Service Safari

Melissa Altenhofen Designing Consumer Experiences

Spring 2012

Milton’sMilton’s is a restaurant known for tasty coffee and an even better breakfast menu. However, does the service match the menu? I conducted both field and online study research. While looking online, I found a lot of negative reviews from customers. Many had complained about the pushy service they received. One person complained that after they had paid the manager told them to leave. After doing the field research I realized why the manger would of said something like that. The place is small and cramped with tables, while the demand for their food and coffee is high. Thus staging an unpleasant experience for customers who want to treat the café as a conversational lounge.

While their backstage were located in the back of the building, the traffic in and out of them were noisy and thus distracting. I noticed myself looking up at the swinging door every time it opened because of the noise. They have their transaction and wait station located all along the north wall. Most of the wait service used this for standing and talking. I don’t think should be exposed to customers, especially those who are wanted to be waited on.

Java Break

I found Java Break to be a good example of consumer customization. They offer these customizations through a variety of foods and environments.

Foods such as cereals, cup cakes and coffee can be altered to fit anyone's taste and desires. They offer a cereal bar which allows customers to choose from three different types of cereals, three different toppings and three different types of milk. This is also the case with cupcakes. You can choose any type of cupcake and mix any flavor of frosting and add any type of sprinkles. These kind of opportunities sets customers up not only for an experience, but also gives them many ways to fulfill their desires.

One negative I hold with Java Break is that you must spend at least $5 in order to run your debit/credit card. Many people don’t carry cash on hand anymore, so I find this bothersome. I notice that I spend more, or have to buy more things in order to run my card because I don’t often carry cash. This also makes me make impulse buys just in order to be able to use my card.

McDonald’s

I chose to study a fast-food experience because I’m more interested in the organization of their menus and how much of the back stage they exposed to customers. In my own experience, I knew exactly what I wanted going in, but could not locate it on the menu. After a few moments of searching, the gaze of the cashier was burning a hole in me so I finally just asked if they still carried the item. The customer service I was experienced ranked as one of the highest I’ve ever had. Why? Because the cashier treated me like a person and not as an object of their job. She made small conversation and was very polite.

One instance I noticed while waiting for food was the time it took for this man to complete his order; transaction and all. It took approximately one minute to transact his order. I found this something to note of because while McDonalds may be notorious for unhealthy eating, it does a tremendous job of moving people through the ordering and transaction process. I also noticed how much of the back stage that they have exposed. Watching greasy fryers and raw food being cooked isn’t something the front stage should have to experience.