Headlights shine through the big, glass windows of Sincerely Yogurt as a car pulls into the parking space right in front of the store. It’s a cold, rainy night and it is a new employee’s first shift on the job; they are about to have their first customer. The rain pouring down outside makes it difficult to see who got out of the car and what they look like, but as this employee is soon to find out, there are a few common characteristics to the people that enter the store. The customers at Sincerely Yogurt can easily be classified into categories based on the way they look, behave, and by the tip that they leave. The most common types of customers seen at Sincerely Yogurt include: the Old Couple, the Teenage Girl, and the Rich Soccer Mom. …show more content…
She ranges from age 15-19 and comes in wearing Adidas striped pants with a high school sport t-shirt on. She comes in after seven p.m and is never alone; there is always at least one other teenage girl with her. Sometimes she says hello when entering, but most of the time she glances awkwardly at whoever is working the register and looks away quickly. The girl and her companions dart right over to the cups and start pouring yogurt into them right away. The girls giggling, saying that their cup is “going to cost $20” and talking about how “fat” they are is all that’s heard in the store after they move over to the toppings bar. They usually spill a few toppings during this process, but nothing that is too much of a pain to clean up. She always pays in multiple crumpled up dollar bills and says she’s sorry as she takes two minutes to hand the employee the right amount of money. She then throws the small amount of change that is handed back to her in the tip jar, most likely just because she doesn’t want to carry it. The girls don’t normally stay for much longer than a half hour. The Teenage Girl is a harmless customer that isn’t much work to have come into the store, besides maybe a little extra cleaning up to …show more content…
The infamous Soccer Mom and her multiple small, obnoxious children always prance in like they own the building. These moms always pull into the parking lot in their Mercedes Benz SUV and walk in draped in Michael Kors from head to toe. They usually don’t say hi to whoever is working when walking in. Her and her kids take forever to try every single one of the ten flavors we have, and whenever they finally get around to putting yogurt that they’re actually going to pay for in their cup, it gets messy. These children always manage to find new ways to trash the store, from spilled yogurt all over the counters to half the oreo container dumped out. The worst part is that the mom makes absolutely zero effort to clean it up or even just tell them to be more careful. They finally get up to the register after a solid five minutes of that. The mom shoots the employee a look of disgust and complains about how expensive it is when he or she tells her the total (which doesn’t make sense as she has a Louis Vuitton purse on her arm). She brings out every coupon that we carry when she is paying, and once again, she gives the employee a disgusted look when he or she tells her that she can only use one. If not paying with a card, she takes her time and gets change down to the exact cent out of her purse, not paying a single bit of attention to the people waiting behind her. The closest thing to a tip one
At Chipotle, a Mexican fast food restaurant, the customer approached the first station where he ordered a burrito. The first employee asked “What can I get started for you?” The customer then replied with “Andrew will get a chicken burrito.” The employee proceeded then to warm a tortilla and ask the customer what kind of rice and beans he would like. The customer responded in similar fashion, saying, “Andrew will take some brown rice and no beans.” It was then that the customer began to look at the customer with a confused look. She did not say anything, and she continued to keep creating the burrito. When the customer went to the next part of the burrito-creating process (with a new employee), he did not begin his responses with “Andrew will have” but rather stating what he wanted on the burrito (e.g. “pico, sour cream and cheese, please.”). The next employee was the cashier, responsible for ringing up the customer for his food. The cashier asked the customer if the burrito was going to be it for him. The customer responded with “That’s going to be it for Andrew today.” The cashier then acknowledged the customer and then proceeded to check the customer out. Once the checkout was completed, the customer said “Thank you,” and left the restaurant.
believing they are “decent” (Updike 35). Every customer in the store watches them, and they
Panera Bread’s atmosphere is enjoyable. The employees and the managers keep the restaurant clean at all times. When I walked into the restaurant for the first time there were visible employees wiping off the table and sweeping. Panera Bread has almost no trash visible around the entire restaurant. Looking around, there were no trash cans in sight; they were hidden by doors and cabinets. Panera Bread receives ample amount of customers a day keeping the restaurant clean is important, but the workers keep everything running smoothly as well. While waiting in a moderately long line, the employees immediately noticed the incoming rush and started working as a team to get the customers and myself in and out. Along with the workers helping to make the line move faster, the customers in line around me are keeping conversation. We are entertaining each other making the wait time appear shorter. With the great customers and keeping the restaurant clean, Panera Bread workers and managers keep the restaurant well managed. The noise level is separated by the location of dining. In front of me a group a friends decided to have lunch at a table laughing and enjoying themselves and a woman behind me chose to eat alone while reading a book, sitting in a quiet corner. More importantly the manager was always walking around making sure tables were clean, and trash was not i...
Caribou created interactive experiences with the co-create blend, the Yummmkins scavenger hunt and the Barista Barge. The tactics involved the customers and let them have a fun experience with their coffee. Other than the research that showed the treat seeker audience is social, Caribou did not use the knowledge of their audience to accomplish their
The Cold Stone Creamery focuses its energies towards customer service satisfaction goals through a line that starts with the customer and flows back through the store location’s crew and franchisee (owner), to the area developer and members of the creamery head office, and finally to their marketing team members. They call this line to customer service satisfaction the “customer pyramid.”
I walked into the front of the store to see a crowd of people searching for a good grocery cart. One that wouldn’t wobble every second that you pushed it. I took a look at many of the faces as they were beginning or ending their shopping experience. The people walking in looking for a cart seemed unsure or not pleased to be there in the first place. While the people leaving looked happy and eager to get home. I took this as a clear sign that this was not the most enjoyable place to ...
During my six hour shift at Goodwill, a rather rude customer approached me. Some merchandise she had given to one of my co-workers to re-price
Another thing that stood out was they way these fast food places treat their workers. Their policy of automation has created a whole group of people that do not have to think to do their job. These people – usually teenagers – are paid minimum wage to push buttons and do all of the jobs that used to be done by hand. It gains governm...
By using observation methods, a wide variety of behavior can be recorded. Picking through the garbage on the side of the road can reveal behaviors of fast-food customers, or sitting for only one hour in the university canteen to understand the gender differences in choosing a diet meal, or even watching the customer’s behavior from deciding which yogurt to be taken off its store shelves in the supermarket can also answer the question: Are the customers attracted by its appearance or flavor or price or brand or nutrition? The aim of this observation assignment is to evaluate and explain the different types of interactions between individuals and groups present, as well as the environment in which these interactions take place. The field observation was conducted at the Vietnamese fast-food restaurant named “We love Banhmi” in Budapest, and the role adopted, was that of observer as a non-participant. Group structures as well as overall activity, patterns of behavior, and the duration and timing of such behaviors and interactions were observed and recorded.
Happy Hat, a U.S. national chain of frozen yogurt stores with about 500 stores in 40 states is asking for assistance with its business processes. The average number of visitors per store has held constant over the past several years, but revenues per store are down by an average of 10%, and many stores are no longer profitable. The client suspects that a large amount of inventory is being thrown away unused at the end of each day. At the same time, customer polling suggests that the yogurt flavor customers want is often not available, even when the flavor is posted on the menu. People also complain about stores being closed when they visit. Now, the chain is facing increased competition from frozen yogurt sold in 24-hour grocery stores. Happy
Bob’s Supermarket had loyal customers who kept coming back because of the good customer service his employees gave. For instance, “the employees got to know and typically greeted regular customers” (Parnell, 2014, pg. 397). Another key point, was that “Bob
Especially when they have to wait in line. Knowing how impatient people can be, I chose to conduct a “breaching experiment” by visiting a store and using all pennies to make a purchase. On a Wednesday afternoon, I went to Wal-Mart and selected 2 pieces of candy that cost 98 cents each. In my pocket, I had a little over 2 dollars worth of pennies to make my purchase. I arrived at the register at the same time as an older lady. She looked down and saw that I had just a few items and offered to let me go in front of her. I accepted. Then, another lady, in front of me, who had almost all of her items laid out on the counter, offered to let me pass in front of her too. Knowing what I was about to do, I did not want to make her wait so I thanked her but declined. Finally, it was my turn to check out. Once the cashier told me my total, I pulled out my pennies and started to count. It felt like it was taking me forever. I was nervous and I felt bad for the cashier and the people behind me, especially the lady who let me in front of her. Then, the lady behind me left and moved to another line. I lost count and had to recount. I could see that the cashier was getting annoyed. She asked the cashier beside of her if she had to count the pennies after me. Then she said, “I ain’t counting that s---”. Now, a man was in line behind me. I was still counting. He offered to pay. I felt so bad that I decided to buy just one piece of candy. So
Marketing and Branding is essential to survival. The possibility of food specials will need to be explored, as well as discounts for students, the elderly, and veterans. The ability...
The cafeteria serves about one hundred and fifty residents of Cambridge Hall and approximately one hundred residents from Nottingham Hall. The cafeteria serves hot foods, salads, snacks, sandwiches, and beverages. The data has given me information on the percentage of customers that preferred a hot meal (interactive and precooked) to snacks, the ratio of customers that prefer precooked hot meals over an interactive hot meal, line formation, service times at the different stations, arrival times and the location of the different stations. I also learned that the peak hours of operations are from 5:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. and that the cafeteria has two cash registers available but only one is being utilized during the peak hours. If customers decide on a hot meal there is a 2 to 1 ratio that customers will purchase a precooked meal over an interactive meal. Through an informal customer survey, reasonable waiting times were established for the precooked line (5 minutes), the interactive line (10 minutes), and the cashier payment line (1minute).
I have unfortunately seen first hand the staff and customers and staff in action. I was at Wal-mart, a few y...