Customer Satisfaction and Chili\'s Restaurant

Customer Satisfaction and Chili's Restaurant

How a study is conducted can greatly influence the results that are received from that study (Zikmund, 2003). Because of this, care was taken with the research design at the Boerne, Texas, Chili's restaurant. Two specific techniques were employed in order to receive responses and follow up on any issues that might be important. By doing things in this way the management of Chili's got the opportunity to find out what they needed to know and also to get slightly more in-depth with some customers, giving them added, detailed information that could be very helpful in determining the main problems with the Chili's restaurant in Boerne, Texas and what could be done to correct those problems.

The research technique that was utilized was to offer surveys to the customers of the restaurant. Those who filled them out and provided contact information received a follow-up phone call as well. There were specific reasons behind this method. It was used because it provided management with the opportunity to hand out a lot of surveys, thus increasing the chances of people filling them out and allowing for a more representative sample. It was also used because it gave the chance of being able to talk with individuals that were willing to provide more information than the survey has asked for, which could help management in making a determination of what the actual problem were. Lastly, it also allowed a sample that was representative of the people that normally ate or would eat at Chili's because it used current customers. Had a random sample from the city been taken it might have been much more difficult to find enough people that ate at Chili's and had eaten their recently, thus making the sample smaller and the researcher's job more difficult.

Methodology

The methodology used for this study was a mixed-method style in that both quantitative and qualitative methods were used to gain and process information (Zikmund, 2003). First, a survey was printed up and handed out to every adult as they were seated and given their menu. It was explained to them that Chili's was interested in providing continued high levels of customer service and that their feedback could be very helpful. Every table was supplied with pencils and each waiter or waitress was asked to encourage customers to fill out the form without nagging them about it, which has been found to be very off-putting when asking individuals if they are willing to take a survey. This was done for a period of two weeks, in which time many customers passed through the restaurant and the stack of surveys grew quite rapidly. Not everyone filled out a survey, but the response level was actually higher than predicted.

Second, customers that completed the survey and included their contact information were contacted by the manager through either a telephone call or an email, depending on their preferred method of contact. This gave management the opportunity to ask questions of the individuals and make more of a determination as to whether there were actual problems at the Chili's that could be solved and what steps needed to be taken next to attempt to solve those problems. Most individuals were very helpful, but these contacts were somewhat limited because not all who took the surveys were willing to provide information that allowed them to be contacted. Despite this, however, it did allow for a better understanding of the individuals that came through the restaurant, what their needs were, and whether those needs were met based on the food and the service that they received.

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 smoking ban had ruined business because the only reason that they used to come to Chili's was because smoking was still allowed.