Food-Service-Manual-for-Health-Care-Institutions

Food Service Manual for Health Care Institutions
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the customer and service personnel and occurs at the time service is delivered. In this respect,
customer satisfaction depends on employee performance. Research conducted on the results of
meeting customer needs has shown measurable benefits in profits, cost savings, and market
share. Customers often do not complain when they have received less-than-satisfactory service;
however, they do tell nine or ten other people about the problem. It is estimated that it costs
an organization five to six times as much to gain a new customer as it does to keep a current
one. To retain current customers while attracting new ones, health care food service managers
must strive toward two goals. First, they must instill in employees the fact that customer orientation
drives customer satisfaction. Next, they must design and launch a strategic quality
service plan.
From Customer Orientation to Customer Satisfaction
To embrace the concept of customer relations, employees must first recognize that they have
customers. Customers include patients, residents, their families and significant others, physicians,
and other staff members. The thought of identifying a patient as a customer has been disconcerting
for some health care professionals, but without viewing patients as end users of their
services, providers do nothing more than develop systems and processes for their own convenience.
Although these systems and processes may be based on the best medical practice and perceived
need, they often are created at the expense of customer satisfaction. Referring to patients
as customers recognizes their autonomy and capability of demanding high-quality care and
information about the services they buy.
The nutrition and food service department can play a key role in developing a positive
image for patients and their caregivers. Although much of what customer–patients come in contact
with in the hospital setting is technical and beyond their general understanding, food is the
one thing they do know. They know whether the food is prepared to their satisfaction, whether
it is delivered when they are hungry, whether it is at the right temperature, and whether the person
delivering the meal is polite and attentive to their needs. Therefore, it is vitally important
for the food service manager to ensure that staff understand their role in customer satisfaction.
Although the customer–patient is certainly a key focus, this is not the only type of customer
encountered by food service employees. Physicians, family members, and other hospital
staff are served in the cafeteria, physician dining rooms, coffee shops, and so on. Service quality
can be compromised not only because it may be difficult to persuade food service staff to
accept other hospital employees as customers but also because satisfaction is based on customer
expectations and perceptions. By comparing their expectations of service quality with actual
service delivery, they judge whether satisfaction has been attained.
From Service Plan to Customer Satisfaction
In the book Service America, Karl Albrecht and Ron Zemke identify three features of outstanding
service organizations: a defined, customer-focused service strategy; customer-oriented
frontline employees; and customer-friendly systems.
It is impossible to expect employees to provide exemplary service if no quality service plan
or strategy is in place. A service strategy is based on feedback from the customer and also on
the organization’s strategy and mission. The plan should include a written statement or mission
that all employees can understand and support. A health care food service strategy may include
the following elements:
• Greeting customers appropriately, making eye contact
• Extending extra effort to be helpful
• Providing timely and prompt service
• Listening to customers’ needs and responding to them
• Maintaining appropriate appearance according to departmental policy
• Maintaining a safe and pleasant environment
• Providing what was promised