How is your food service business keeping in touch with the needs and desires of your customers? Whether a restaurant, shop or a provider to businesses, it is important to stay on top of what consumers are looking for. The food service industry is highly competitive and very much driven by reputation. People should be talking about your business, but they should only be saying good things.
Reputation Management via Market Research
Reputation management is best done from a preventative standpoint. You want to make sure that you are serving your customers and that you are creating products and services that your customers want. You want to make sure that service is up to par and that standards are being observed at all times.
One way to ensure this is through market research. If you are considering the launch of a new product, it is helpful to enlist the help of consumers to find out if your product will be well-received by the public. Taste tests are a great way to determine if your new food item is going to be a hit or a miss. While there is no way to completely remove risk when introducing something new to your product line, doing the right research can certainly help minimize that risk.
Meet Consumer Needs via Market Research
It is also important to make sure that current products and service are top-notch and meeting the needs of consumers. One way to do this is through mystery shopping and surveys.
Surveys can help you determine the next course of action if you are considering developing a new product, or making other changes. Mystery shoppers help ensure consistent quality and a superior customer experience.
These types of market research can help keep your food service business competitive and successful. The same things apply whether you are a large chain or a small, one location operation. It is always important to maintain that contact with your customers and to get targeted feedback. Yes, you can rely on reviews and feedback from customers, but often you will hear more about what your customers don’t want.
Above all, it’s most important to discern what your customers do want, and quality market research with Creative Consumer Research can give you that information and more!