The F&B forum: reviewing the UAE's outlets

Each month, F&B service gurus Halima Anderson and Ryan McMaster from Ethos Consultancy will address your problems and queries regarding the bugbear that is customer service in Middle East F&B outlets, offering advice on how operators can improve serving standards, boost business and create customer loyalty.

Here, our two new columnists introduce themselves and invite your questions — which you can submit by clicking on our Featured Comment boxout further down the page.
 

Halima Anderson worked in the restaurant industry for 17 years, seven of which were in advanced management.

Her expertise is in customer service, events coordinating and diverse food, restaurant and marketing arenas, as well as team development.

Anderson has also experienced success as a restaurant owner, having partnered with highly successful individuals in the growing restaurant industry in Philadelphia and New Jersey in the USA.

In her previous roles, she has been instrumental in implementing strategic planning, cost containment, budget finance, customer service, staff training and plan execution, supervision and mentoring.

Anderson is currently director of operations at Ethos Consultancy, a leading customer service consultancy firm in the UAE.

Here she explains why Dubai’s diners are settling for mediocrity.

Dear readers,

I would like to start out by saying that we welcome your ideas, experiences and anecdotes in our efforts to create a dynamic forum for dialogue amongst operators and customers in the region.

Let’s face it, we have all experienced frustration and delight when dining — but often it feels like there is nowhere to go to share our story.

Dining out is an experience, from the time you make your decision to eat out, to the reservation process, to the meal itself, to your exit.

We often forget that if any or all of these touch points are not treated with importance, the entire experience can be ruined.

‘Seasoned diners’ have almost given up in Dubai and are beginning to settle for the mediocrity in service to avoid ruining another supposedly-pleasant evening.

The thinking is that if expectations are lowered, there is less room for disappointment or dissatisfaction. Magically (but regretfully), you have a wonderful dining experience which yet again raises your expectations and you once again believe that there is hope.

So you visit a second time, eager to have a semblance of what you experienced before — and yet again find yourself let down.

This tells us that somewhere, someone does at least have the ability to get things right — but where is the consistency? Where is the measurement?

We are anxious to hear about all of your own dining-out experiences. For awareness and improvement to occur, the good, the bad and the ugly have to be highlighted whenever possible.

So now’s your chance to dish the dirt!

Hopefully by sharing our experiences, we can work together to improve the region’s F&B service standards.

Best wishes,

Halima.

Before coming to Dubai, Ryan McMaster ran a restaurant and bar in Canada, where he also trained up numerous servers and bar staff.

Now, he is a service quality consultant at Ethos Consultancy, one of the leading customer service consultancy firms in the Middle East.

Here, McMaster explains why customer complaints (in moderation) are a good thing for any outlet.

Let’s start with the assumption that if you’re reading this article, you’ve been out for drinks or dinner at some point in the past year.

If you have, then you’ve probably wondered why the service is so slow, or mulled over why a drink at one restaurant is made so much faster than at another.

In some instances, you may even have thought: “This is the best service in the world!”

So why can’t it be consistent?

I’m here to help answer some of these questions — and/or become the collective punch-bag for the food and beverage industry in the Gulf!

While perfecting the art of changing kegs during my time running a bar, I have trained some top bartenders and servers. (Not the bottle juggling types, I’m talking about the ones who make your drink quickly and perfectly.)

Essentially, I like to think I know a thing or two about what brings customers in and what keeps them coming back.

We all know that bad, overpriced food is a deal-breaker. So for now I’ll leave this feature of some Gulf restaurants alone and focus on the service.

Let’s face it, bad experiences happen in every restaurant — and servers are human, contrary to popular belief.

What differentiates a great restaurant from a poor one, other than the food and service, is how they handle complaints (if they even know about them).

In my opinion, every good manager should be searching their restaurant high and low for the slightest complaint, in an effort to blow customers away.

Whoever thinks a complaint in a restaurant is a bad thing probably won’t be seeing any sales increases soon, especially with tightened purse-straps and thinning wallets we’re seeing at the moment.

I use this as my starting point for most service related conversations in the Gulf, as my personal frustration lies in the way restaurants handle things when they go wrong.

Personally, I love food and the occasional drink. Even more than that, I love talking and hearing about food and drink experiences — both positive and negative.

So don’t be shy; tell us about your experiences, the good and the bad. Ask us some questions and we’ll be more than happy to offer an insight into what makes some places so great and others not so great.

Until next time, good eating!

Ryan.
 

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