PAD 252 Article Review 6 : Price hike of food upsets diners

Article:

UNJUSTIFIED: Customers who frequent a popular Chinese restaurant find that their food and drinks have increased by 50 sen

KUALA LUMPUR: PATRONS of a restaurant in Kawasan Perindustrian Sungai Buloh, here, were shocked when told  to pay an extra 50 sen for their food and drinks. A popular haunt for those living in Sungai Buloh, some patrons, who have been frequenting the Chinese restaurant daily for years, said the hike was too steep.A loyal customer, C.H. Loh said he was told that the rent of the place had increased, therefore the price hike."The stall owners can easily get a minimum of 50 customers a day."A hike of 50 sen for a plate of noodles is just too much even if the rent has gone up," he said.Another customer of the same restaurant, however, said that he did not mind paying extra.P. Kamalavendan said that he did not really have the time to file an official complaint as he understands restaurant owners' predicament."If rents go up, so will food prices," said Kamalavendan.A Streets check around Taman Tun Dr Ismail (TTDI), Mutiara Damansara and Kawasan Perindustrian Sungai Buloh showed that other restaurants had not increased their food and beverage prices, but some did indicate that they may do so soon.A mamak restaurant owner in TTDI said that although the prices of ingredients had increased in recent times, he had not increase the price of food to keep his customers happy.The restaurant owner, who declined to be named, said that he, may be forced to increase the price of food to at least make some profit.Although the restaurant denied hiking any price, the original prices on their menu did show some "updates" and some of the customers interviewed said that they have noticed a slight increase in prices.Mohd Nazrief Mohd Yunus said that he was often charged more than what was stated on the menu."For example, although the price of a glass of Teh O is stated as RM1, I was charged more," he said.A customer at a mamak restaurant in Mutiara Damansara, Muhammad Firdaus Abd Rahman, 24, said the staff always overcharged their customers."I usually go there with a few friends and when we paid, we noticed that they overcharged us about 20 or 30 sen," he said.However, the restaurant manager who did not want to be identified denied doing so."The price is still the same as last year. We can't simply increase the price of the drinks and food that we serve," he said.Four other restaurants that Streets visited said that they have no plans to hike prices at the moment.

Read more: Price hike of food upsets diners - Central - New Straits Times http://www.nst.com.my/streets/central/price-hike-of-food-upsets-diners-1.197458#ixzz2mOgUqdBd

Healthy Berries are Good Food for Health (Photo credit: epSos.de)

ARTICLE REVIEW

The article shows that in a Streets check around Taman Tun Dr Ismail, Mutiara Damansara and Kawasan Perindustrian Sungai Buloh shows that some restaurant operators has increased the price of food and beverages served and a few indicated that they may raise the price of their food and beverages. Steep hike in price has also raised dissatisfaction of the customers, especially those who frequent the restaurant. On the other hand, some did not mind in the raise and stated their understanding of the owner’s decision. Taking a mamak restaurant in TTDI for instance, the owner claimed that in order to keep his customers happy, he had not increase the price of food, although the price of ingredients had increased recently. Even so, he may be forced to raise the price of food to at least make some profit. While the owner denied raising any price, the prices on their menu showed some rise in price, and the customers are aware of the changes. Some customer stated that he was often charged more than the price shown on menu; other customer in Mutiara Damansara expressing that the staff always overcharged their customers, however, the owner denied doing so.

ARTICLE RELATE TO QUALITY MANAGEMENT

Customer’s satisfaction is the ultimate aim of quality. As quality could be defined as meeting or exceeding customer expectations at a price that he is willing to pay to possess the product or services. In the article, most customers expressed their dissatisfaction due to the increased prices of food and beverages, even in the restaurant they frequently goes to. There is no quality system that serves a purpose to meet customer’s expectations and needs and increase profitability. The restaurant has no proper plan in implementing an approach to coupe with their issue of increased material cost and to obtained profit but at the same time, to win customer’s heart. The managers even in denial on customer’s claim. Service quality also absent in the restaurants observed. The service provided by the restaurant is differs from the customer’s view and the manager’s. As the customer complained about the workers who charged more on the food and beverages served. Service quality is comparison of expectation with service performance or achievement. As defined by Zeithami and Bitner (2003), service quality is a focused evaluation that reflects the customer’s perception of specific dimensions of service: reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy, tangibles, competence, credibility, courtesy, communication, security, access and satisfaction. The restaurant owners should take the rising material costs, communicate with the customers to know what they feel about the increasing of prices in the restaurant, not to get the consent of the customers, but at least to acknowledge the customers, especially the one who frequent the restaurant, as a sense of appreciation. The communication can be done in various way, such as talking directly to the customers, or showing the increased prices to the customers while taking orders and explain to the customers why the price must be increased. No previous conformation of the price hiking and sudden overcharged will definitely dissatisfied the customers. Credibility of the restaurant and the owner is at doubt when the owner denied the price increased, but the price shown on the menu board clearly stated that the price has increased. No matter what the reason the owner might have, to ensure the restaurant would be a success, customer’s satisfaction is the most important thing to keep in mind. The owner should come up with quality planning, quality control and quality improvement as stated in Juran’s Quaity Trilogy. With proper quality planning, the owner would know what the customers want, what the organization is able to plan to achieve that needs; quality control could be apply to ensure that the cost in producing the goods or foods to the customer is adequate and could earn some profit from it, as to quality improvement, the owner should, from time to time, get customer’s comments on the services provided by the restaurant and making improvement out of it.