TITLE:
Implementing Quality Management Tools to Improve Customer’s Journey at Café
AUTHORS:
Noha Abdullah Alajhar, Emtinan Almiqbel, Lujain Alamoudi, Reem Mashat, Khalid Husain
KEYWORDS:
Service Quality, Affinity Diagram, Interrelationship Diagram, Tree Diagram, Process Decision Program Chart (PDPC), Matrix Diagram, Prioritization Matrix, Quality Function Deployment (QFD)
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Business and Management,
Vol.10 No.4,
July
28,
2022
ABSTRACT: Delivering high-quality service is critical to the café’s performance in
order for it to survive and grow competitively. This paper aims to identify the
impact of service quality on customer satisfaction in the context of cafés
before customers enter the café, during the experience, and after leaving. The paper
used a mixed-method approach using a qualitative method by applying two
interviews with focus groups, and a quantitative method by conducting three
online questionnaires. Further, several quality management tools, namely:
Affinity diagram, Interrelationship diagram, Tree diagram, Process decision
program chart (PDPC), Matrix diagram, Prioritization matrix, and Quality
function deployment (QFD) were implemented to assess the problems that confront
the café while serving customers and to figure out solutions to solve these
problems. The issues regarding the café's service quality are categorized into
seven main categories which are menu, place, communication with customers, B2C
customers, B2B customers, suppliers, and employees. The house of quality (HFQ)
represents 22 factors of customer needs, the highest percentage refers to
hiring a third party whereas the lowest percentage describes the need for
providing pre-prepared food. The paper revealed that to improve the customer
journey and enhance the café’s
performance, the café needs to always maintain a high level of quality, listen
to employees’ concerns, use automation systems, and collect data and plan accordingly.