HOTELS & HOSPITALITY THE HYPER- CRITICAL DINER
What draws the eye of the average restaurant diner while awaiting their meal? Hygiene brand Tork staged
an experiment to find this out and the results will be an eye-opener for anyone running a hospitality business.
Eating out is an experience like no other. While seated in the dining room of a hotel or restaurant we are completely at our leisure. Much of this time we will spend in conversation with our friends or partners while waiting to be served. But during any lapses in conversation we will have plenty of opportunity to gaze around the room and take in our surroundings.
Today’s diner has become hyper- sensitive to the topic of hygiene. Since the Food Standards Agency began its ratings scheme in 2010 the issue has rarely been out of the news. Eateries that earn a mere one or two stars are regularly named and shamed on the web and we hear about extreme hygiene situations in which mice and cockroaches have been found in restaurant kitchens.
So against this background, today’s diner is much more likely to notice any lapses in hygiene as he or she waits to be served. We at Tork tested out this theory in a recent study we staged at a Stockholm restaurant. We equipped 10 volunteers with eye- tracking spectacles and sent them out to dine, using heat-mapping technology to monitor what they were looking at.
We disovered that the volunteers’ eyes were repeatedly drawn to anything that moved. Some diners said they were interested in how their food was being prepared and the heat-mapping technology confirmed this, revealing that they spent a great deal of time gazing towards the kitchen. One subject also admitted to keeping a check on the hygiene standards of the kitchen staff.
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Another diner’s eyes were drawn to the ceiling, which had an open ventilation system – something he mentioned later as an area of concern. The restaurant décor was also observed from every angle by the subjects.
In fact from our eye-tracking study it became clear that the subjects missed nothing. The conclusion we reached was that hotels and restaurants need to pay scrupulous attention to hygiene standards to ensure that no diner leaves with a negative impression of the premises.
Such an impression can have a devastating effect on a business. A survey carried out in May 2016 by
Checkit.net revealed that 66% of respondents cited dirty premises among the main reasons for not returning to a restaurant. This compared with only 16% who listed poor service as a reason for not going back.
The online survey – which questioned 1,000 people – went on to reveal that 75% of diners would not risk eating at a place that had been involved in a food hygiene incident, even if it were recommended by someone they trusted.
Besides tracking their observations while seated at the table, our heat- mapping equipment also kept tabs on the subjects when they were in the restaurant washrooms. Diners’ eyes were observed to be frequently drawn to the more attractive elements of the washroom décor such as the fresh flowers and stylish dispensers.
Surveys that we at Tork have carried out into restaurant attitudes have
confirmed that washroom hygiene is of particular importance to diners. One study revealed that 80% of respondents believed a dirty restaurant washroom was a likely reflection of kitchen standards, for example. And more than 75% said they would not return to an establishment where the toilets were unclean, with 25% vowing to actually walk out if they encountered a dirty washroom in an eating place.
In another recent study, more than half the respondents admitted to having shared pictures of a restaurant they had visited on social media. This highlights the ongoing need to maintain high standards since any lapses could be broadcast instantly, often to very wide audiences.
Equipping a restaurant washroom with facilities that maximise hygiene and efficiency while also creating a great impression can be a challenge. The Tork Image Line of dispensers is an example of a system that can achieve this.
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