Subscribe
A Self-Serving Customer?
Author: Kathleen Gilmartin
June 2, 2006
Recently, Jack Borland wrote about The new McStarbucks experience?. Fast food restaurants are looking to improve their decor to match that of Starbucks or Panera and improve the customer experience. I agree this would be a step in the right direction for the fast-food world, but what about other changes?
In the article, Ready to be self-served?, John Schmeltzer discusses how gas stations, airlines, and grocery stores all have self-service options. He asks whether customers are ready for self-serve kiosks in the fast-food industry. Would customers prefer to serve themselves? Devin Green, chief executive of ESP Systems LLC, which is deploying a system for alerting a restaurant’s staff that a patron needs service, does not agree. He thinks "The country is not quite ready for self-serve. This [the restaurant industry] is a people business. People go to a restaurant to be served." But do we? Particularly at a fast-food restaurant. Would service be better if we directed it or do we prefer someone else to do the serving?
No Comments »
No comments yet.
RSS feed for comments on this post.
