First impressions

Customers in cafes and restaurants are not receiving great experiences across the board, service levels are falling.

From a guest perspective, when they are coming into the cafe, they are greeted well and have great first impression and you have a great experience from start to finish, it makes you feel good. It also turns them into an advocate for our venue.

The biggest mistake that is very common is not listening.

Generally, as humans we are in one of two states: we are interesting or interested.

In hospitality, we see a lot of people be interesting, when they need to stop and be more interested. Taking real interest in the guest or customer and asking questions and actively listening to their answers.

How can you make a great first impression?

The greeting – having a level of energy that makes the guest feel like there is some magic happening here. If the guest is more chatty, relaxed in their style, interested in a slower paced experience, might ask them some questions such as have they been to our venue before? Do they know about our menu? Share some stories of the history of the venue, the owners, the type of food.

If you sense that the customer is in a rush, they have limited time, purpose driven with this type of guest you wouldn’t have long conversations / share stories. Focus the conversation on informing them that you will get their order in quickly.

We need to really take notice of what our guest is saying, but also how they are saying it and what their body language is telling you about the type of experience they are wanting.

Tips:

Friendly greeting.

Find something to complement them on – making them feel like an individual.


Take them on a journey, being passed on from one person to another (if applicable) so that they have continuous attention.

Give them a sense that the experience whist they are with us at our venue is going to be different and special.