Are Restaurants Loss of Year over Year Customers Counts Caused by Negative Experiences?

 

If a restaurants front door is ‘glass’ and has finger prints all over the glass my 91-year-old mother (still driving) will not enter. She says if the restaurant is that dirty outside how clean could the kitchen be? Could you be driving away your own customers?

Steven Johnson our own Grocerant Guru® has a list a bit longer, suffice to say, he will go back but as he tells his staff “You may want to review the service, cleanliness, and food… but think twice before you eat the food.”

Doug Sutton, president at Steritech, the data company that conducted the study recently of the impact of negative customer experiences within the food sector.  The team at Foodservice Solutions® thinks you should take a minute and review some of their finding.  Here we go: 

“Customers’ expectations of things they value at the stores they visit often, as well as how they react when expectations are not met, can have a profound effect on retailers’ bottom line, according to Steritech’s new survey of 3,000 Americans. Although consumers are more likely to respond to a positive experience, lackluster in-store experiences and negative online reviews could potentially cost businesses upwards of more than $200 billion every year, the survey found.

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“This study highlights the value of a positive interaction in a store which could lead to a happy customer and a supportive online review or social post that benefits the business, but the opposite can cause damage too, so the importance of getting it right every time is crucial,” said Doug Sutton, president at Steritech, in a statement.

Twenty-nine percent of consumers are more likely to post an online review about a positive experience, while 23% of consumers will post a negative experience, according to the study, and one in four consumers will visit a brand less frequently after one bad experience, versus 59% who will visit a location more frequently after a positive experience. If consumers have a positive experience, 19% said they will post it on social media; while 15% said they will post a negative experience on social media.

This data further shows that the shopping experience and review of it by consumers is significant for businesses because more than half (52%) of those surveyed believe online reviews give an accurate representation of an establishment, and 41% actually check online reviews or ratings before even visiting a location.

“Consumer experiences over the past few years have shifted as a result of world events, and with that comes the expectation of a seamless and consistent customer experience supported by strong brand values,” said Sutton.

Of the Americans surveyed, food quality was ranked the highest among them on the most-valued grocery store feature list at 60%, followed by value at 57%, product availability at 56%, customer service/staff disposition at 40% and store appearance at 35%.

Ranked lower were: food taste at 25%, physical safety at 25%, store design/organization at 22%, bathroom cleanliness at 13%, and app/mobile ordering at 10%.

Consumers were also surveyed regarding consistency. It was noted that 74% of consumers feel that an establishment’s employees are a reflection of that brand’s values, and 74% said that they expect a brand to provide the same experience from one store to the next. Regarding third-party delivery services, more than half (55%) blame orders gone wrong on the establishment they ordered from, while 28% fault the delivery service.

Success does leave clues. One clue that time and time again continues to resurface is “the consumer is dynamic not static”. Don’t drive away you won customer.  Regular readers of this blog know that is the common refrain of Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.  Our Grocerant Guru® can help your company edify your brand with relevance.  Call 253-759-7869 for more information. 

In 2023 The HDTV Syndrome Will Continue to influence Restaurant Sector Customer Traffic

 

Once again in 2022, the restaurant sector continued to bleed customers.  Just in-case you don’t understand the consequence of capitulating year over year same store customer counts for 9 years, well; it’s not a good thing according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® who stated, “it has not been a one-off pandemic event.  It has been an ongoing problem for the restaurant sector.”

The simple fact is consumers food consumption patterns have evolved and many restaurants menu’s look more like yesterday.  Does your restaurant look more like of the 1990’s, 2005 or 2018?  That my friends that is a long way from what a fresh food restaurant will look like five years from now according to Johnson.  Something has to change.

There can be no doubt that in 2022, the restaurant industry leadership was once again comprised of the ‘unwilling to evolve’ as they continue to follow the old CEO adage / first rule of a new CEO ‘do no harm’. What they did is defer, deflect, and delay following the consumer.  That simply has not worked and will not work moving forward. There is a clear and present danger for many legacy restaurant brands.  That danger is an increasing lack of customer relevance according to Johnson.

Is Building a Larger Share of Stomach Important

Are you Customer Counts on the UP

Back in the day the team at Foodservice Solutions® was first to identify, quantify, and qualify The 65 Inch HDTV Syndrome, and few chain restaurants were willing to evolve.  Most simply hunkered down and practiced brand protectionism.   However, those in the foodservice that did evolve are garnering incremental customers today.

However the restaurant industry has been to slow moving forward, simply look at the latest numbers. In November same store sale were -3.4% year-over-year. When comparing November against the growth rate reported for both September and October, sales took a 1.8 percentage point drop. This November’s sales growth is the lowest posted by the industry since July’s +0.3% according to BlackBox Intelligence.

What matters even more is the fact that customer traffic was down too.  So same-store traffic growth was -4.3% in November, down by 1.1 percentage points relative to the previous month and the worst outcome for the industry since July according to BlackBox Intelligence.

If success leaves clues and it does, restaurant brands that embrace change, evolve with consumers, will do well moving forward.  If not, many will continue to capitulate customer traffic, lose sales, and close stores.  Are you driving top line sales, bottom line profits, and building customer counts?

Foodservice Solutions® specializes in outsourced business development. We can help you identify, quantify and qualify additional food retail segment opportunities or a new menu product segment and brand and menu integration strategy.  Foodservice Solutions® of Tacoma WA is the global leader in the Grocerant niche visit Facebook.com/Steven Johnson, www.Linkedin.com/in/grocerant/ or www.twitter.com/grocerant/

Grocerant Niche Fresh Food Disruption Expanding

Restaurant chain year over year customer counts continue to decline according to all reports including traditional restaurant trade magazines which do not to report bad news about the industry they cover and seek advertising for.

Battle for Share of Stomach

Bob Goldin, a Pentallect stated, “nontraditional channels represent a ‘sweet spot’ in the food and beverage industry. Their growth is based upon strong consumer appeal and generally favorable business models.” Pentallect President Rob Veidenheimer observed that “each of the channels has unique consumer appeal and continues to evolve at a very rapid rate. We have studied these channels closely over the past several years and see them as significant share gainers for the foreseeable future.”

Pentallect, conducted comprehensive research and analysis into 10 nontraditional channels – club stores, community-supported agriculture (CSA), ethnic/neighborhood stores such as bodegas, farmers’ markets, food trucks, limited-assortment stores, meal kits/home-delivered meals, online, specialty stores such as bakeries and butchers, and Trader Joe’s, gleaning insights from more than 1,000 consumers and trade sources.

While others talk about Grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food, Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant ScoreCards were the first to identify, quantify, and qualify the niche, the success and the unique was in which your brand can successfully ‘Look A Customer Ahead’.  Success does leave clues stop capitulating year over year customer counts. 

Invite Foodservice Solutions® to complete a Grocerant Program Assessment, Grocerant ScoreCard, or for product positioning or placement assistance, or call our Grocerant Guru®.  Since 1991 www.FoodserviceSolutions.us  of Tacoma, WA has been the global leader in the Grocerant niche. Contact: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us or 253-759-7869