by Erica Michaelson

Created on: August 14, 2009   Last Updated: August 18, 2009

4 causes of fast food problems

If you spend lots of time handling complaints at your fast food restaurant, you are undoubtedly losing big bucks! For every customer that visits your business that leaves dissatisfied, there most certainly more who will not bother to complain! You won't hear a peep out of them, they just go away, and never return! They'll go down the road, and patronize your competitor.

Your competition does not pay their workers more money, they offer a similar menu, the prices are competitive and yet, there is always a line at their drive thru, and nary a smidgen of activity at yours. Why? In this article you will find out why these errors occur, and learn techniques for improving performance at your fast food restaurant.

1. Inaccurate orders; this is the number one complaint of a fast food customer! When your patrons open their bags and find missing, or wrong orders, it can exasperate your customers! When your crew members don't pay attention, and rush to get through the lines, they inadvertently make mistakes. To resolve this, a concentrated effort needs to be implemented to insure your crew makes order accuracy a high priority. In addition, when errors are made it is of little consolation to your customer to offer to replace or give credit to them, when they missed their lunch due to an inaccurate order! Offer something extra to them, you owe it to them!

2. Untrained workers; People that are not fully trained should not be allowed to interact with customers on their own. Always test and train your workers. Not only do you need to time test, you need to check the accuracy of each order as well as the quality of your product, as it heads out the door. Frequently send secret shoppers in, to conduct testing. Offer feedback to your staff as to the results of the evaluation. Without feedback, how will the staff improve.

3. Indifferent staff; careless, unhappy, borderline rude. If your most sparkling personalities are not on your counter, put them there. Make sure that your customers treated to super friendly service, make certain that know how to sell! Know where to place your people, to get the most effective results,

4. Repeat offences; it is not that it happens to your customers once, it is that it happens so frequently! You need to respond! If your staff isn't working up to par, they need to know that there are consequences for poor performance. Your best most accurate workers, are the ones that will make more money, and get more hours on their schedule. Workers that perform well should also be recognized verbally, and with employee of the month awards.

If your customer service problems are an issue in your restaurant, try some of these suggestions, and you will soon establish a dependable and more you will provide accurate service. When your customers enjoy high quality, accurate, and timely service, they will return, and patronize often!

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