Free Paper: Observational Research Report on McDonald's Restaurants

The report entails an analysis of two selected McDonald's restaurants regarding the experience of customer service in these stores. The observation findings will be presented to establish the similarities and differences in customer service from the stores. The chosen stores are McDonald's Coffeyville, Kansas, United States and McDonald's Auburndale, Florida, United States. McDonald's Company owns these two restaurants and offers similar products to customers. The assignment involves using the mystery shopper observation technique in assessing the staff behavior at the restaurants. The aim is to establish the worker's attitudes towards clients, examine consumer behavior within the stores and evaluate the environment of selling particular products to customers.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

Company Overview

McDonald's is the largest fast-food restaurant chain in the world when looking at performance regarding brand value and revenue. The company was founded in 1940 in the U.S. and has over 34,000 local restaurants that serve more than 69 million customers in 119 nations worldwide. The company's mission is to be the customer's favorite place and way to eat and drink (Meyer, 2018). The company's vision is to move with speed in driving profitable growth and becoming a better McDonald's to serve more clients with food that is delicious every day all over the world. The vision supports the growth plan for McDonald's. The products sold in McDonald's restaurants include chicken products, wraps, soft drinks, desserts, breakfast items, French fries, cheeseburgers, and milkshakes. The outlets also offer customers with salads, fruits, fish and smoothies.

Description of the Encounter

McDonald's Coffeyville, Kansas, United States": I visited the restaurant at 1.00 pm for lunch. The staff was friendly but very slow. After entering the restaurant, it took almost five minutes for an attendant to show us where to sit. It also took other ten minutes for the attendant to receive our order of cheeseburgers and soft drinks. It seemed taking a long time with the kids nagging. We waited for other fifteen minutes to be served our food. Even though they were late, the staff apologized for taking long to bring the meal as it had to be prepared as we waited. The food there was not of the highest quality, but it was delicious and tasty for what we paid. The service was moderately standard and a pleasant experience. The main issue with the staff was slow to serve us. The friendly staff covered for the several weaknesses that I noticed and the children preferred to have a happy meal for lunch at McDonald's Coffeyville. Therefore, I had no choice but be patient.

McDonald's Auburndale, FL, United States: I went for lunch at 12.00 noon. A friend accompanied me, and we wanted a fast meal before heading for a business meeting. I needed a milkshake and sand witch. We went direct to the cashier and made our orders, two sand witches and milkshakes from the menu. The cashier took money for the food and never gave change. He just closed the cash box. I asked for the change, and the answer was "I have closed the cashbox and completed the transaction." I became furious and demanded the change. The cashier responded that I should sit and wait for the order. I demanded to see the manager. However, the cashier said that that would not help. I felt the staff attitude towards customers need adjustment. We went and sat waited for our order. After waiting for twenty minutes, the staff brought our order and gave it to another couple. He only stated, "yours is not yet ready." The staffs made us wait for other fifteen minutes and at the end they brought the order. However, the sand witches were poorly prepared. We ate just half and threw the leftovers. It was a waste of total $9. I will not go to McDonald's Auburndale, FL, United States again.

Comparison

The standardized list developed from the mystery shopper technique is useful in analyzing the behavior of staff at the McDonald's restaurants towards customers. Customer service can be explained from the relevant information obtained from the observation. The exercise was useful in establishing the environment with which specific products are being sold at the two stores. The list of ten key service points includes response of the employee to the inquiry of products, availability of the items in the menu, response to a complains raised. Also, the time taken to be attended at the restaurant/minutes before the first service encounter was also evaluated. The time to be served food after ordering/speed of service, the taste of the product, the served food matches the requirements of the order, manager's intervention when necessary to help staff, staff appearance, and the ability of the employee to answer the set question were included in the list.

Outline of the two Businesses

Analysis

Similarities, differences and their impact of the overall experience: About staff performance, the two critical similarities of the McDonald's outlets included slow services and availability of items on the menu. At both restaurants, I had to wait for some time before getting the first service. Also, I did not miss the products that I ordered from the menu. The two differences are the quality of food and staff attitude towards customers. The quality of food at McDonald's Coffeyville was excellent and pleasing. Even though it was not of the highest quality, I enjoyed the meal with the kids and would go back there again. The staff attitude towards clients at the McDonald's Coffeyville was also superb and welcoming. The attendants were friendly and apologized for keeping us waiting. The experience with the staff will make me go back to McDonald's Coffeyville and have a meal there again. I will not mind the time to wait because my kids and I enjoyed the meal as we wanted. I will only adjust and expect that next time things will get better.

At the At McDonald's Auburndale, Florida, the quality of food and staff attitude towards customers was poor. I did not enjoy any bit of my time there with my friend. With a rude and nasty cashier, we went without our change. Without a managers' intervention to the situation, I felt disappointed of why I came to the food joint. After waiting for more than twenty minutes, the quality of food/sand witches served was pathetic. We could not finish the sand witches. I will not advise someone to eat at McDonald's Auburndale.

Customer experience comparison: As an external customer, between the two businesses, McDonald's Coffeyville provided a better customer experience based on the crucial several customer service points evaluated. The staffs were friendly when welcoming us in the seats, when taking our order and during the serving of food. Even though it took an extended time to be served the food, patience was worth it. The food was of good quality and tasty. The kids and I enjoyed it very much. For the McDonald's outlet at Auburndale, Florida the customer experience was not pleasant at all even after begging the staff to take appropriate action.

Recommended steps to improve the customer experience for the lesser business: For McDonald's Auburndale, Florida to enhance the customer experience in the restaurant there is the need for reviewing its human resource skills and attitudes towards customers. Customer satisfaction is achieved when the staff meets or exceeds the clients' expectations through excellent customer service (Pamela & Lwakama, 2010). The customers at McDonald's Auburndale need to get a good service delivery from the staff. Customers need to feel they obtain the value of their money at the restaurant. Therefore, it is recommended for the management to emphasize on delivering the promise of the company to its customers (Robert & Xiangyu, 2011). They should ensure adequate supervision of staff to better their relational service quality to clients and the perceived valued for money is obtained by customers (Padi, 2012). In that case, instilling a sense of urgency to the employees will be useful in improving the customer service levels in the restaurant.

The company needs to train its employee about better customer service (Somerville & Elliott, 2011). Staff training improves customer satisfaction (Chaichi, 2012). The training will entail teaching the employees on the restaurant policies that should be maintained all the time and how to build rapport. Training the staff help them gain customer skills, understand and implement store policies, and how to handle angry customers (Huninghake & York, n.d).

References

Chaichi, K. (2012). Impact of Staff Training On Customer Satisfaction in Travel Agencies in Klang Valley Malaysia. European Journal of Social Sciences, 29(2).

Huninghake, B., & York, R. (n.d). Golden rules to great customer service. Retrieved from http://www.k-state.edu/cecd/docs/pdfs/Session%201-%20Option%203%201.pdf

Meyer, P. (2018). McDonald's mission statement & vision statement (An Analysis). Business Management. Panmore Institute. Retrieved from http://panmore.com/mcdonalds-vision-statement-mission-statement-analysis

Padi, M. (2012). An assessment of the effect of staff training on customer service delivery. Kwame Nkrumah University of Science Technology.Pamela, A., & Lwakama, G. (2010). Improving Service Delivery in the Financial Sector: A

Case Study Improving Policy, Impacting Change. Institute of Policy Analysis and Research Rwanda.Robert, J., & Xiangyu, K. (2011) The customer experience: a road-map for improvement. Managing Service Quality, 21(1); 5-24.

Somerville, K., & Elliott, C. (2011). Strategies to improve client service: Exemplars in the Canadian federal government, The Public Sector Innovation Journal, 16(2); 1-16.