The Power of Consistency in Guest Satisfaction

Recent reports of possible portion-size discrepancies at Chipotle are a cautionary tale for brands, highlighting a few critical issues in the restaurant industry: consistently meeting customer expectations and the swift power of social media. 

Modern Restaurant Management (MRM) magazine connected with Kim Lawton,  founder and CEO of New York City-based marketing agency Enthuse to discuss social media accountability, safeguarding a brand, best practices and more. Lawton has 25 years of experiential operations and marketing experience spanning branded consumer products. 

What lessons can be learned from the recent Chipotle portion size controversy?

A key lesson from the recent Chipotle portion size controversy is the critical importance of engaging with all consumers, regardless of how they interact with your brand—whether in-person, online, via social media, or through review platforms. In today’s landscape, every customer is a potential critic with the power to significantly impact your brand's reputation, positively or negatively.

To safeguard your brand, it's essential to stay attuned to customer feedback at every touchpoint, ensuring you maintain a strong understanding of brand sentiment and uncover opportunities for success. 

What does the Chipotle situation say about the power of social media to keep brands in check? How crucial is social media monitoring to quickly identify potential issues and how can brands use social media to their advantage?

The Chipotle example underscores the immense power of social media in holding brands accountable. This makes continuous social media monitoring vital for quickly identifying and addressing potential issues.

Brands must engage with consumers on social and immediately respond to both positive and negative feedback. By acknowledging positive sentiment and thanking consumers for their input, brands can assure their audience that their voices are heard and that concerns are being addressed, ultimately enhancing the overall customer experience.

Brands must engage with consumers on social and immediately respond to both positive and negative feedback.

What are some best practices brands need to put in place to maintain consistency throughout stores? How important is continual training?

To maintain consistency across stores, brands should implement the following best practices:

Robust Onboarding Training Program: Develop a comprehensive onboarding process that includes detailed training on brand standards, guidelines, voice, tone, and standard operating procedures. This ensures that new hires are aligned with the brand's expectations from the start.

Regular Audits and Quality Checks: Conduct periodic evaluations of store performance, including mystery shopper programs, to identify and address inconsistencies. These assessments help ensure that all locations adhere to brand standards even when unobserved.

Mandatory Continuous Training: Implement ongoing training for all employees, regardless of status or location. Continuous education on new products, services, and company policies not only enhances customer service skills but also reinforces the importance of brand consistency. Regular training sessions also help foster a sense of belonging and purpose within the organization, boosting employee motivation and loyalty.

Continual training is crucial as it keeps staff updated on best practices and reinforces the brand's commitment to excellence, ensuring a consistent customer experience across all locations.

What do customers want and how have their expectations changed, particularly when they are looking for value?

As consumer values shift due to factors like technological advancements and economic pressures, guest expectations in the hospitality industry have also changed to prioritize personalization, convenience, and the long-term value from brands. 

For example, with the influx of data-driven marketing, consumers increasingly value brands that offer more personalized experiences which are tailored to their preferences, needs, and past behaviors, by way of customized communications, targeted offers, loyalty programs, and more. 

Separately, through the rise of technology and the evolving pace of social media, consumers also demand speed and convenience from hospitality brands. Many consumers expect to be acknowledged or responded to almost immediately for bookings or customer service inquiries, and value flexible and convenient policies that routinely prioritize the customer first. 

Lastly, with the rise of inflation, consumers want their dollar to stretch even further and are continually looking for value beyond just low prices. These days, customers are more cautious with their spending and prefer higher-quality product/services at fair prices, with the expectation that the experience will also include benefits that go above and beyond, such as warranties, superior customer service, and deeper-discounted savings to loyal customers. 

What are some things brands can do to improve guest satisfaction?

Brands looking to improve guest satisfaction should consider the following:

• Step up sales and staff trainings to ensure employees are well-equipped to represent your brand at the forefront and can respond/handle issues effectively as they arise
• Invest in reliable experts that focus on social and digital connectivity with consumers (managing social platforms, review sites, SEO searchability, etc…)
• Tap into first-party data to further personalize and enhance your guests’ experiences and foster deeper, more emotionally driven connections with your guests
• Utilize brand partnerships to diversify your product/service offerings or strengthen areas of opportunity where your brand needs support
• Leverage technology to offer faster and more convenient services for your guests (online reservation systems, chat bots for customer service, mobile apps and mobile friendly websites, etc..)
• Solicit feedback and involve your guests in the planning process. Act on their experiences and implement changes from your learnings to ensure a more seamless customer experience moving forward

When a brand makes a misstep what are the best things they can do to recover guest trust?

First, it’s most important to acknowledge the mistake and formally and authentically communicate an apology, including transparency into what went wrong. From there, take corrective action and offer a solution that will exceed the customer’s expectations to (hopefully) leave a more favorable impression of your brand on the guest.

Lastly, learn from the mistake to mitigate further instances of such misstep, plus engage in active listening to reduce the risk of additional occurrences or other similar issues that may arise.