Measuring customer satisfaction for strategic management

An analysis of the elements or attributes of customer satisfction should provide clues regarding what actions a food-service manager should take to increase the likelihood that customers will come back. Managing for optimal customer satisfaction requires that satisfaction data be used to suggest positioning strategies that will help a business carve a niche. A study of the attributes of customer satisfaction showed that customer satisfaction with a meal eaten in a restaurant results from a confluence of several attributes, including food quality, menu variety, atmosphere, food-quality consistency, and waiting time. For each potential improvement in service design, managers must estimate the marginal change in satisfaction or repeat purchase that would result from a given change in the operational standard.