comp, customer service

Materials Needed:
• textbook - Becoming a Food Service Professional, Year 1, pp. 56-61
• Students will need scrap paper.
• Class set of unit 2 vocabulary lists
• Menus from the Inn at Elizabethville
• Markers and chart paper with tape or dry erase markers and class dry erase board.
• Reference only: teacher’s workbook, chapter 1 “What’s Your Customer Service IQ?”, pp. 18-20
• Reference only: teacher’s workbook, pp. 22-26

Lesson:
1) Distribute unit 2 vocabulary lists.
2) Have the class brainstorm a definition for “customer service.”
3) Use teacher’s workbook, chapter 1, pp. 18-20, “What’s your customer service IQ?” Read questions aloud. Have students record true or false responses. Review answers. This is a non-graded advance organizer.
4) Read/discuss pages 56-61. Have students record vocabulary definitions on their lists.
5) Divide class into groups. Assign each group a food service job category: hostess, server (full service operation), counter server (fast-food operation), and bus person. Have each group identify and list the skills needed to excel in their job. (Reference teacher’s workbook pp. 22-26 for more details).
6) Have each group record their skills either on chart paper that can be taped to the classroom walls or written on the classroom’s dry erase board. Discuss and add to the skills as necessary.
7) Discuss the role of host. Explain how restaurants divide seating into sections with each section being serviced by a server. Why would a host want to distribute guests through a dining room instead of filling up one section at a time? (Customer service is impacted when servers are over seated. Distributing guests through a dining room allows guests to be served in a timely manner while also giving servers the opportunity to make money. In large restaurants with more than one kitchen, distribution of guests allows orders to be distributed between different kitchens).
8) Role play the role of host. Greet a student (customer) at the door. Ask how many guests are in the student party. Escort them to a table. Seat them. Offer them menus.
9) Have a student volunteer role play the part of the host. Have the student greet the chef instructor (customer) at the door in much the same way that was demonstrated.
10) Have another student volunteer role play the part of the host. Throw a curve ball at the student by asking to sit at a different table. Observe how the student host reacts. Discuss how customers don’t always behave the way we expect. What are other examples of unexpected guest behavior? (Wanting a specific server, wanting a booth and refusing to sit at a table, not wanting to sit under a ceiling fan, not wanting to sit by the bathroom or kitchen etc.)

[Chef Dave]

Unit 2: Successful Customer Relations
2.2 Bussing and Serving Techniques
Objectives: Students will:
a) Demonstrate how to bus a table.
b) Distinguish between server aprons and culinary aprons
c) Explain how use of the pivot system improves service and reduces the “auctioning” of food to customers.
d) Describe the concept of suggestive selling.
e) Define the term, “the Sullivan nod.”
f) Distinguish between different techniques used by servers to order food on tickets.
g) Demonstrate how to hold a server tray and how to serve customers.

Correlation to State Standards:
3.7 Differentiate between cleaning and sanitizing
18.1 Demonstrate communication skills

Vocabulary: bus cart, bussing, ticket, pivot system, suggestive selling, Sullivan nod

Materials Needed:
• Utility cart with bussing trays, sanitizer spray, and rag, trash bin, assorted dishes, silverware, and glasses to set up at a mock customer dining table.
• A half dozen potatoes
• Overhead projector with transparency of Bob Evans ticket and standard ticket
• Bob Evans serving apron with red pen
• Serving tray
• Mock food on dinner plates
• Additional silverware, glasses, plates (for bussing)
• Three index cards each showing a different order of food
• Silverware, napkins, glasses

Lesson:
1) Review the skills needed to become a successful server.
2) Have one student don a culinary apron and another student don a server apron. Have the class compare/contrast these aprons. How are they alike? How are they different? (The server apron has a front pocket for ticket books and pens.)
3) Show the class a ticket book used by Bob Evans Restaurants and a red pen. Use the overhead to show the difference between the two ticket books.
4) Explain how chain restaurants use abbreviations and/or customized ticket books to facilitate guest orders. Why are customized ticket books faster? Have two student volunteers race to record an order. One student will have a Bob Evans ticket book. The other will have a standard ticket book. Take the Bob Evans student aside and explain how the ticket should be marked for an order of country fried steak with masked potatoes and carrots. (The student will make a tally mark in the box for chicken fried steak along with an “M” for mashed potatoes and a “K” for carrots. Note: C denotes corn, so Bob Evans uses “K” for carrots). The other student will write out the order in his/her ticket book. Give the order for chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes, and carrots. Who finished marking the ticket book first? Why? Discuss as necessary.
5) How does rapid ticket marking improve customer service? Discuss as necessary.
6) Introduce the class to the concept of the pivot system. The pivot system is a form of recording orders starting with the guest to the server’s left and proceeding around the table in a clockwise fashion. Even if guests order out of turn, the server records their orders in a designated spot so that when orders are delivered, a server can deliver specific orders to specific customers without having to “auction” food by asking who ordered a specific plate. Discuss how the pivot system improves the quality of customer service.
7) Many servers also use red pens. At Bob Evans this is actually a corporate policy. Discuss why servers use red pens. How does it help the server? How does it help the cook? (Red ink stands out more readily and makes an order easier to read.)
8) Discuss how servers hold trays and how one supporting hand is continually moved as weights on the tray shift. Demonstrate this practice with various volunteers by using a server tray and a half dozen potatoes. Randomly place potatoes on the tray. Have the student hold the tray with one hand underneath for support while the other grips the rim. Remove one potato at a time and let the student see how the weight shifts. The student should adjust the supporting hand as necessary.
9) Have students practice using the pivot system. Set up a table for customer service. Have three students role play the part of customers. Give each student an index card showing the food that they’re supposed to order. Have one student volunteer to play the part of a server. Have this person use a conventional ticket. Have the customers order a meal and have the server record their orders. The chef instructor will play the part of the grill cook and plate meals. The server will use his or her ticket to deliver the right meal to the right guest without auctioning food and without spilling glasses or dropping plates. Practice and discuss as necessary.
10) Introduce the concept of suggestive selling. What is it? Why do servers use it? When do servers use it? Why is it so effective when coupled with the Sullivan nod? (Suggestive selling occurs when servers suggest items to order. When guests are first seated, a good server will say, “Could I get you something to drink? A cold soda, refreshing lemonade, or hot coffee?” The suggestion is accompanied by several positive nods. During the follow up, after the main entrée has been served, the server says, “Could I get you anything else? Perhaps a slice of our juicy apple pie or our fabulous strawberry supreme pie?” The suggestion is again accompanied by several positive nods.)
11) Remove the mock food from the table. Add more silverware, glasses, and dishes using additional tables if necessary. Discuss how bussers clean tables. Introduce students to the component parts of a busing cart: upper tray for silverware and glasses, lower tray for dishes and bowls, sanitizer for spraying the table, cloth for cleaning the table, trash bin for emptying trash. Demonstrate how to bus a table and how to neatly store dishes, silverware, and glasses in a bus cart.
12) Discuss why bussing is important. Have student volunteers take turns practicing how to bus a table.
13) Explain how some restaurants (like the Apache Grill) require servers to pre-bus. Explain how to pre-bus tables using a server tray.
14) Have students record vocabulary definitions on their lists.

[Chef Dave]

Unit 2: Successful Customer Relations
2.3 The Manager’s Role in Customer Service
Objectives: Students will:
a) Explain how customer satisfaction directly affect’s a restaurant’s success or failure.
b) Outline the service planning process.
c) Describe techniques used in customer problem resolution

Correlation to State Standards:
18.1 Demonstrate communication skills
18.3 Practice leadership skills

Vocabulary: comment cards, focus group, human resources, mission statement, mystery shopper, profit, internal customer, service encounter, service guarantee, service plan, short term goal, word of mouth advertising

Materials Needed:
• Textbook, Becoming a Food Service Professional, Year 1, pp. 63-71
• Copies of crossword puzzle, workbook pages 14 and 15.
• Copies of restaurant mission statements
• Simple diagram on the dry erase board of a restaurant showing the lobby/reception area, the cashier stand, and the dining room.

Lesson:
1) Have students brainstorm the role of a manager. Discuss as necessary.
2) Read/discuss pages 63-71. Have students record vocabulary definitions on their lists.
3) Review the concept of the mission statement. What is it? Why is it important? Use Bob Evans as an example. (All guests will be acknowledged within one minute. All guests will be seated within fifteen minutes. All guests will be set up within five minutes. All guests will receive their main entrees within twelve minutes. Dessert orders will be delivered within five minutes. Tables will be cleared, cleaned, and reset within ten minutes of being vacated. All customer problems will be resolved to the satisfaction of the customer.)
4) Pass out restaurant mission statements from Hobees, Brannigans, Outback Steak House, and Denny’s. Does everyone have the same mission statement? How are they alike? How are they different? Discuss as necessary.
5) Introduce the concept of CPR, customer problem resolution. What is it? Why is it important? (80% of guests who are unhappy will not return to a restaurant. On average, unhappy guests tell an average of ten people about their experience. Over time, negative word of mouth will reduce a restaurant’s business.) Use the Bob Evans model for dealing with CPR. Acknowledge the problem. Apologize. Care and correct. Thank the guest. Follow up to make sure everything is satisfactory.
6) Discuss ways in which managers may help satisfy customer complaints. (Comp meals, discount meals, offer complimentary meals, beverages, or gift certificates, offer food to go.)
7) Use the restaurant diagram to help students identify points at which managers or staff could become aware of guest problems.
8) Discuss whose responsibility it is to make sure that all guests are satisfied with their service. (It is everyone’s responsibility to help keep guests satisfied.)
9) Pass out the customer service crossword puzzle. Allow students to work in groups of two.