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Independent
Research Shows Diners Shun Shoddy Restaurants
Over one
third (37 per cent) of people who enter a dirty restaurant will leave
immediately and a further 23 per cent will order but leave before
completing their meal according to independent research completed for
JohnsonDiversey. Almost two thirds of these say they will never go
back. Clearly, with cleanliness you only get one chance to get it right.
"These
figures show how important restaurant hygiene is to the bottom line,"
says Maria Lindström, Market Manager for Food Service and
Contract Catering at JohnsonDiversey UK. "Whenever a
restaurant is unclean about six in ten customers will either go
elsewhere or not spend what they intended during their visit. That's
a lot of people and a lot of lost revenue."
Cleanliness
was ranked behind type of food, quality of food and price when
choosing where to eat but ahead of atmosphere, recommendation and
location. The cleanliness of tables, including tablecloths, cutlery
and floors were the three most significant factors in assessing the
restaurant's cleanliness and hygiene.
"Choosing
where to eat is clearly influenced by a number of factors but
cleanliness and hygiene are among the most important and almost
everyone surveyed took it into account," says Maria
Lindström. "Getting the basics right can make a big
difference and this is why we work with restaurant owners and
operators to show them how to achieve the best possible results from
their cleaning routines in order to help maximise revenues and
protect the reputation of their business.
"Our
new Restaurant Appearance Programme has been developed specifically
to address the key issues that consumers told us they had. And this
is important because typically you can't rely on customers to tell
you there's a problem with dirty restaurants - our survey found that
less than half actually complain, with women being significantly less
likely to voice their concerns than men."
Even when
customers do complain, only one quarter found the situation resolved
satisfactorily. Clearly it is easier and faster to swap dirty cutlery
or crockery than it is to address more difficult problems such as
dirty or smelly toilets.
And of most
concern is that customers believe that cleanliness is a key indicator
of food safety, with 10 per cent saying that they would complain to
EHOs or the Food Standards Agency if they encountered a problem with cleanliness.
The survey
was completed on behalf of JohnsonDiversey, a leading global provider
of commercial cleaning, sanitation and hygiene solutions, by an
independent research agency. 420 people from across the UK
representing all age ranges and who had dined out in the preceding
month were questioned.
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