The Importance of Service: Unlocking the Essence of SERVQUAL Model

Introduction

The importance of service quality in the food and beverage industry has been widely recognized in the literature, as demonstrated by Hugh, Bill & Carmel (2007) and Parasuraman (1985). The value of service to the customer is a key aspect of service quality, encompassing various factors that contribute to customer satisfaction. This is where the importance of the service essay lies, as it delves into the significance of providing excellent service in the industry.

Importance of service

In fact, service quality is the value of service to the customer (John,2017). It provides to the customer all the needs and improves the quality of service to make them feel satisfied. It is called SERVQUAL model. SERVQUAL is one of the elements that affect the quality of a restaurant or a hotel. Service quality is based on five factors: Reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy, and tangibles (Chris,2008). Firstly, reliability is the ability to create the trust of the guest to the service. Responsiveness is enthusiasm in helping customers, responding quickly, and motivating the service. Confidence and awareness about knowledge are assurance. Caring and understanding customers belong to empathy. Fifth, tangibles are things that can see and touch such as facilities, equipment, materials, and goods. Besides that, it is also considered by the customer’s experience, the number of customers, and the report about how customers feel after the meal (Liao,2013). For instance, the environment, the seats, the safety, and food hygiene are the elements that often be concerned to consider the level of satisfaction. When a guest comes to a restaurant, the first impression is the atmosphere, then is the comfort of the seat and at least is the safety and cleanness. These elements are to decide the quality of the service of a restaurant or a hotel. SERVQAL is also the attitude of the waiter while serving and the way they handle situations. For example, a waiter in high-quality of service has to have a wide knowledge, professional in behavior, and be sympathetic to the customers.

I have been trained to be a waiter, bartender, supervisor, and staff in the kitchen of a restaurant for ten weeks. After the training, I have recognized that every single detail that you do when you are a staff contributes to service quality. As what was mentioned above, SERVQUAL includes five key factors: Tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy. For instance, in the kitchen, the most important things are food hygiene and safety. If the quality of the kitchen is high, the food which is served to the guest is also high quality. When you work in the kitchen, the responsibility is to serve the dish on time and ensure that everything is safe for the customer. The same in the restaurant, the responsibility of the staff ensure that everything is organized and minimizes risks. Wearing a uniform every day, following the workflow, the table setting, and our attitude are the things that customers can see, which are tangibles. During the time that we serve to the guest, we have to look professional and serve the dish on time and it will create the trust of customers with us and the restaurant. Besides that, we have to be ready in every case, respond quickly, and helping customers as soon as possible. We also have to be confident while serving to ensure there are not making any mistakes. Moreover, we have to equip with knowledge which relates to food and beverage to be ready to answer customers' questions. Overall, the most important things to success in a service business is communication and teamwork. Helping each other and knowing how to communicate is a strengths.

As I said that I have been trained in the restaurant and in the kitchen. We have learned a lot of new things that can help us in the future when we go IP. During the training time, we have to follow the rules to improve the service and our skills. Firstly, working in the kitchen need to have a huge fund of knowledge about the menu, the safety of food, and HACCP system. We learn from the small detail to the big one. For example, in the kitchen, I have to wash my hand before touching the food and wash all the equipment. We are told what to do and serve the custom I like in the real restaurant. After serving, we have to deep clean in both the kitchen and restaurant. As in the kitchen, we have to wash the dishes and all the equipment to ready for the next day. Besides that, in the restaurant, we also have to prepare a wide knowledge of the restaurant, the menu, safety, and the customer. I have learned to serve as a real waiter. Besides that, I was taught how to look professional while serving. For example, carrying three plates at the same time, following the workflow, and responding quickly in every situation. As a bartender, I have learned how to make coffee, mocktails, and cocktails. Moreover, I can taste different type of wine and alcohol such as champagne, sparkling wine, beers, etc. to feel and distinguish the flavors, which is the most part that I am interested in. As a supervisor, I have learned to manage the staff and manage the money. In this position, I have learned to organize everything to make it convenient for customers and my staff. From the beginning, I have learned a lot of new things and useful. A wide of knowledge that I cannot learn from books. With these experience and knowledge, I can confidently say that I am ready to have a job in the food and beverage industry. Even if I have to practice more but it is still a good chance to challenge myself.

Service is the key to a restaurant's success (Bruce & Carol,1990). Service includes all the activity of management, owners, and staff to provide the needs for customers. According to Sanjeev (2017), qualities of service and customer satisfaction are the key factors for a successful business. In order to achieve the goal, the restaurant have to have a plan and organize everything to make customers feel satisfied. For example, the environment, the view, and staff in that restaurant. All most everything in the restaurant contributes to service quality.

Overall, service quality is one of the main factors that make the name of a restaurant. It is reflected by customer satisfaction which is called SERVQUAL. SERVQUAL includes five basic elements: reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy, and tangibles. During the training time, the SERVQUAL model has been applied in order to improve the service and provide the needs to the guest fully. From the knowledge that was provided through the training, it creates a solid foundation for the student to go out and find a job in the food and beverage industry.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the quality of service is based on the feeling of customers. High service quality means that the quality of the restaurant is also higher than other restaurants. In order to reach the goal, all the staff including the manager have to have a professional attitude in their work. Working in the food and beverage industry is an interesting job. Besides some basic things, we can learn how to communicate and how to do teamwork in a wide community. This industry also includes a huge fund of knowledge that we could use in every position. Last but not least, with the knowledge that is provided, we can apply it into other departments and become successful in our way.