In this week’s Diary we report on a worrying decline in customer satisfaction, La Tasca taking further digital steps, Neil Morrissey prepares another pub venture and fashion tips with the BII
Can’t get no satisfaction
Customer satisfaction has dropped to its lowest level since 2010, as UK companies struggle to keep up with a new customer environment, according to new research by the Institute of Customer Service. The research, which is based upon the feedback from nearly 40,000 customer experiences across 13 different sectors of the UK economy, found that overall satisfaction is now lower than at any point since January 2010, with only the utilities and banking sectors improving during 2014. Top of the index are retailers John Lewis and Amazon, while Greggs is the leading sector representative in fourteenth place, followed by M&B’s Toby Carvery (31) and PizzaExpress (48), however all three saw their satisfaction scores decline during 2014. Customer s feel that ‘speed and responsiveness’, ‘complaints handling’ and ‘staff behaviour’ have deteriorated most in the last two years and only two of the 28 metrics measured in the research showed improvements since January 2013 - ‘outcome of the complaint’ and ‘on-time delivery’. Age, socioeconomic group and region are also having an increasing impact on customer satisfaction. Younger people are on average less satisfied than their older counterparts and are more likely to recommend and use social media when they have a complaint. Customers from Wales are the most satisfied, followed by the North of England and Scotland, while people in the South East of England are least satisfied.
Nudge, nudge, tapas, tapas
La Tasca, the Spanish tapas bar and restaurant chain, is taking further steps into the digital arena following the release of its loyalty mobile app, launched alongside a new fully mobile optimised website and new booking system Nudge. The app is set to replace the use of the company’s loyalty cards, which entitle the cardholder to various discounts and offers. The first phase of the app will give guests instant access to exclusive offers available across the UK. La Tasca will be launching an update for the application over the coming months, which will allow guests to easily make pre payments on bookings through the Nudge system, which effectively manages reservations, loyalty rewards and secure transactions. James Picton, operations director at La Tasca, said: “As ever, we’ve kept abreast of customer demand, and listened to the market, meaning we’re now in a position to offer our guests everything they need at their fingertips as well as the authentic Spanish experience they’ve come to expect!”
Cut the falafel
The Just Falafel brand is no more, after the company behind the international fast-casual chain, announced it would be now known as JF Street Food. “Having recently taken Just Falafel back to basics with a completely revamped menu, we wanted our staff and restaurants to get a fresh look to go with it,” Mohamad Bitar, founding partner and managing director, said in a statement. However, the future of its three UK sites in Baker Street, Covent Garden and Hammersmith remains in doubt. The group said there had been a change in its UK business but didn’t go into details what they were. Some slight digging finds that the UK sites are no longer flagged up on the group’s website suggesting they have been taken on by a separate company or that they may face an uncertain long-term future.
Plumes Behaving Badly
It’s been 15 years since Neil Morrissey last graced the small screen as beer-swilling Tony on Men Behaving Badly but now he’s better known in the industry as a beer aficionado. Not put off by a couple of high-profile business failures in the hospitality sector, he is set to open The Plume of Feathers in Stoke-on-Trent with James Waddington of Inglebrook Taverns and Richard Slingsby under the banner MSW Pub Company. Slinsby, who’s on board to provide business advice, while Waddington oversees operations, told Diary: “This will be the pilot for more so it’s a starting point.” Remaining cautious to not over promise he said the group will proceed “on a slow basis”, wanting to find the right locations to meet their requirements. “Neil is pretty well-known in the industry for his brewing so aligning ourselves with James who is a recognised operator is a dream combination.” The Punch pub in the village of Barlaston is undergoing £400K of refurbishment ahead of its re-opening on 6 March.
The Clothes Show
The British Institute of Innkeeping (BII) is ditching its traditional annual lunch at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel in favour of a new ‘Summer Event’ on 2 June in the grounds of the Honourable Artillery Company in the City. Diary is sure that many will welcome the move toward a more informal gathering and away from the mobile phone deadzone and darkness of the Grosvenor’s Great Room. However, the BII has felt the need to qualify the dress code for its new event. In true Alan Partridge style, those attending will be expected to be dressed smart casual (blazers and flannels). Diary wonders whether that code applies to the fairer sex as well? Could make for an entertaining day!
A family affair
Tabl.com the pop-up kitchen and supper club organisers are working with 1997 Masterchef finalist and restaurant critic Andy Lynes on a series of pop-ups in Brighton. The first Generations event will be hosted at The Marwood in The Laines, which has just opened its second coffee shop on Brighton’s London Road called Presuming Ed – both sites named after characters from Withnail & I. Lynes is cooking with his son George serving up dishes such as ham hock, broad bean and Sussex curd served with scorched beer-pickled onions, warm bacon and mustard emulsion and parsley oil. The first event in the series will take place on 6 February and both Lynes and The Marwood are keen to get involved in more pop-up events.
This Bird has flown
Any operators looking to improve their marketing functions, maybe interested to hear that Jemima Bird, former marketing director at Tragus, is to step down from Moss Bros as its commercial and operations director to return to her consultancy JBird Consulting. Bird, who stepped down from the then Bella Italia, Strada and Café Rouge operator at the end of 2012, joined the menswear retailer in February 2013 as a strategic brand and marketing consultant and moved onto the executive board as commercial and operations director in July that year, with responsibility of the strategy across its 135 store estate.
Doughnut deal
Krispy Kreme has secured a contract with Center Parcs to provide self-service cabinets in all five of its UK sites. The cabinets will display more than 12 varieties of doughnuts and be made fresh daily and delivered from the retailer’s local Hotlight stores. Simon Browning, strategic partnerships manager at Krispy Kreme UK, said: “We have a highly successful history of working together with brand partners to share the joy of Krispy Kreme and this has enabled us to reach more people, in new areas, across the UK. We are, therefore, very excited to launch into the leisure sector with this new partnership. We feel strongly that Center Parcs is a great fit with the Krispy Kreme brand, not only in terms of its quality offering and ethos of creating special family moments, but also because it shares many of our key customer bases.”
It’s a whole lotta fun… with prizes to be won
Columbo Group venues might seem too trendy for something as traditional as a pub quiz but Diary understands that its choice of hosts for its weekly brain teasers has proved a hit with the skinny jeans brigade. The quiz at the Cat & Mutton on London Fields is hosted each week by a famous name who, to put it kindly, may not be at the very top of the celebrity tree anymore. Hit hosts so far have included adult film star Ron Jeremy, with Shaun Wiliamson, aka Barry from EastEnders understood to be in negotiations. But the one Columbo Group is rightly proud of is the legendry lusciously locked DJ Pat Sharp. So down to earth was this TV icon, he even refused the offer of transport to the venue and had just one request for his ‘rider’. “He said he would like three J20s ready for him when he arrived”, a Columbo Group source told Diary. Hardly Diva material.
Breakfast buster
A Portishead-based café has launched a 8,000-calorie breakfast challenge that requires customers to sign a waiver before eating. The 59-item ‘Monster Mega Breakfast’, which has to be consumed within an hour to win the challenge includes: six rashers of bacon, six sausages, six eggs, two omelettes, four portions of fried potatoes, four portions of mushrooms, six black pudding, six hash browns, one bowl of chips, four onion rings, four toast, two fried bread, two bread and butter, half a grilled tomato, two portions of beans, two portions of tomatoes. The breakfast is then washed down with a choice of a pint of milkshake or a can of Monster. The challenge costs £15 and no-one has managed to finish the full breakfast yet. Rules include no sharing, must be 18 or over and must stop if they are sick!
A taste of childhood
We’ve had the cereal café, the cat café, now Diary hears that the trilogy of silly ideas for cafes beginning with ‘c’ is complete with the opening in Belfast of an outlet specialising in crisp sandwiches. The idea started as a joke but Belfast café owner Andrew McMenamin decided to make it a reality by transforming his Wee Café into a crisp sarnie specialist. For £3.50, Simply Crispy offers your choice of bread, crisps and a bowl of soup topped with croutons made from Monster Munch. McMenamin said the idea tapped into people’s nostalgia for a childhood treat nut wasn’t to be taken too seriously. However, there was a serious reaction from customers – on its first day the café sold out in just two hours.
