Dining at Cape Lighthouse - A Disappointing Experience for Mr and Mrs Jones

Overview of Mr and Mrs Jones' Expectations

Mr and Mrs Jones were looking forward to celebrating their 5th wedding anniversary in style and had great plans for their special evening. Mr Jones decided to book a table for two for dinner at the recently refurbished “Cape Lighthouse”, a restaurant with commanding views over the Coral Sea. To ensure a nice table with views for this occasion, Mr Jones had contacted the restaurant 2 months prior to make a reservation with a male staff member who appeared to be very professional. The booking was then confirmed by telephone with Alex, a waitress, 1 week prior to the booked date.

On their anniversary Mr and Mrs Jones arrived at the restaurant; however, they found there was no booking in their name. Staff were unable to locate any booking information. Mr Jones was asked whom he had spoken to, to make the reservation and provided the details of staff; however, this was somehow shrugged off and they were asked to wait at the entry to “see whether a table could be arranged”.

As it was a Friday night the restaurant was very busy. Mr and Mrs Jones had to wait 15 minutes before they finally were led to a small table the back of the restaurant near the kitchen doors. 

After a further 15 minutes they were attended to by a drink waiter who took their order for an aperitif. The Joneses placed their food and wine order and their entrees arrived after 30 minutes.  The white wine to go with the entrees did not arrive and the drinks waiter seemed to ignore their eye contact.

The main course for Mr Jones arrived within 5 minutes after the entrees had been cleared, however Mrs Jones’ meal did not arrive for another 20 minutes.

Mrs Jones was very upset with the service and was almost on the verge of leaving.

When Mr and Mrs Jones went to pay the cheque on their way out, Mrs Jones was expecting an apology from the restaurant staff with regards to their booking and the delay in the service, unfortunately no one was around even to talk about it

Mr and Mrs Jones decided that this was the last visit ever at this establishment. They definitely would tell their family and friends about their dining experience at “Cape Lighthouse”.

Your task: Address each of the following questions relating to the case study.

Identify Mr and Mrs Jones’ customer needs and expectations in this case study. What would a customer expect not only on an important occasion like the mentioned anniversary but on each occasion when visiting an establishment?

1.      Mr and Mrs Jones customer needs and expectations was to enjoy a memorable dinner on their anniversary by spending quality time  over fine dining at Cape Lighthouse”, restaurant which had commanding views over the Coral Sea but when they arrived at the restaurant; they found there was no booking and expected that staff would take charge of the reservation and provide them details instead of shrugging off from responsibility. They even expected them to arrange alternative table instead of keeping them waiting. Lastly they expected an apology from the restaurant staff with regards to their booking and the delay in the service, unfortunately no one was around even to talk about it. On any occasion customers expect a good service that can maximize service encounters experience  to make even the bad things that happen to customers go away really quickly.

2.      If customer service issues are not addressed on time the likely incidents that can negatively impact on business and down the customer interests on availing the service of restaurant would be lack of customer inclination and buying intention to visit restaurant due to their poor customer services and lack of staff accountability in event of unfavourable incidents. This would result to drop of sales and revenues for business due to low customer demand and in long run if issues are not addressed immediately it can create negative publicity and harm the restaurants brand image ultimately resulting into negative sentiments among customers which would even draw poor return to stakeholders and in adverse case closure of business.