BD's chain solicits guest feedback with electronic comment cards

Nation's Restaurant News, May 8, 2006 by Julie Ritzer Ross

Wright added that although it was difficult to measure the direct impact of the electronic surveys, the real-time access to detailed server and restaurant performance information provided by the system is paving the way for enhanced service. "Servers, grill staff and managers know they are accountable for their performance, and they act on that," he said. "Just as significantly, we can praise employees as well as coach them on a more individual level to address certain issues. For example, if we see from a report that a server isn't consistently offering dessert before dropping the check or that grill staff aren't interacting with customers, we can ask why and try to change these behaviors."

Sources at BD's said the chain was benefiting from a programmable "alert" feature in The Informant system. That capability means that managers are notified immediately whenever a guest indicates in the electronic survey that he or she does not plan to patronize the operation again or has never dined there before. Notification is made through a wireless radio paging system.

"The alert affords managers a chance to go to first-timers' tables to establish real rapport with them and give them an extra nudge to come back," Wright said. "And when there's a problem, we can address it right there, hopefully salvaging the customer and the relationship."

Some users of other ECC systems have used the devices to query employees about their perceptions of the workplace and their managers.

BD's officials aren't concerned about servers skewing survey results by lauding themselves in bogus surveys, asking friends and family to do so or neglecting to place devices at diners' tables.

"The reports indicate, by server number, which servers are bringing back an unusually high number of declined survey requests," Wright said, which may be a sign they're trying to cover up less-than-acceptable performance. "Again, we can address that with the people concerned," he said. "And as for friends and family, the number of 'real' customers filling out the surveys more than makes up for [false] data."

Julie Ritzer Ross is a Glen Ridge, N.J.-based freelance business and technology writer.