How do restaurants keep to a schedule on popular holidays. People call in advance to make reservations but how do restaurants insure their patrons finish on time? The best restaurants have scheduling down to a science to get their patrons out the door with-out feeling rushed.
The servicescape has a huge impact on how long people will stay at a restaurant. Making the restaurants uncomfortable in small ways will make patrons leave sooner. This has to be subtle or else the clientele will not return. A few subtle ways are as follows: Keeping the tempter cold, have a crowded dining area, and uncomfortable seating. Cold temperatures have been said to be done because the wait staff are over heated running around. However this is also in place to make customers slightly uncomfortable. They can complain however the temperature cannot be changed fast enough while same patrons are there. Thus customers will want to leave sooner but not feel as though this is a huge problem. Crowded dinning produces a louder environment which can make groups of people uncomfortable. People want to be able to talk to each other. After they finish their meal they will leave sooner to continue on their conversations. Crowded servicescaps with a lot of furniture and people make customers feel as though the restaurant is busy and they need to get out of the way. This gets people to leave earlier but not feel rushed as if they decided not that the restaurant decided. Uncomfortable such as backless seats also gets people to leave sooner to a more comfortable area, however this does not prevent the customer to enjoy the time that they have at the restaurant. The servicescape truly matter getting people to not over stay their welcome.
Monitoring the restaurant’s patrons is also very important to keep to a schedule. Start to notice which tables are more desirable. This can be do to size, comfort, or even location. Knowing the popular seating areas is important to get those tables out first. Restaurant’s will put out the food of the popular tables before the other tables regardless of when the orders came in. Having the food out sooner will get the best tables out first this keeps to a schedule and more happy patrons. Another way to monitor the customers is by their orders. If a group comes in make sure to keep their order on track to not get behind. What they order is also important, those who order wine will stay longer so they need their food out faster to get them out faster. Keeping customers occupied will make wait times seem shorter. Restaurants tell their customers a time so that they can see an end in sight, even though the time is not always accurate. Restaurants keep their customers occupied by bringing them to the bar with free drinks. Customers may even stay and have their meal at the bar freeing up more tables. Restaurants entice lingering customers as well to the bar by offering free desert at the bar if they are willing to move. Restaurants try to keep the flow going so that no one feels the wait, or feel a shorter wait.
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