As you look toward Exceeding the Expectations of the Guests, you will do a better job if you understand how the Guests' Expectations are created.

What are the areas that are going to shape the Expectations of the Guest? As an example, let's take a Guest who has never been to your Restaurant before. The Guest heard about your Restaurant from a friend.

1. Past Experience
2. Quality of Food
3. Level of Service
4. Marketing
5. Word-of-Mouth Advertising
6. Needs of the Guest
7. Desires of the Guest
8. External Factors

The needs of this Guest are simple. Today is his wife's birthday. How and what are you going to provide for the Guest. (Discuss in your Management Meeting.) What can your Restaurant do to make this a very special event?

What Extra-Value can you add to the Guest Experience?

The desires of the Guest is to have a very special "surprise" party.

The external factors include the location of the Restaurant, the signs, lighting and general appearance of the Restaurant. If the Restaurant is bright, unique, clean and lively, the Guest will have one set of Expectations. If the Restaurant is dirty, unorderly, or dingy, the Guest will have different expectations.

The Word-of-Mouth Advertising brought the Guest to the Restaurant because he heard about it from a friend. This is part of Word-of-Mouth Advertising. It also includes all the other potential factors. Since the Guest has not eaten at your Restaurant before, it is not shaped by his own personal experience, but by a combination of many other factors.