AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE REAL SITUATION AND SOME SOLUTIONS TO IMPROVING THE QUALITY OF CUSTOMER SERVICES AT THAI MARKET RESTAURANT (2)

FACULTY OF ENGLISHLÊ QUANG HOÀNG DUNG AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE REAL SITUATION AND SOME SOLUTIONS TO IMPROVING THE QUALITY OF CUSTOMER SERVICES AT THAI MARKET RESTAURANT... FACULTY OF E

FACULTY OF ENGLISH

LÊ QUANG HOÀNG DUNG

AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE REAL SITUATION AND SOME SOLUTIONS TO IMPROVING THE QUALITY OF CUSTOMER

SERVICES AT THAI MARKET RESTAURANT

FACULTY OF ENGLISH

GRADUATION PAPER

AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE REAL SITUATION AND SOME SOLUTIONS TO IMPROVING THE QUALITY OF CUSTOMER SERVICES AT THAI

MARKET RESTAURANT

Major: English for Tourism and Hospitality

SUPERVISOR : LÊ HOÀNG PHƯƠNG, M.A

STUDENT CODE: 24203216135

DA NANG, 2022

My graduation thesis could not successfully complete without theinvaluable help, advice, and encouragement from many teachers in the Faculty

of English and all staff in Thai Market restaurant

First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to allteachers of Duy Tan University in general and the Faculty of English inparticular, especially Mrs Le Hoang Phuong, my supervisor During thewriting thesis process, she gave me helpful suggestions, critical comments, andsupport so that I could finish my graduation thesis

Secondly, I would like to send my thankful words to Thai Marketrestaurant and Mr Le Thai Hoang , who created an opportunity for me topractice at the restaurant and directly trained during my internship I will nothave the accurate document in the Hospitality document as well as wonderfuladvice to complete this graduation thesis without his enthusiastic help

Thirdly, allowing me to express my thank to all staff of Thai Marketrestaurant, who always shared working experience and provided me with usefulinformation, document whenever I need

Last but not least, I also sincerely thank my family, my friends for theirsupport and encouragement during the process of conducting this study

Moreover, the shortcomings in this graduation paper are unavoidable.Therefore, I hope to receive the sympathy from teachers

Finally, I respectful wish all teachers a lot of health, success in the noblecareers, and wish members of Thai Market restaurant all health, happiness intheir life

Thank you so much

Sincerely

Le Quang Hoang Dung

Except where reference is made in the text of the thesis, this thesiscontains no material published elsewhere or extracted in the whole or in partfrom a thesis by which have qualified for or been awarded another degree ordiploma.

No other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement inthe thesis

This thesis has not been submitted for award of any degree or diploma inany other tertiary institution

Danang, May 19 th , 2022

Le Quang Hoang Dung

This graduation thesis begins with investigating on hospitality sector, mainlyfocused on real situation of the quality of Customer services for consumers at ThaiMarket Restaurant and some solutions to improving them This case study iscarried out basing on the theoretical background and the practical data To find theresults, I will gather all of the main related, information about the quality ofcustomer services at Thai Market Restaurant through my survey, finding andobservation Based on the information, I will give out some solutions toimproving the quality of customer services for consumers at the restaurant.

I hope my recommendations will help the restaurant to attract more

customers and contribute to the growth of the hospitality industry in Da Nang city

ACT: Accounting

AM: Area Manager

CEO: Chief Executive Officer

CIT: Corporate Incomes Tax

DIR: Director

HR: Human Resources

IC: Internal Control

IT: Information Technology

Table 1: Standards of the catering department in Thai Market restaurant 20Table 2: Thai Market Restaurant Business Performance from 2018 to 2021 23Table 3: The percentage of customers who made reservations through various sources in 2020 25Table 4: Quality of serving customers in 2020 27Table 5: Service attitude of Thai Market restaurant’s service staffs 28

Diagram 3.1 : Organizational Structure of Thai Market Company 12Diagram 3.2: Organization structure of catering department 17Diagram : The percentage of customers who made reservations through varioussources in 2020 26

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

ABSTRACT

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

LIST OF TABLES

LIST OF FIGURES AND DIAGRAMS

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale 1

1.2 Aims and Objectives 2

1.3 Scope of the study 2

1.4 Methods of the study 2

1.5 Organization of the Study 3

CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 4

2.1 Hospitality Industry 4

2.2 Concepts of Restaurant 4

2.2.1 Concepts of Restaurant Business 5

2.3 Customer Satisfaction 7

2.3.1 Definition 7

2.3.2 The important of customer satisfaction 8

2.4 Customer Services 8

CHAPTER 3: CASE DESCRIPTION 10

3.1 Introduction of the Thai Market Company 10

3.1.1 A General Overview 10

3.1.2 Organizational Structure of Thai Market Company 12

3.1.3 The Functions and Duties of Each Department 12

3.2 Catering department of Thai Market restaurant 17

3.2.1 Thai Market Restaurant structure/catering department 17

3.2.2 The functions of catering department 17

CHAPTER 4: ANALYSIS AND EVALUATION 20

4.1 A CURRENT ASSESSMENT OF THAI MARKET RESTAURANT20 4.1.1 Working hours 20

4.1.2 Working style 20

4.1.3 Uniform 21

4.2 AN EVALUATION ON THAI MARKET RESTAURANT BUSINESS PERFORMANCE FROM 2018 TO 2021 21

4.3 SERVICES 25

4.3.1 Reservations 25

4.3.2 The procedure for serving food 27

4.3.3 Attitude of service 27

4.4 STRENGTHS 28

4.5 WEAKNESSES 29

CHAPTER 5: DIFFICULTIES AND SOLUTIONS 31

5.1 DIFFICULTIES 31

5.2 OBJECTIVE DIFFICULTIES 31

5.3 SOME SOLUTIONS TO IMPROVING THE SERVICE QUALITY AT THAI MARKET RESTAURANT 31

5.3.1 WASTAGE OF FOOD & QUALITY OF FOOD 31

5.3.2 POOR CUSTOMER EXPERINCE AND CUSTOMER SERVICE 32 5.3.3 RESTAURANT MARKETING CHALLENGES 33

5.4 POSSIBILITES OF THE SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS 34

CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 37

6.2 RECOMMENDATIONS 38

REFERENCES 41

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Rationale

In the trend that the world economy is developing rapidly And tourism ischosen by many countries as a key economic sector, recognizing theimportance of tourism while also keeping up with the global economy'sdevelopment trend In the world, Vietnam has also identified tourism as aspearhead economy In fact, tourism has brought our country a large source offoreign currency, so it is called a smokeless industry

More and more tourists come to Vietnam, so to meet the indispensableneeds of tourists, many hotels and restaurants have been built

In addition to accommodation services, the need for food is one of theindispensable needs in human life People's living standards are improving day

by day, requiring a fuller and more diverse response to their dietary needs Aseries of restaurant systems have been born with many different sizes, richproducts to serve a wide range of customers and bring economic efficiency tobusinesses in particular and the tourism industry in general

In the business process of any restaurant, in order to have success andbring attractiveness to customers, the important factor is the serving staff andthe way the food is prepared To the role of restaurant staff, they are the peoplewho directly contact and serve customers, bringing in revenue and profit for therestaurant

Thai Market Restaurant commenced operations in the end of 2012 in DaNang as the city’s business in the hospitality industry The restaurant alwayswants to provide customers with the best quality of customer services Tocompete with other business restaurants and meet the increasing need ofconsumers, Thai Market Restaurant needs to focus on the quality of consumer

cares as well as providing timely solutions to improve it better That is why Idecided to choose the topic “An Investigation into Real Situation and SomeSolutions to Improving the Quality of Customer Services at Thai MarketRestaurant” for my graduation paper.

1.2 Aims and Objectives

- Aims

This paper aims to conduct research on the real situation of the quality ofcustomer services for everyone at Thai Market Restaurant and suggest somesolutions to improve the quality of customer services at the restaurant

- Objectives

The purpose of this study is to achieve the following goals:

+ Examining the whole welcome process at Thai Market restaurant ingreat detail

+ Determining the quality customer service’s strengths Shortcomings,opportunities, and threats

+ Making recommendations on ways to improve customer service quality

1.3 Scope of the study

This investigation focuses only on discussing issues related to the realsituation and some solutions to improving the quality of customer services atThai Market Restaurant

1.4 Methods of the study

In the process of making this: I use the methods such as:

- Direct observation of the reception service activities has been carriedout

- Method of Collection

- Method of Description

- Method of Analysis

1.5 Organization of the Study

Appendix

CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 2.1 Hospitality Industry

The hospitality industry is one of the industries that is growing very fastdue to the fast growth of economies that have necessitated the growth of thissector Many investors opt to invest in this industry because it is widely knownthat, such businesses have considerable profits Hospitality is the main servicesector in the global economy

It contains different service industries among which are food service, thetourism and the hotel sectors The industry is divided into two parts These arethe entertainment part of the industry which houses clubs, bars and theaccommodation part that entails public houses, inns, resorts, hotels, hostelscampgrounds, motels and serviced apartments Restaurants fall under thecategory of clubs and bars Under the same category also fall nightclubs andfast foods (Barrows & Powers, 2009)

Restaurant industry is a component of the larger hospitality industry It isthe industry that is changeable in the external environment For such anindustry to remain relevant and competitive in the market, it has to be veryflexible, and have the diversity to enable it to easily adapt to these changes(Montesano, Lee and Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2011)

2.2 Concepts of Restaurant

Nowadays, each mention of the restaurant will not be unfamiliar to each

of us and each person will feel differently about the restaurant So what do wethink about a restaurant? There will be many different interpretations anddefinitions of restaurants for sure The word restaurant covers a broad range offood service operations The term comes from the French word restaurant,meaning “restorer of energy.” The term was used as early as the mid-1700s todescribe public places that offered soup and bread Today, any public place that

specializes in the sale of prepared food for consumption on- or off-premise can

be described as a restaurant (Barrows, Powers & Reynolds, 2012, p.68)

Restaurant now becomes a popular food and beverage business in theworld, ensuring the quality of the food and services for the food and beveragebusiness, meeting some requirements for enjoying, relaxation and dining

2.2.1 Concepts of Restaurant Business

2.2.1.1 Definition

According to Vietnam National Administration of Tourism and Ministry

of Commerce (1986), a restaurant is a commercial institution that trades inhigh-quality food and beverages and has a set capital level based on therequirements for each type of business

2.2.1.2 Classification of Restaurants

Ancient Indian History & Archaeology, Vikram University, Ujjain (n.d)indicated all restaurants can be classified according to a set of socialparameters defined as polar opposites: high or low, cheap or dear, familiar orexotic, formal or informal, and so forth Any restaurant will be relatively high

or low in style and price, familiar or exotic in the cuisine it offers to differentkinds of customers, and so on Context is as important as the style and form:

- Ethnic restaurants specialize in ethnic or national cuisines For example,Indian cousin, Chinese cousin etc

- Fast food restaurants emphasize speed of service Operations range fromsmall-scale street vendors with food carts to multibillion-dollar corporationslike McDonald's and Burger King Food is ordered not from the table, but from

a front counter (or in some cases, using an electronic terminal) Dinerstypically then carry their own food from the counter to a table of theirchoosing, and afterward dispose of any waste from their trays Fast food

restaurants are known in the restaurant industry as QSRs or quick-servicerestaurants

- A casual dining restaurant (or sit - down restaurant) is a restaurant thatserves moderately priced food in a casual atmosphere Except for buffet-stylerestaurants, casual dining restaurants typically provide table service Casualdining comprises a market segment between fast food establishments and fine-dining restaurants Casual dining restaurants often have a full bar with separatebar staff, a full beer menu and a limited wine menu They are frequently, butnot necessarily, part of a wider chain

- Premium casual restaurants originate from Western Canada Premiumcasual restaurants are described as upscale fast casual Similarly to casualdining, they typically feature a dining room section and a lounge section withmultiple screens They are typically found downtown or in shopping districts.Premium casual restaurants carry a wide range of menu options includingburgers, steaks, seafood, pizza, pasta and Asian foods

- Family style restaurants are a type of casual dining restaurants wherefood is often served on platters and the diners serve themselves It can also beused to describe family-friendly diners or casual restaurants

- Fine dining restaurants are full-service restaurants with specificdedicated meal courses Décor of such restaurants features higher-qualitymaterials, with establishments having certain rules of dining which visitors aregenerally expected to follow, sometimes including a dress code Fine diningestablishments are sometimes called white - tablecloth restaurants, becausethey traditionally featured table service by servers, at tables covered by white -tablecloths The tablecloths came to symbolize the experience The use ofwhite tablecloths eventually became less fashionable, but the service andupscale ambiance remained

2.3 Customer Satisfaction

Every business relies on customer satisfaction Profitability, reputation,sales, service, and image all rely on customers; as a result, they must always betreated with respect In today's market, achieving a balance between customersatisfaction and company profitability is critical to any firm's success.Customer satisfaction is defined in a variety of ways by many authors andscientists The most prevalent definitions of customer satisfaction will beintroduced in the next paragraph

2.3.1 Definition

Kotler and Keller gave the most comprehensive definition of customersatisfaction They defined it as follows: “person's feeling of pleasure ordisappointment which resulted from comparing a product's perceivedperformance or outcome against his/her expectations” (Kotler and Keller 2006,144.)

According to Rai (Rai 2008, 7.), the formula for customer satisfaction isthe following: customer satisfaction equals customer perception of the servicereceived minus customer expectation of the customer service Referring to thismethod, the conclusion is that if customer’s perception of the service exceedscustomer’s expectation, then a client stays satisfied as well as the opposite; ifcustomer’s perception is less than customer’s expectations, then a client getsdissatisfied

Tse and Wilton identified customer satisfaction as ‘’the consumer’sresponse to the evaluation of the perceived discrepancy between priorexpectations (or some norm of performance) and the actual performance of theproduct as perceived after its consumption’’ (Tse & Wilton 1988, 204.)

According to Gerson, customer satisfaction is a customer’s perception of theexpectations that have been or have been not met The buyer obtains the

product or service and expects it to work well If it does, the customer issatisfied if it is not, the customer is dissatisfied (Gerson 1993, 5.)

2.3.2 The important of customer satisfaction

Customer satisfaction can be a fatal factor that affects any source ofbusiness and company performance According to LaBarbera andMazursky (1983), “satisfaction influences repurchase intentions whereasdissatisfaction has been seen as a primary reason for customer defection

or discontinuation of purchase” When achieved customer satisfaction it canlead to a lot of advantages According to Jochen Wirtz (2003) customersatisfaction may lead to customer: customer are more likely to come back

to repurchase product or services , and generated customer loyalty as well asthey will introduce the product to other people surround them, as aconsequence this will lead to an increase on long term profitability of thecompany

2.4 Customer Services

Customer service is a system of activities that comprises customersupport systems, complaint processing, speed of complaint processing, ease ofreporting complaint and friendliness when reporting complaint (Kim, Parkand Jeong, 2004) Customer services are the opportunities for telecomservice providers that are added to mobile network other than voice services

in which contents are either self produced by service provider or providedthrough strategic compliance with service provider (Kuo, Wu and Deng, 2009).The improved customer services are the focal point of the telecom serviceproviders for social as well as for economic reasons From a social point ofview, services should be available to the customers on reasonable terms As far

as economic factor is concerned, services should satisfy the needs of thecustomers (Turel and Serenko, 2006; Melody, 1997)

For developing satisfaction among customers, the telecom serviceproviders need to be extra careful for the customer services they provide.Satisfaction of customer is determined by his evaluation of service provided by

a brand (Gustafsson, Johnson and Roos, 2005) The study of Ahn, Han and Lee(2006) shows that when the customers, do not get their complaintsconsidered properly, they start looking for other brands It happensbecause either the customer service centers do not handle the complaints

or the customers are not able to address them properly Sometimes,telecom service providers take considerably longer time to resolve theproblems like network coverage or call quality, the customers do not waitfor long and hence they lose satisfaction with that particular brand (Ahn,Han and Lee, 2006)

Furthermore, the friendly attitude and courteous behavior of theservice workers at service firms leaves a positive impression on thecustomer which lead towards customer satisfaction (Soderlund andRosengren, 2008) On the other hand, if a telecom service provider lacks inproviding services (call drops) to its customers it experiences customerchurn Kim, Park and Jeong (2004) argued that service provider shouldprovide customer oriented services in order to heighten up customersatisfaction It was also found that the customers get satisfied to a brand more ifthey get all the needed services accumulated in that very brand (Ahn, Han andLee, 2006)

CHAPTER 3: CASE DESCRIPTION 3.1 Introduction of the Thai Market Company.

- 2012: Indochina food court – Da Nang

- 2013: 04 Tran Quoc Toan – Da Nang

- 2014: 17 Le Hong Phong – Da Nang

- 2015: 62 Phan Chu Trinh - Hoi An

- 2016: 46 Thai Phien – Da Nang

- 2018: 183 Nguyen Van Thoai – Da Nang

- 2019: Ba Na and Binh Minh 5 – Da Nang

- 2020: Pi Thai (Thai noodle soup) and Morfai (Thai Hot Pot Buffet) – 17

Le Hong Phong – Da Nang

-2021: 95 Cao Thang – Ho Chi Minh and 112 Trung Hoa – Ha Noi

Today's success of the restaurant chain is a process of inspiration from thebrand owner and the collective work of Thai Market Mr Le Thai Hoang, thefounder of the restaurant chain, spent a lot of time traveling through most ofThailand to enjoy and learn how to cook delicious food With the passion forfood and the ability to cook formed from a young age, it was not too difficultfor him to find delicious recipes and recipes from Udon Thani, Bangkok,Chiang Mai, Phuket or Pattaya, etc

3.1.2 Organizational Structure of Thai Market Company

3.1.3.1 Director

A Director is the person elected by the shareholders to direct, conduct,manage or supervise the affairs of the company Branch manager is also thejoint operations planner as well as behalf of the company negotiate with apartner

3.1.3.2 Chief Executive Officer ( CEO)

An CEO is responsible for managing a company's overall operations Thismay include delegating and directing agendas, driving profitability, managingcompany organizational structure, strategy, and communicating with the board

CEO AM

RM

SS EMPLOYEES

FOUNDER-DIR

3.1.3.3 Area Manager

An area manager has operational and financial responsibility for a definedregion or territory Their duties include providing training and development forstaff, ensuring quality consistency across the region and increasing sales andprofitability in their region

3.1.3.4 Human Recourses

A human resources manager plan, coordinate, and direct theadministrative functions of an organization They oversee the recruiting,interviewing, and hiring of new staff; consult with top executives on strategicplanning; and serve as a link between an organization's management and itsemployees

3.1.3.5 Marketing

A marketer is responsible for developing and executing strategies topromote brands, products and services, maximizing profits for the company.They monitor trends and develop pricing strategies and advertising campaigns

3.1.3.6 Accounting

An accountant is a professional who handles the bookkeeping andprepares financial documents like profit-and-loss statements, balance sheetsand more They perform audits of your books, prepare reports for tax purposes,and handle all the financial information that's part of running your business

3.1.3.7 Training

A restaurant trainer instructs workers using suitable instructiontechniques For example, when a restaurant's supervisors lack adequate jobknowledge, trainers may schedule classes and prepare training manuals onsanitation, nutrition, record-keeping and food preparation

3.1.3.8 Production Warehouse

A warehouse production worker is the person who will check the food,raw materials, and goods, know how to store all kinds of goods and keep them

at the correct temperature and take a thorough inventory of your foods

3.1.3.9 Information Technology – Internal Control

An internal controller is the person who checks and monitors the granting

of permission to use applications, receives requests, handles problems duringuse, software, computer operation, hardware systems

3.1.3.12 Shift Supervisor

7 restaurants also have 7 supervisors who are responsible for assigning,allocating jobs to employees, tracking shifts, dividing shifts, and allocatingtime for employees

3.1.3.13 Employees

On average, each restaurant will have two cashiers The kitchen has tenindividuals and the service serves 11 people Throughout the dining process,waiters and cashiers are in direct contact with guests and serve them Theperson in charge of the kitchen is the one who prepares the meals for thecustomers

3.1.4 Services of Thai Market restaurant

* Food service

Regarding food service, Thai Market restaurant will provide customerswith wonderful culinary experiences along with an amazing place ThaiMarket restaurant only specializes in serving Thai dishes The menu is diverseand attractive with fresh materials dishes and more than 50 typical dishes ofThai cuisine such as Pad Thai, Tomyum, Mango sticky rice,etc All are directlyserved by skilled chefs

The restaurant’s menu is divided into categories: appetizers, main courses,vegetarian dishes, additional dishes and desserts

* Beverage service

In the restaurant, beverage service is also important to help customersenjoy their meal better As a Thai restaurant, the indispensable drink is Thaimilk tea - a famous drink in Thailand In addition, the restaurant also servesdrinks such as fruit juice, soft drink, mineral water, smoothie and beer.

*Customer service

One of the most important elements to consider when running a restaurant

is the quality of the customer service you provide Thai Market's customerservice includes providing courteous and quick service to meet customers'needs during their dining experience