MKT 412 Service Audit

Introduction
Rashna Bilash is a restaurant situated in Road #11 (next to Hot Breads), Block - D, Banani, Dhaka, Bangladesh. This restaurant serves some tasty local delights and as well as some Indian recipes too. It is a famous restaurant for the people living in Banani or nearby Banani. In week days it is busy with serving the office goers as there is no such good Bangla restaurant in Banani. In weekends it is mostly busy with serving local or nearby residents. It is open from 10:00am to 11:00 pm every day. It is mainly targeting people who are bored of having fast foods and other Thai or Chinese recipes. It is focusing mainly on Bangladeshi recipes. It is a place where family members can go together and enjoy some time while having bangla food of their choices. Not only families, even youngsters also go there to have bangla food and as well as kebabs and faluda. Price range of their food items is not that high. It is a nice place to have a stomach-filling traditional meal.

Current Services
Their main purpose is to serve good food to their customers along with it assures a better service with reasonable price to its customers. All kinds of dishes are available in RashnaBilash, from spicy daal bhartas to 'exotic' duck bhuna to a wide range of tantalizing fish dishes. They also serve some main dishes with Bangladesh's favorite menu item - steaming, fluffy rice! It also offers other menu like fuchka, faluda, kebabs, juices, paan, etc. They are not charging higher prices if we compare their prices with similar type of restaurant like Dhanshiri. They have well maintained clean environment and highly trained waiters who always give you a smile while taking orders. They have only 3 waiters who are trained highly to interact 9

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with their customers and other than that they have few helpers for their waiters who do not interact or take any sort of orders from customers. They do not provide home service but customers can take away from there. They accept cash and credit cards too from customers. They also make and sell paans of different types for their customers. Overall they are serving the very best to their customers.

Physical Evidence
The service environment of Rashna Bilash influences buyer in the following ways: Message-creating Medium: Rashna Bilash shows off its distinctive nature by decorating the entire restaurant with Bengali artifacts. The interior of the restaurant is one which gives the image of a typical Bangladeshi eatery with its wooden chairs and tables. Attention-creating Medium: Rashna Bilash stands out from its competitors because unlike others, it embraces the Bengali culture. The competitors around Rashna Bilash are more focused in trying to portray a Western image for themselves. Although this attempt by competitors may attract the younger crowd but its target audience, which is basically the older generations, appreciate the attentioncreating effect of Rashna Bilash. Effect-creating Medium: Rashna Bilash enhances service quality through distinct scents and the layout of the restaurant. Anyone walking outside of Rashna Bilash will be seduced by the delicious smells of grilled kebabs and roasted items. The entrance is decorated with a fruit counter which creates a pleasant effect in the minds of by passers.

MKT 412 Service Audit

The Mehrabian-Russell Stimulus Response Model:

Rashna Bilash gives people a relaxing feeling which causes them to approach the restaurant. This is done through a combination of tangible cues like the fruit counter and the soothing dcor of Rashna Bilash.

Complexity of the Servicescape:

Rashna Bilash can be described as a Lean Environment with few elements and few pieces of equipment. The restaurant consists of the usual characteristics like tables, chairs, air conditioners, refrigerator and cash counter. The entrance of the restaurant has a fruit counter as well as a paanmasala station. The main kitchen is located at the back of the restaurant but they also have a front stage kitchen where the kebabs and other meat items are grilled. 9

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Dimensions of the Service Environment:

The service environment of Rashna Bilash is a relatively simple one and the main elements of the environment are:

Ambient Conditions: The general ambience of Rashna Bilash is that of a typical Bengali restaurant. Often there is no music required to entertain the customers as the hustle and bustle of people make up for any desired sound. Rashna Bilash seduces customers with the scent of freshly made kebabs and other meat items. The smell within the restaurant follows a similar theme which tantalizes the senses of awaiting customers. Colors used by Rashna Bilash are of the soothing nature like cream and white. Customers feel a sense of home when they sit inside the restaurant and make them feel calm and peaceful.

Spatial Layout and Functionality: The size of Rashna Bilash is adequate for the services it offers and the layout of the restaurant is such that customers do not find it overwhelming. The limited has been utilized fully so that there is no underutilization or shortage during fluctuations of demand. Also the layout helps the waiters to move around as the tables are placed in a straight line.

Signs, Symbols and Artifacts: The signs and symbols visible in Rashna Bilash highlight the Bengali culture to its customers. The hanging mud bowls and the typically Bengali style tables and chairs give customers a sense of being in an old fashioned eatery. 9

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People: The people at Rashna Bilash, customers and employees, are modest and humble people of the society. There is no question of status within the restaurant. Everyone is treated as equal by the waiters and the staff. Usually the younger age groups frequent the restaurant but large number of families also gathers here to enjoy a meal.

Tools used to Guide Servicescape Design: Rashna Bilash has designed its servicescape based on the Ideas from frontline staff and customers. The owners of Rashna Bilash has kept in mind that the limited space needs to enhance the service provided in such a way that the customers are satisfied with the service and the employees are able to deliver it efficiently. So rather than going for blueprinting or field experiments Rashna Bilashhas decided to rely on customer and employee feedback.

People
As with any other service organization, Rashna Bilash has two influencing people groups: employees and customers. We have analyzed the two groups separately. Employees Rashna Bilash has 18 waiters, 6 chefs and 3 chef-supports, and 2 administrators.

MKT 412 Service Audit

Frontline Staff: The frontline staff of Rashna Bilash contains the 18 waiters and one administrator, who is also the receptionist and the cashier. They have a roster according to which they work. All have one full and one half day off per week. The waiters are all trained to be courteous towards their customers; they all show a smiling face to their customers. They work enthusiastically explaining the customers about the food. Most of the food Rashna Bilash offers are regular Bangladeshi food, known by most of the people. But, even then, there are items with unique names and taste. These items are sometimes required by customers to be explained, and the employees are actually very enthusiastic in explaining these things to a confused customer. Moreover, the employees help their customers in choosing the food they order. But, they are not trained to force these options on them. They give information about the items customers are confused about, and recommend what will be the best for the customers. But, they are careful enough to only help the customers during the procedure. They also say about new entries in the menu, thus also promoting them. Thus, it can be said that the frontline staff are not only required to complete operational work, but also for marketing activities. Training of front-line employees: All new employees are trained through mentorship. The waiters are assigned under a mentor (who is experienced in the job, and have been working with the restaurant for a considerable time). The first step of training is to see how everything happens, they need to spend a considerable time in kitchen to get an idea about what kind of flavors are used in specific items and get an overall idea of the food offered in the restaurant. In the mean time, they learn about how orders are taken, how the orders are forwarded to the kitchen and how bills are prepared, this step is carried totally under a mentor. The next and the final step is to practically do the job, but under close supervision of the specified mentor. As this stage is passed, the waiters are on their own!

Step 1
Observe and learn procedures Learn basic cooking

Step 2
Learn the job procedures under close supervision of a mentor, practically.

Step 3
Doing the job on their own!

Figure: Steps that a new waiter goes through in training 9

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Waiters as a source of building customer loyalty The waiters in Rashna Bilashplay an important role in building a brand image in the customers mind. The waiters behavior and enthusiasm to provide personalized service to every customer is remembered by people visiting the restaurant. They are very friendly, and do all these for the simple reason of getting some tips. But, this in turn helps the restaurant to have good customer retention. The waiters remember the regular customers by face and by name, and are sometimes seen to be discussing about usual life with regular customers. This shows, their effort to keep customers coming back, just not for the food, but also for some emotional ties. All these small unofficial procedures carried by the frontline staff help the firm to build strong loyalty with their customers.

Reducing conflicts between the staff The restaurant management gives special thoughts about ensuring a no conflict workspace. For this purpose, The waiters are paid according to number of years they are with the organization. Increment in salary is carried only in terms of experience. The whole staff has their food in the restaurant, with the same food for everyone. All the tips are collected together, and divided equally. So, everyone puts in the same effort, and do not get a chance to complain about stealing profitable customers. To reduce organization vs. customer role stress, the management gives enough freedom to the staff to decide if they are needed to give some special favors to regular customers.

MKT 412 Service Audit

Backstage and Support Staff Backstage and Support staff is comprised of 6 chefs and 6 other staff supporting them. Among the six chefs, 3 work in the main kitchen, 1 in the outside Kebab section, 1 in the juice station, and 1 in Sweet Pan section. Four of the six support staff works in the main kitchen, while others in the outside section. The backstage staff is equally important to Rashna Bilash. This is because, it is a restaurant and however the service is, the food needs to be good. The chefs working in the organization were recruited from different other Bangladeshi-food restaurants around Dhaka city. They are compensated highly to keep them in the restaurant.

Training for backstage staff When management decides on introducing new items in the menu, they ask the chefs to get hold of recipes and try to come up with a dish on their own. If they are successful, they are given bonuses. The chefs continuously keep teaching their support staff about the food they cook, so that in times of their absence the support staff can prepare food. In case of any chef leaving the job, this procedure saves a lot of restaurant managements time. Moreover, it also ensures the same taste in food, even after key chefs leaving. Customers The customers that frequent Rashna Bilash can be segmented into two groups: office goers in the Banani area university students in the Banani area

Many of the office goers usually have their lunch here, while the students visit the place throughout the day. The reason these people are regular customers of Rashna Bilashis because they can get good food at decent price, pleasant environment (air-conditioned store, never over crowded), and the friendly behavior of the employees. These customers are very loyal and have repeat purchases. 9

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The Service Profit Chain Rashna Bilash has a very simple Service Profit chain. We have inferred the following service chain prevalent in the company. First of all, the job design, the intrinsic and extrinsic compensations, equal treatment ( equal distribution of bonus) and their importance in the restaurant lead to high internal service quality. These factors in turn lead to employee satisfaction, which increases employee retention and Employee productivity. These factors, in turn lead to quick service, and a friendly environment in the restaurant. The friendly front-line staff builds a good relationship with regular customers and thus builds Customer Loyalty.

Internal Internal service service quality quality

Employe Employe e e satisfacti satisfacti on on

Employ Employ ee ee Retenti Retenti on on

Employe Employe e e Producti Producti vity vity

Customer Customer satisfacti satisfacti on on

Customer Customer Loyalty Loyalty

Job Design Compensati on and Bonus Equal treatment Importance

Good food Quick and efficient service Jolly and friendly

Base of very regular customers Referrals

Recommendations
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Service provided by the employees in current situation is optimum. But, when foreigners visit the place, this group of frontline staff cannot communicate effectively, and thus their service quality decreases. Foreigners are a lucrative market segment, especially in a place like Banani, so to target them; they need to prepare their employees. Thus, we recommend Rashna Bilash to train their staff to communicate in English.