Are you a restaurant owner or manager looking to improve your business? Look no further than restaurant surveys. It is important to know and address customer feedback in the restaurant business. A bad review on Yelp or Google can turn potential customers away and damage your reputation. This is where restaurant surveys come in.
By gathering feedback directly from your customers, you can identify areas for improvement and make changes to better serve them. In this blog, we'll cover everything you need to know about restaurant surveys, including why they're important, what questions to ask, and how to implement them.
What is a restaurant survey?
Simply put, it's a set of questions designed to gather feedback from customers about their experience at your establishment, including, but not limited to, the quality of food, the environment, the service, and more.
Why should I distribute a survey questionnaire for a restaurant?
Understanding customer satisfaction
By asking customers about their experience, you can identify what they like and don't like about your restaurant. This information can be used to improve the overall dining experience, which can lead to increased customer loyalty and repeat business.
Better guiding your restaurant teams to improve with focus
By identifying areas that need improvement, you can provide training and support to your staff to help them deliver a better dining experience. This can lead to better teamwork, higher employee morale, and ultimately, a better overall dining experience for your customers.
Gaining new ideas on products and services
In addition to improving the existing products and services, restaurant survey questions can also bring you inspiration. For example, if you ask customers which new menu items they would like to see, you can use this information to develop new and exciting dishes that will keep customers coming back for more.
How to develop a restaurant customer satisfaction survey (or any type of restaurant survey)
Once you've decided on your questions, it's time to implement your survey and unveil the insights from there. Follow these four steps to create, distribute, and analyze your first survey questionnaire for restaurant:
1. Build a survey form
Once you have decided on your questions, it is time to create a form for customers to fill out. We recommend using a form builder that allows you to collect various types of answers for analysis, such as name, email, phone number, ratings, long text, single choice, multiple choices, and more.
Furthermore, the form builder should be capable of automatically centralizing all the responses into a single table for analysis.
2. Distribute your surveys in-store and online
After building and publishing your survey form for all users to fill out, it is important to ensure that you distribute the survey to all of your customers, including those who dine in and those who take out. One way to do this is to generate a QR code of your survey form and paste it onto tables for customers to fill out before they leave. Additionally, you can include the survey link in the order confirmation email you send to customers when they place orders online.
Another effective approach is to incentivize customers to submit their feedback by running raffles and providing rewards. This not only increases the response rate but also makes your customers more loyal to your business.
3. Analyze your survey results, visually
As you receive more responses from your customers, whether in-store or online, it's important to start analyzing the feedback as a whole. We recommend visualizing your survey results based on question types within the same table where you centralize all responses. You can use charts, lines, pies, and word clouds to help you quickly identify trends and summarize areas for improvement, without getting lost in rows of responses on a spreadsheet.
Moreover, it's good practice to regularly review the survey, especially when you implement changes based on previous findings, to confirm if they are effective. You may want to set up a monthly reminder for store managers to review the feedback and plan new initiatives accordingly.
4. Close the loop of feedback by implementing changes
In order to ensure that this restaurant survey is successful, it is imperative that we take into account customer feedback and implement changes that reflect their concerns and preferences. We highly recommend assigning the received feedback to specific members of the restaurant staff (preferably on the same table), who can then investigate and resolve the issues raised by the customers.
By doing so, you can not only improve the quality of your service but also build stronger relationships with your customers, who will appreciate that their opinions are being taken into consideration.
Questions to ask in a restaurant survey
To ensure the success of your restaurant survey, the first step is to ask the right questions that align with your goals for understanding your customers. Here are some examples of questions to ask in each category. We recommend using a 1 to 5 rating system to better gauge the customer experience level for each question.
Restaurant survey questions: Overall experience
How likely are you to recommend our restaurant to a friend or family member?
Were you satisfied with your experience at our restaurant?
How often do you visit our restaurant?
How likely are you to recommend our restaurant to a friend or family member?
Were you satisfied with your experience at our restaurant?
How often do you visit our restaurant?
Restaurant survey questions: Food quality and taste
How would you rate the quality of the food you received?
Was the food to your liking?
How would you rate the variety of food options available?
Was the food served at the right temperature?
Was the food presented well?
How would you rate the quality of the food you received?
Was the food to your liking?
How would you rate the variety of food options available?
Was the food served at the right temperature?
Was the food presented well?
Restaurant survey questions: Service
How would you rate the attentiveness of our servers?
How would you rate the speed of service?
Was your server polite and friendly?
Did your server check on you regularly?
Did your server get your order correct?
Restaurant survey questions: environment
How would you rate the cleanliness of our restaurant?
Was the restaurant easy to find?
Was the restaurant comfortable?
Restaurant survey questions: Take-out experience
How easy was it to place your order online?
Was the food packaged well?
Was your order completed correctly?
Was your order ready on time?
Was the food still hot when you received it?
Conclusion
In conclusion, restaurant surveys are an important tool for improving your business and better serving your customers. By asking the right questions, implementing the four steps outlined in this blog, and taking action on the feedback you receive, you can collect valuable information and make data-driven decisions to improve your restaurant.
Wondering how you can implement it easily? Don't wait any longer: start implementing restaurant survey questions today using Lark and see the positive impact they can have on your business. Reach out to our team today to find out how you can streamline operations for your food and beverage business and bring tangible business growth 🚀
Table of Contents
