Monday 1 August 2016

Week beginning August 1st - Should all customers be treated the same, or should all different customers be treated differently?

We are very lucky in that the majority of our customers are regulars, or become regulars, but we also attract other customers, the occasional tourist who is looking for coffee, or the occasional lost tourist, or Antipodeans looking for coffee on their travels, or parents with buggies and little children etc etc. It is easy for a service person to simply to treat all customers the same, and of course it is fair and reasonable to do so, but this cannot and should not be the case.

Recognising the different types of customers and dealing with each one is such an important part of the service provided in any quality hospitality establishment. In our situation, this will most often be the person on service at the front end of the shop, the first person the customer sees in the door. It would be by using their amazing talent of peripheral vision that this person on service would recognise that a customer is approaching the shop, or walking in the door and they would do this often whilst serving other customers already in the queue. In their mind, they would already be breaking down the new customer into a certain category and preparing themselves to be able to assist them,  probably also acknowledging their entrance with a nod of the head, or a quick smile.

Once ready, they will break into the appropriate actions, words, gestures and processes that the specific category of customer requires. This is one of the true signals of a great service person or manager, it is why service people are just as valued as any other staff member in the business, it is why they are as important to your business as the chef, the kitchen hand and the barista. I often feel that a lot of talk within the specialty coffee industry just focusses on baristas. 'What is the career path for a barista' ' How do you look after your barista' What training do you offer your barista'. I get a bit fed up with this. Does any one else work in your cafe?

In Kaffeine, each person is as important as each other, so when these questions are asked, I feel they should be asked to include all the categories of employees that work in specialty cafes. 'What is the career path for a employees' ' How do you look after your employees' What training do you offer your employees'.

In some cases, a barista can go and hide behind the machine if they wish and just pull shots. A service person cannot hide. A service person is in the front line. They need to be talented, fast, clean, efficient, adaptable, empathetic, patient, understanding, helpful, sympathetic, fast, friendly, service focussed, clean, tidy, organised and hospitable. Simply being empathetic is a hard enough. Worst case is that eventually, a person's empathy can run out and it is very hard to replenish.

So treating each customer according to their demographic is another vital component of a great service person or manager, as this will greatly enhance the overall experience of the customer, which is basically what all customers are looking for, a pleasant and enjoyable experience.

We recently did a staff training session to try to focus on this and highlight it.

We broke into four groups of four. Each group was given a category of either regular customers, a family with child in buggy, tourists with limited english skills and first time customers. No-one knew what the other groups had, it was their 'secret'. They had to then talk amongst themselves about how they would deal with their secret, what might be important to think about. When ready, the leader of the group stood behind the counter and the rest of the group role played their secret category in front of everyone else. Then, the other groups had to guess what they were role playing. It was hilarious, great fun, but it also has a point where we really highlighted the differences. I know I certainly treat any customer with a buggy differently these days than I did before children of my own. Empathy big time.

Every customer that takes the time and effort to walk in the door is quiet simply there to have an overall pleasant experience, but as all people are different, they need to be treated differently too. The employees that can recognise this and act appropriately to the customers demographic are extremely valuable employees indeed.

Please enjoy the menu for this week, as we will certainly enjoy bringing it to you.

Peter Dore-Smith
Director
Kaffeine

Great Titchfield Street Menu

Breakfast
Seven Seeded toast with butter and preserves 2.00
Cinnamon and Raisin Toast 2.50
Fruit salad with pineapple, mango, strawberries, grapes, passion fruit 3.90
Traditional bircher muesli with Greek yoghurt and rhubarb and raspberry compote 4.00
Granola muesli with pomegranate molasses, Greek yoghurt and rhubarb and raspberry compote 4.00
Brioche with omelette, pancetta, rocket and tomato salsa 5.00
Brioche with avocado, omelette, rocket and tomato salsa 5.00
Croissant with Italian roast ham, talleggio cheese, spinach and plum tomatoes 5.00
Breakfast Ciabatta - Cotechino sausage, fried egg and gruyere cheese 6.00 (weekends only)

Pastries by Seven Seed bakery
French butter croissant 2.00
Pain au chocolat 2.50
Almond croissant 2.80

Baked Treats
ANZAC cookies 2.00
Portuguese tarts 2.00
Banana bread 2.50
Double chocolate chip and macadamia cookies 2.50
Blueberry with white chocolate muffins 2.50
Butternut squash, rosemary with feta savoury scrolls 2.50
Cherries with milk chocolate friands (gf) 2.70
Super moist chocolate brownies (gf) 2.80
White chocolate blondies 2.80
Raspberry and coconut slice (gf, df) 2.80
Polenta cake with citrus and spices 2.80
Carrot Cake 3.00

Lunch
Own made brioche 5.00
Grilled honey ham, roasted apple, red onion, sweet chilli, brie cheese, rocket 
Buffalo mozzarella, crumbed courgette, plum tomato, lime mayo, baby spinach 

French retro baguettes 5.30
Smokes chorizo, basil pesto, roasted red pepper, gherkins,  gruyere, rocket 
Smoked salmon, wasabi pesto, cucumber, avocado, watercress

Salads: 5.50/7.00
Chicken pad thai salad with cucumber, carrot, bean sprout, cabbage, mixed herb, cashew nut, lime and chilli dressing
Grilled yellow courgette, pea croquette, roasted red onion,  feta, mint and caper dressing, pine nut, rocket  
Green beans, broccoli, sesame seeds, coriander, tahini sauce

Tart: 4.40 or 8.00 with salads
Spinach, new potato, chilli, egg

Eastcastle Street Menu

Breakfast
Sourdough seeded toast with butter and preserves 2.00
Fruit Toast 2.50
Fruit salad with pineapple, mango, strawberries, grapes and passion fruit 3.90
Traditional bircher muesli with Greek yoghurt and rhubarb and raspberry compote 4.00
Paleo granola with Greek yoghurt and rhubarb and raspberry compote 4.00
Brioche with corn fritter, baked egg, chives cream cheese, onion marmalade 5.00
Brioche with treacle smoked back bacon, roasted tomatoes, smashed avocado, rocket and aioli 5.00
Croissant with Italian roast ham, talleggio cheese, spinach and plum tomatoes 5.00
Croissant with smoked salmon, scrambled eggs, tomato and rocket 5.00

Pastries by Seven Seed bakery
French butter croissant  2.00
Pain au chocolat 2.50
Almond croissant 2.80

Baked Treats
ANZACS  2.00
Portuguese tarts 2.00
Lemon curd tarts  2.00
White chocolate, oats and cranberry cookies  2.50
Banana bread 2.50
Passion fruit and cream cheese muffins 2.50
Courgette and feta savoury scrolls 2.50
Strawberry and coconut friands 2.80
Raspberry and coconut slice (gf, df) 2.80
Super moist chocolate brownies (gf) 2.80
Protein bar (gf, df) 2.80
Salted peanut butter and white chocolate bar 2.80

Own made brioche buns 5.00
Meat patties with baked apple, fresh tomato salsa and rocket
Roasted aubergine and tomato with basil pesto, goat's cheese and watercress 

Baguettes 5.30
Italian ham, pear, aioli, Leicester cheese and rocket
Smoked mozzarella, spinach, plum tomato, cucumber and spicy peas pesto 

Salads 5.50 / 7.00
Stir fried pork minced meat salad with pickled cabbage, tomato, mix pepper, cucumber and lime vinaigrette.
Shred raw beetroot and carrot with feta, pomegranate, toasted walnut and molasses dressing
Steam baby potato and carrot with boiled eggs, garden peas, fresh herbs and peri peri aioli

Savoury Tart 4.40 or 8.00 with salad
Cheesy butternut, courgette and leek quiche


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