Foodservice Monthly,  The Mix
September 2007
Karen Cathey

Stay On Top of Customer Expectations,
Wants and Needs

As customers become more savvy about the ever-increasing food and dining options available to them, they become more demanding about the quality, service and overall experience they expect from foodservice providers across the board. For the food industry, this means success depends more and more on listening to customers and anticipating ways to give them what they want.

To explore the great many ways a restaurant’s customers can and should influence business decisions, Marketing Mix talked to David Kianni, co-owner of doughboys (www.doughboyscafe.com), a café and restaurant in the Kentlands area of Gaithersburg. This neighborhood eatery opened in 2004 as an upscale carry-out, then quickly evolved into a café and restaurant. In early 2007, a fire in the duct-work forced a five-month closure that David and his partner Ali Bagheri chose to view as an opportunity for further improvements. Not only that, the original business vision now includes franchising, a bar/lounge concepts, product lines, and co-branding opportunities as a direct result of customer requests, the subject of a future column.

Know Your Market. Both David and Ali had spent a lot of time in Europe enjoying pizza places and small cafes where the food was really good, the atmosphere was comfortable, and the prices were reasonable. They saw a niche that wasn’t being filled in the U.S. , so that formed the basis of their business model.

Both men lived in the Kentlands and were familiar with the area’s development plans, so after facing roadblocks in downtown D.C., they were easily lured by an opportunity to lease their first space there. They looked closely at the demographics, then decided to go with a "gourmet" look and took inspiration from Pizzaria Paradiso’s wood-burning oven as well as the thin-crusted pizzas of Tuscany .

The small space on two levels dictated the kitchen be divided in two: food would be prepped in the basement kitchen, and the actual cooking would be done in the wood-burning oven upstairs, in full view of the waiting customers.

The menu was streamlined to facilitate ease of operation. The proprietary flatbread recipe is used for sandwich bread and pizza dough. Pizzas are only offered in a personal 10" size. Since there is no range, even toppings for pasta dishes are roasted in the oven. The smoke and fire intensifies the flavor and adds to it, a point of differentiation from their competitors.

Respond to Customer Behavior. When doughboys first opened, it was strictly a carry-out. Then David and Ali noticed lunch customers preferred to sit at the few tables they provided and eat their meal there. The concept was expanded to include limited service, bringing food to customers once they had placed their orders and taken a seat. At night, the menu grew to include beer, wine and wine cocktails like Red or White Sangrias, Mimosas and Belinis.

On Sundays, lunch began at 11:30 a.m. Once things were running smoothly, the doors opened at 9:30 a.m. for brunch to increase the hours of operation. Eventually brunch hours were adjusted to 10:00 a.m. where they remain today, since most customers came in after that time anyway.

Continuously Survey Customers. Every six months doughboys conducts customer surveys, then respond directly with menu changes. A survey contains about ten questions, with multiple choice answers and questions designed to find out what changes customers would like to see. Customers are given a survey as they finish their dinner and asked to sit at the ordering counter to answer, handing the finished surveys to the cashier. The incentive is a chance to win a $100 gift certificate.

One month of surveys generates hundreds of responses, giving David and Ali a very good idea of customer preferences. Emailed newsletters make a big deal over the winner and alert customers to the results, letting them know how doughboys will respond to their comments. This continuous cycle of customer interaction gives the impression of caring and listening that provides the extra edge in service that is so important in today’s service industries.

In the future, doughboys plans to revamp its Web site to accommodate online surveys integrated with a customer loyalty program, asking customers to log in and give their preferences, date of birth, store preferences and other pertinent information.

Two more important questions that will provide constructive information on any survey are "Will you (the customer) return?" and "Will you (the customer) recommend the product or restaurant to others?" Both questions should ask for specific details.

Respond to Feedback. Before the fire closure, doughboys offered weekly specials including one soup, one salad or panini and one entrée such as a pasta dish. The most popular specials were the entrees and the soups, so they started offering two soups. The entrees that sold the best were added to the regular menu. In the summer, cold sandwiches were offered instead of hot panini and fillings were changed as well.

After the fire, David and Ali decided to totally revamp the doughboys’ menu. Shrimp cocktail was added to the menu after selling well as a special; at the time of our discussion, it wasn’t selling well on the menu – David speculated that it may be too formal to fit well with the rest of the menu. If it continues to sell poorly, it will be removed eventually.

Salmon Puttanesca, a new entrée, has been a big hit, and Scampi Pizza was also added. Another popular new sandwich is the vegetarian Mediterranean , made with hummus, cucumber, olives, tomatoes, baby greens and feta cheese. Both cold sandwiches and hot panini are offered now.

For kids, macaroni and cheese was added as an alternative to spaghetti with marinara sauce or butter, and the hot dog was spruced up with mozzarella cheese. All kids’ meals now include soda, milk or juice. At brunch, smoked salmon was introduced in two popular new dishes – Smoked Salmon Frittatas and Smoked Salmon Panini.

Many other changes were implemented after the fire, taking advantage of the closure to serve as a renovation of the space and the menu. The wall colors were toned down so they weren’t quite so bright, small partitions were removed from the seating area to open it up, and booths were grouped together so they could accommodate large groups. Marketing posters were added to promote catering services and franchising opportunities. David and Ali now refer to "doughboys 2.0," speaking directly to their tech-savvy market.