AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE REAL SITUATION AND SOME SOLUTIONS TO IMPROVING THE QUALITY OF CUSTOMER SERVICES AT THAI MARKET RESTAURANT

1 LE Q UA NG H OA NG DU NG – GR AD UA TI ON PA PE R IN TO UR IS M 202 DUY TAN UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF ENGLISH LÊ QUANG HOÀNG DUNG AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE REAL SITUATION AND SOME SOLUTIONS TO IMPROVING THE QUALITY OF CUSTOMER Ghi chú: Bìa ngồi SERVICES AT THAI MARKET RESTAURANT DA NANG, 2022 Ghi chú: Bìa DUY TAN UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF ENGLISH GRADUATION PAPER AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE REAL SITUATION AND SOME SOLUTIONS TO IMPROVING THE QUALITY OF CUSTOMER SERVICES AT THAI MARKET RESTAURANT Major: English for Tourism and Hospitality SUPERVISOR : LÊ HOÀNG PHƯƠNG, M.A STUDENT : LÊ QUANG HOÀNG DUNG CLASS : K24 NAD6 STUDENT CODE: 24203216135 DA NANG, 2022 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My graduation thesis could not successfully complete without the invaluable help, advice, and encouragement from many teachers in the Faculty of English and all staff in Thai Market restaurant First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to all teachers of Duy Tan University in general and the Faculty of English in particular, especially Mrs Le Hoang Phuong, my supervisor During the writing thesis process, she gave me helpful suggestions, critical comments, and support so that I could finish my graduation thesis Secondly, I would like to send my thankful words to Thai Market restaurant and Mr Le Thai Hoang , who created an opportunity for me to practice at the restaurant and directly trained during my internship I will not have the accurate document in the Hospitality document as well as wonderful advice to complete this graduation thesis without his enthusiastic help Thirdly, allowing me to express my thank to all staff of Thai Market restaurant, who always shared working experience and provided me with useful information, document whenever I need Last but not least, I also sincerely thank my family, my friends for their support and encouragement during the process of conducting this study Moreover, the shortcomings in this graduation paper are unavoidable Therefore, I hope to receive the sympathy from teachers Finally, I respectful wish all teachers a lot of health, success in the noble careers, and wish members of Thai Market restaurant all health, happiness in their life Thank you so much Sincerely Le Quang Hoang Dung STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP Except where reference is made in the text of the thesis, this thesis contains no material published elsewhere or extracted in the whole or in part from a thesis by which have qualified for or been awarded another degree or diploma No other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the thesis This thesis has not been submitted for award of any degree or diploma in any other tertiary institution Danang, May 19th, 2022 Le Quang Hoang Dung ABSTRACT This graduation thesis begins with investigating on hospitality sector, mainly focused on real situation of the quality of Customer services for consumers at Thai Market Restaurant and some solutions to improving them This case study is carried out basing on the theoretical background and the practical data To find the results, I will gather all of the main related, information about the quality of customer services at Thai Market Restaurant through my survey, finding and observation Based on the information, I will give out some solutions to improving the quality of customer services for consumers at the restaurant I hope my recommendations will help the restaurant to attract more customers and contribute to the growth of the hospitality industry in Da Nang city LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ACT: Accounting AM: Area Manager CEO: Chief Executive Officer CIT: Corporate Incomes Tax DIR: Director HR: Human Resources IC: Internal Control IT: Information Technology MKT: Marketing PW: Production Warehouse QC: Quality Control RM: Restaurant Manager SS: Supervisor TN: Training LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Thai Market Restaurant’s Facilities Table 2: Standards of the Catering Department in Thai Market restaurant Table 3: Thai Market Restaurant Business Performance from 2018 to 2021 Table 4: The percentage of customers who made reservations through various sources in 2020 Table 5: Quality of Serving Customers in 2020 Table 6: Service Attitude of Thai Market restaurant’s service staffs Table 7: Guest’s Evaluation on Food and Drink Table 8: Guests’ Evaluation on Facilities LIST OF FIGURES AND DIAGRAMS Diagram Organizational Structure of Thai Market Company Diagram Organization Structure of Catering Department Diagram The percentage of customers who made reservations through various sources in 2020 TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale 1.2 Aims and Objectives 1.3 Scope of the Study 1.4 Methods of the Study 1.5 Organization of the Study CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 2.1 Hospitality Industry 2.2 Concepts of Restaurant 2.3 Concepts of Restaurant Business 2.3.1 Definition 2.3.2 Classification of Restaurants 2.4 Customer Satisfaction 2.4.1 Definition 2.4.2 The important of customer satisfaction 2.5 Customer Services CHAPTER 3: CASE DESCRIPTION 3.1 Introduction of the Thai Market Company 3.1.1 A General Overview 3.1.2 Organizational Structure of Thai Market Company 3.1.3 The Functions and Duties of Each Department 3.1.3.1 Director 3.1.3.2 Chief Executive Officer (CEO) 3.1.3.3 Area Manager 3.1.3.4 Human Recourses 3.1.3.5 Marketing 3.1.3.6 Accounting 3.1.3.7 Training 3.1.3.8 Production Warehouse 3.1.3.9 Information Technology – Internal Control 3.1.3.10 Quality Control 3.1.3.11 Restaurant Manager 3.1.3.12 Shift Supervisor 3.1.3.13 Employees 3.1.4 Services of Thai Market restaurant 3.2 Catering department of Thai Market restaurant 3.2.1 Thai Market Restaurant structure/catering department 3.2.2 The Functions of Catering Department 3.2.2.1 Manager 3.2.2.2 Supervisor 3.2.2.3 Service staff 10 3.2.3 Facilities of the Thai Market restaurant CHAPTER 4: ANALYSIS AND EVALUATION 4.1 A Current Assessment of Thai Market restaurant 4.1.1 Working hours 4.1.2 Working style 4.1.3 Uniform 4.2 An Evaluation on Thai Market restaurant Business Performance from 2018 to 2021 4.3 Services 4.3.1 Reservations 4.3.2 The Procedure for Serving Food 4.3.3 Attitude of Service 4.3.4 Guests’ Evaluation on Food and Drink 4.3.5 Guests’ Evaluation on Facilities 4.4 Strengths 4.5 Weaknesses CHAPTER 5: DIFFICULTIES AND SOLUTIONS 5.1 Difficulties 5.1.1 Objective Difficulties 5.1.2 Subjective Difficulties 5.2 Some Solutions to Improving the Service Quality at Thai Market restaurant 5.2.1 Wastage of Food & Quality of Food 5.2.2 Poor Customer Experience and Customer Service 5.2.3 Restaurant Marketing Challenges 5.3 Possibilities of the Suggested Solutions CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS 6.1 Conclusion 6.2 Suggestions 6.2.1 Suggestions for Duy Tan University 6.2.2 Suggestions for the Faculty of English 6.2.3 Suggestions for the Thai Market company QUESTIONNAIRE REFERENCES 45 CHAPTER 5: DIFFICULTIES AND SOLUTIONS 5.1 Difficulties In the increasing competitive environment, Thai market restaurant also meet many difficulties and challenges In this part, it shows some difficulties of the restaurant and my difficulties during the writing thesis process 5.1.1 Objective Difficulties The road to becoming a successful restauranteur has its ups and downs While you will celebrate a lot of milestones and successes, you’ll also have to overcome various problems The visitor’s sources are very diverse and the number of tourists has sharply increased every year One of the main factors affecting the restaurant business is the difficulty of coming up with a unique selling point in an oversaturated industry What will you be bringing new that your competitors don’t already have? How will you stand out? How can we improve the profit revenue of our restaurant? As the coronavirus pandemic continues to disrupt businesses, it is critical for restaurants to step up their operations to keep costs down while still providing excellent service Restaurants, regardless of location or type, tend to face the same challenges Sometimes solutions require investment in new technologies In other cases, all you need is a change of habit 5.1.2 Subjective Difficulties Besides, I also encountered some disadvantages in the writing thesis process At first, I had difficulty choosing the topic This is an important step because it plays a key role in the implementation of the thesis After choosing a topic to research, the next difficulty that I encountered was finding documents resources This is a problem that I think almost all of the students like me have encountered I spent a lot of time finding documents from books, textbooks, the internet, libraries, etc During the writing process, with limited time so I can not avoid shortcomings Fortunately, I have completed my graduation thesis 46 5.2 Some Solutions to Improving the Service Quality at Thai Market Restaurant After studying and analyzing the real situation of the Thai Market restaurant, some difficulties and their solutions have been proposed to make the restaurant better 5.2.1 Wastage of Food and Quality of Food Food safety is one of the major ethical issues in catering Food is at the heart of any restaurant and should be handles with the utmost care Restaurant owners can face many challenges in food transport, such as food not being delivered on time, temperature-controlled transport, or contamination This can lead to other issues related to poor food safety, such as making customers or employees ill A lot of food is thrown away in restaurants, including cooking waste (such as broccoli stems), food lost due to spoilage, and dishes not eaten by guests According to the USDA, wasted food costs the restaurant industry about $162 billion a year, and up to half a pound of food is wasted per restaurant meal  The solution for this is to use the good point of sale (POS) system for reducing the waste When employees take orders on a POS terminal or with a mobile tablet, paper ticketing is eliminated  Reports and analytics can help the restaurant owners and managers to make informed decisions on which items needs to be restocked, which ones should be reduced as they are not popular  Another solution to keeping food safe is with the help of food safety auditors who can provide you with the certifications you need to keep your customers safe  Training the staff on proper health and hygiene practices and make sure that they stick to the rules 47  Everyone comes in contact with the food must wash their hands, wear gloves, hairnets, clean clothing and use proper tools 5.2.2 Poor Customer Experience and Customer Service Many restaurant problems and solutions have to with customer service To turn your customers into loyal customers, you need to make them happy and provide the perfect dining experience This can be especially difficult when they are rude or disorganized, such as asking for more alcohol while clearly intoxicated And moreover the social distancing has transformed restaurants which has taken a toll on it Restaurant operators must meet consumer demands to ensure they continue to receive excellent customer service speed are always in during the demand, pandemic Ordering accuracy and restaurant food alternatives and must continue to meet these expectations  Training the staff to be accommodating but firm  If the customer is perfectly pleasant, treat every step of the dining experience with the same care Because it’s not just the food matters  Customers have taken a liking in convenience of online ordering from the comfort of their homes or anywhere So the availability of ordering channels such as our Thai Market online website can influence a customer’s choice of where to dine  Offering delivery services with a small amount of extra delivery charges, which ensures the ability to pay online and enables contactless delivery 5.2.3 Restaurant Marketing Challenges Marketing is probably not in the top three when you think of restaurant problems and solutions But marketing can’t be done without restaurant owners If you don’t have a dedicated marketing budget, you don’t need to have one You can promote your restaurant for free and still get great results 48  Even after getting bad reviews, the solution is to learn from these reviews and use them to improve your restaurant Finding the problems in your restaurant plan and work to improve its status  Always reply to the reviews in a positive manner  The website which we have online should be optimized and responsive to give the customers exactly what they are looking for  Organizing contests, giving discounts, coupons, membership, seasonal special dishes, use everything to promote the restaurant and make it an interesting and fun place to dine in 5.3 Possibilities of the Suggested Solutions Wastage of Food and Quality of Food As the food quality is the most important thing in restaurant, they might not want to let wastage of their food A lot of food is thrown away in the restaurants, some parts which are not used for cooking is thrown away and the food leftovers on plate of the customers leads to the wastage of more food The optimal solution given to the restaurant is to keep track of the food wastage every week or every month by conduction a waste audit in which your primary goal while conducting audit should be to find out and identify the sources of these waste and then only you will be in a position to plan out ways to reduce it Consider operating it the way it benefits your restaurant the most Buying only what you need and the products which is to be used in the restaurant and considering the right quantity of products the restaurant will need Adding to this point, cooking the products which are going to be expire soon would reduce the wastage of the product Furthermore, the staff should always make it a point to politely ask the customers if they want to take leftovers home Instead of wasting the food on the customer’s plate, the option of taking the food home should always be there 49 These solutions can be possible up to a certain point with proper and responsible staff who will share the same ethics of the restaurant Poor Customer Experience and Customer Service The key to get a loyal customer for your restaurant is to give them proper customer service and experience A close second to food issues, customer service problems in restaurants are relatively common The complaints can be that the server was rude, didn’t calculate the check correctly, or was unable to answer basic questions The best way to solve a complaint about the restaurant service is to talk to your staff and make sure they are properly trained to represent your business Most of the complaints can be resolved in a restaurant is through proper training And even if you make them train and the issue still continues of rude or bad behavior of staff, it shows that they are not right for the job Another complaint is the price of menu items For some customers the menu can be seemed overpriced and they might not be willing to pay a more significant sum of money for a nice meal For some customers, the food presentation is also what matters So the solution for this is to give an option of having small platters of the pricey big dishes with the same taste and manner so the customer can be satisfied The other factor is the environment of the restaurant Customers often complain about the poor positioning of the table, a much noisy and crowded area, loud music, being seated next to the kitchen and the complaints related to the environment The solution for this is to design the restaurant specifically considering the restaurant’s layout and don’t overcrowd it with chairs and tables A climate control system can be used to ensure proper ventilation in summer days, also keeping the music down so that customers can talk with each other Setting a proper ambience in a restaurant is also important as it affects the mood Bright lights can be perfect for a restaurant All these solutions can be easily achieved by the restaurant by keeping a track on the internal as well as the external system of the restaurant 50 Restaurant Marketing Challenges Marketing plays an important role in promoting your restaurant and business With proper marketing people get an idea of the restaurant and are willing to come if they like the marketing People tend to like what they see, so having a clean and fancy website which demonstrates the restaurant food and environment would surely lead the customers in the restaurant But having a website means there would be critics rating the website and restaurant It will have both positive and negative reviews about the restaurant But even after the bad reviews, the staff must reply the comments politely and positively A website can help with restaurant recognition and increased profits as long as it provides a good user experience You need to make sure that whoever lands in the website should find what they are looking for and leaves the website with a good impression When you are selling the food online, the website should make sure the menu is properly visible and accessible for the people and it should be simple so that even people with less technology knowledge can order food from it properly Any complaint can be solved by using proper means of communication Firstly, you have to listen carefully what the customer is trying to say You should not cut the customer while they are talking and listen with a concerned and attentive attitude And before trying to make things better, the staff should apologize to that customer by mentioning how regretful they are that they weren’t able to give proper experience to the customer Next thing is to think of a solution to solve the problem they are raising and communicate the solution with them To a further extent, offer them a freebie like a drink or a small dessert on the house, as it can make a great difference in customer’s attitude And finally ensure that the customer leaves feeling satisfied and a good mood These are the minimum optimal solutions a restaurant can offer to a customer 51 CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS This is the last chapter of this thesis It will discuss the conclusions of the research and also the recommendations given The conclusion is based on the results of the research The recommendation is based the on results of the research and the theory applied 6.1 Conclusion This thesis was based on Thai Market restaurant, and it focuses on providing a better knowledge and the most basic elements of the Thai Market restaurant’s services, product quality, employee and staff management As well as we discussed about the strengths and weaknesses regarding the restaurant, and the difficulties coming while running the restaurant and providing relatable solutions for them All the data and information is gathered from actual surveys as well as respected trustworthy web reference sites Furthermore, I obtained the statistics and sales revenue from the Thai Market restaurant, ensuring a high level of trustworthiness Based on my study and assessment of the state of restaurant’s food quality, customer service and restaurant marketing services, I have provided some recommendations to improve the waste food management, maintaining proper quality of food, improvising the customer experience and finally gave some new ideas for their website which can help in marketing of the restaurant Due to lack of time, my research has numerous errors, and also my professional qualifications and experience are limited, but I was able to complete this thesis with the assistance of my leading instructor, Ms Le Hoang Phuong Again I appreciate the lecturers of the Foreign Languages department at Duy Tan University, as well as the management and the entire staff of the Thai Market restaurant for their dedication to helping me finish this thesis 6.2 Suggestions 52 In this section, the paper will show some suggestions for Faculty of English, Duy Tan University and Thai Market company I hope that these suggestions will be useful 6.2.1 Suggestions for Duy Tan University Firstly, Duy Tan University should reduce theory and increase practice in their training curricular Specialized subjects in tourism should be added to the curriculum to help learners better understand the hospitality and tourism industry Secondly, the university should contact with companies, hotels so that students can visit and observe the actual working environment as well as their way of working Thirdly, the internship time was so short that students can gain specialized knowledge Therefore, it should be longer because over a month for the internship was not enough for students to comprehend more about working skills I hope that these suggestions are useful for Duy Tan University 6.2.2 Suggestions for the Faculty of English After finishing my graduation thesis, I have some suggestions for the Faculty of English and I hope that these suggestions are useful for our Faculty The Faculty of English should hold more English-Speaking club for students to exchange knowledge and talk to foreigners Through these activities, students can be more confident and can speak English fluently This would provide opportunities for students to improve their ability of English in specific and their communication skills in general Moreover, department should organize more extra-curricular activities for the students to improving soft skills and hold many conferences on career and training for the students to help them clearly orientate their future life 6.2.3 Suggestions for Thai Market Company Thai Market company is a restaurant reputable with more than 10 years of operation in Da Nang City However, it still exits some weak points; I would like to suggest some ways which may hopefully help the company a little Based on the conclusions, the restaurant should consider the solutions noted in the thesis As the main aim of my thesis is to investigate into the real situation of the quality of customer and product services in Thai Market restaurant, 53 proper solutions are given The restaurant staff should be quicker and should try to avoid delay for the waiting customers Retraining some employees in order to strengthen their professional skills and their working sensibility Participating in more culinary art events and competitions Questionnaire Greetings, Sir/Madame Le Quang Hoang Dung is my name I am currently a senior at Duy Tan University in Da Nang, where I am majoring in English for tourism For six weeks, I worked as a trainee at Thai market restaurant And I’m looking for proper criticism on my graduation paper As a result, I’d appreciate it if you could devote extra time to addressing many of the following questions Your feedback will give me with a wealth of information for my research and, ultimately, to improve the quality of service at the Thai Market restaurant I thus guarantee that your personal information will be kept private and will not be shared with anybody else Thank you for your consideration and support Please give me your national information: Customer’s information Sex: Male ☐ Age: Female ☐ Nationality: Job: Do you often go to Da Nang city? Yes ☐ No ☐ Evaluate the quality of the Customer Services at Thai Market restaurant Very Satisfie Satisfied d Normal Quite Dissatisfied Dissatisfied 54 The Service of the food and beverage at ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ Thai Market restaurant The service staff of Thai Market restaurant have in-depth professional knowledge, experience, and professional service skill The food and beverage service is quality, hygienic, and flavorful The facilities of the food and beverage department The restaurant or bar is clean 55 The quality of the procedure for serving ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ food The attitude of all the staffs at Thai Market restaurant 11 Are you ready to introduce Thai Market restaurant to your friends, relatives, or colleagues, etc.? Definitely yes ☐ Not sure ☐ No ☐ 12 How likely are you to dine with us again? Very likely ☐ Likely ☐ Neutral ☐ Unlikely ☐ Very Unlikely ☐ If you have any comments for us to improve our services quality as well as workforce quality, please write down below: Thank you so much for your helping! REFERENCES 56 English books: [1] Ahn, J.H., Han, S.P., and Lee U.S (2006), “Customer churn analysis: Churn determinants and mediation effects of partial defection in the Korean mobile telecommunications service industry”, Telecommunications Policy, Volume 30, Pages 552-568 [2] Barrows, C W and Powers, T F., 2009, Introduction to the hospitality industry.Hoboken, N.J: John Wiley & Sons [3] Customer Restaurant Choice: An Empirical Analysis of Restaurant Types and Eating-Out Occasions, B Chua, S Karim, S Lee, H Han, 2020 [4] Digital Technology and the Practices of Humanities Research,M Francis, 2020 [5] Gerson, R F M B (1993) Measuring Customer Satisfaction Menlo Park: Course Technology Crisp [6] Gustafsson, A., Johnson, M.D., and Roos, I (2005), “The Effects of Customer Satisfaction, Relationship Commitment Dimensions, and Triggers on Customer Retention”, Journal of Marketing, Vol 69, pg 210–218 [7] Kotler, P & Keller, K (2006) Marketing Management 12th edition, Prentice-Hall [8] Kim, M.K., Park, M.C., and Jeong, D.H (2004) “The effects of customer satisfaction and switching barrier on customer loyalty in Korean mobile telecommunication services”, Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute, School of Business, Information and Communications University, Yusong-gu, Hwaam-dong, Taejon 305-348, South Korea [9] Kuo, Y.F., Wu, C.M and Deng, W.J (2009), Computers in Human Behavior, Volume 25, Issue 4, Pages 887-896 [10] LaBarbera, P A., & Mazursky, D (1983) A Longitudinal Assessment of Consumer Satisfaction/Dissatisfaction: The Dynamic Aspect of the Cognitive 57 Process, Journal of Marketing Research, Vol 20, No (Nov., 1983), pp 393404 [11] Montesano, M J., Lee, P O and Institute of Southeast Asian Studies., 2011, Regional outlook: Southeast Asia, 2011-2012 Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies [12] Melody, W H (1997) Policy objectives and models of regulation In W H Melody (Ed.), Telecom reform: Principles, policies and regulatory practices (1st ed., pp 13–27) Lyngby, Denmark: Technical University of Denmark [13] Rai, A (2008) Customer Relationship Management: Concepts and Cases PHI Learning [14] Soderlund, M., and Rosengren, S (2008), “Revisiting the smiling service Worker and customer satisfaction”, International Journal of Service Industry Management, Vol 19, No 5, pp 552-574 [15] Perceptions of the first time restaurant customer,N Johns, J Kivela, 2008 [16] Tse, D & Wilton, P (1988) Models of Consumer Satisfaction: An Extension Journal of Marketing Research Websites: [17]http://vikramuniv.ac.in/files/wpcontent/uploads/TYPES_OF_RESTAURAN T_MA_4th_SEM_by_DR_ANJANA_SINGH.pdf [18]https://www.academia.edu/11841806/Chuong_1_kl [19]https://www.researchgate.net/publication/247612382_Improving_the_meas urement_of_customer_satisfaction_A_test_of_three_methods_to_reduce_hal o 58 COMMENTS OF THE SUPERVISOR ... Bìa DUY TAN UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF ENGLISH GRADUATION PAPER AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE REAL SITUATION AND SOME SOLUTIONS TO IMPROVING THE QUALITY OF CUSTOMER SERVICES AT THAI MARKET RESTAURANT Major:... system has restaurants, so there will be restaurant managers and their functions are to recruit and train staff, manage the entire restaurant and handle situations that occur at the restaurant 3.1.3.12... the Service Quality at Thai Market Restaurant After studying and analyzing the real situation of the Thai Market restaurant, some difficulties and their solutions have been proposed to make the