Results and Analysis

Of the numerous individuals who were provided with surveys in the Chili's restaurant in Boerne, Texas over a two-week period, 150 surveys were returned completely filled out. Surveys that were only partially filled out were not counted in the results. Of the 150 surveys that were returned properly, 20 had contact information that the manager could use to gather further information. All 20 of the individuals contacted by phone and/or by email responded to the manager and were willing to discuss problems, concerns, and good things that they had experienced at that particular Chili's location. The questions that were asked on the survey dealt with basics such as age, gender, and marital status and then moved on to ask about the number of times an individual had dined at that Chili's location, what kind of experiences he or she had during those visits, if he or she would come back, and would that person recommend Chili's to others.

The results of the survey questions are presented in table form on the following page. Also important, however, were the responses from the phone calls that the manager made to the 20 people that provided contact information. Out of those 20, only five were extremely or completely satisfied with their service and food while at Chili's. The other 15 individuals that answered the manager's request for more information indicated various problems. The most common of these problems was that service was slow, food was cold when it arrived, and waiters and waitresses were not as friendly and helpful as the customers felt they should expect. Three of the individuals also expressed dissatisfaction with the prices at Chili's, and eight people commented that the...

While the smoking ban significantly lowered the number of customers coming into the restaurant, many smokers apparently still come to Chili's. This indicates that the smoking availability was not the only reason that these people went to the restaurant. However, the service and the atmosphere seem to be the largest concerns, as they were cited as the biggest problems among those that said they would not return. These are, therefore, the areas that management must focus on if they wish to retain the customers that they have and begin to build up a larger customer base yet again. Without making changes the number of customers will continue to drop.