5 Tips To Improve Atlanta Customer Experience For Restaurants

Atlanta has many great features. It has diversity, entertainment, a growing film industry, and way to much traffic.

That last part might not be enjoyable, but at least I know what to expect when I walk around Atlanta or even decided to pull my car out of the drive way – hours of traffic and someone occasionally telling me I am number one. That is so sweet.

While that is annoying, at least I know what to expect which gives me time to plan, and options.

Although something I do not always know what to expect is when dining at a new restaurant how their customer service is. I do however know how it will be at Atlanta restaurants that I have already visited. I take careful note of what locations treat their customers and employees well, and which ones do not.

More so, I take note of which local business owners will walk around and speak with guests and which will not.

These are those small details that truly separate the thriving businesses from the average ones.

Atlanta Customer Experience

Those details could all be summed up by the Atlanta customer experience.

How do you treat customers when they enter your establishment? Do you greet them with a smile and quickly take care of them, or are they left unattended to wonder around confused.

Do you take the time to get to know their names and greet them by such? Or do you just want their money and business?

These are some of the important questions you need to be asking yourself as an owner, because trust me it matters. People take mental notes of this and will accordingly assign the experience they had at your restaurant with a subconscious rating.

Give them a positive and memorable experience, and chances are they will subconsciously compare dining at your establishment with happiness and a good time. Which is a great combination to incentivize them to come back time and time again.

Here are 5 customer experience tools and tips you can use to improve your restaurant and make it stand out above the rest.

Plating Food

This might seem like an obvious thing to consider, but so many restaurants overlook this simple detail.

Plating your food in a pleasing or unique way will actually make a difference for your businesses exposure and customer experience. Think about it with me. We live in the virtual and digital age, a new millennium. When people go out to eat and they order something amazing, they want it to look amazing right?

Not only that, but they will more than likely want to whip out their phone, take a photo of your food, and share it to thousands of people if it looks good. This clearly seems like a no brainer after you think about that – free adverting.

Plating your food in pleasing and unique ways could actually be the best advertising for your business you ever do. Honestly, try it.

Take a few days with your chefs, go over all of your menu items, and find the most unique and stylish ways you can plate those dishes. Look things up online, use Instagram food pics, use whatever you need to in order to come up with some amazing displays for your food. Then comes the hard part – execute those new plating styles.

Make sure every plate that leaves your window looks amazing. I mean photo worthy. Under no circumstances should you sacrifice the appearance of your food. Trust me, people will wait if it is worth it.

Offering Reservations

Another common thing that restaurants lack is the ability to make reservations.

It seems almost out of style these days for a lot of places, but this is truly a wonderful experience if done right.

I have been places where they will not even take reservations, you wait an addition 30 minutes after you call ahead, and you are hungry and unhappy by that points. On the other hand, I have been to local restaurants that not only offer reservations, but provide your table with waters, and a starter like fresh bread the second you sit down. It is already there waiting for you.

The difference is absolutely huge. Although, If you really are so busy that you have to make people wait, then you need to offer a texting solution.

No one wants to walk around with a big bulky beeper that is going to vibrate and flash like a bomb suddenly after holding it for 30 minutes. Really, find a simple and easy texting solution where people can simply put in their phone number, walk around and enjoy their night, and be notified through a simple text that their table is ready!

The other businesses around you will also thank you when your waiting customers walk into their stores patiently waiting on their table to be open.

Online Ordering

Another technological advancement is the ease of online ordering through an app or website.

If you have ever gone onto a clean and well working app to order your dinner for pick up or delivery, you know the satisfaction of doing so. It is like having your own personal servant on your phone give you exactly what you want at the click of a few buttons. Without human interaction or miscommunication, it simplifies the entire process.

Not to mention, that people working in restaurants absolutely hate picking up the phone. You have to struggle to understand the person half the time, if you miss something you have to ask again politely, and generally people are not very nice on the phone when taking their order.

They expect you just to immediately understand what they want. And lord forbid if you get something wrong because they were not clear or forgot something. It truly is a mess to deal with, and more often than not something goes wrong.

I suggest finding a cheap solution to offer online ordering or app ordering. Our Appymeal app works pretty well we like to think, and there are no start up costs! You might want to give it a try!

Owner And Manager Interaction

This is a tip that every restaurant should know already and follow – customer interaction.

A good rule of thumb for owner and manager interaction with the guests is probably once per hour. That means, every hour the manager or owner should be walking around the dining room floor greeting and saying hi to guests.

It is not just good manners, it really shows you care about every single person supporting your business. Trust me, if you do this consistently, people will not only start to notice, they will go out of their way to continually support not only your business, but you as well!

If you show people you care, give them the respect they deserve for supporting your business, and do it consistently, your business will thrive like never before.

This also does not have to be forced or a task to check off a list. It is not that hard to take a quick break from working or being in the kitchen, walk out, grab a drink, say hey to some parents, kids, grandmas, grandpas, and refresh yourself with smiling faces. Yes, sometimes you will get the occasional complainer, but that just give your the opportunity to fix the problem before it really becomes a problem.

Otherwise, that person could not get taken care of. Then they might go home and post negative things about your business online and potentially cost you new customers. So, being proactive is always the better solution.

Clean Environment

Have you every sat down at a place to eat, and immediately got the feeling that things were not clean?

It actually makes you not even want to eat. It makes you want to get up and just leave.

Make sure you clean your restaurant at a minimum once per week. That means tables, seats, walls, ceiling fans, counter tops, floors, bathrooms, host stands, pictures, and any areas that are at least visible need to appear clean and upkept.

Now, some people might not mind your establishment being slightly dirty, but what does that really do to them? That person will already be associating your business with a dirty, uncomfortable place to be. If they do that then what are the chances that they feel inclined to return or ever bring someone else there to eat? Pretty low in my opinion.

Therefore, you want to always keep your business clean and comfortable.

Atlanta Restaurant Tips

Thanks for reading our 5 Tips To Improve Atlanta Customer Experience! We hope these tips help you take your business to the next level where it deserves to be. Never let someone come dine at your business and have a bad experience. Show you care, and people will support you and make you a huge success.

If you need anymore tips on how to grow your Atlanta restaurant, then make sure to check out our online marketing tips post!