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[mattm]

The other day, I was at the grocery store waiting in line for a self-service checkout station. I only had about five or six items and the line was only three people deep. Then, I noticed there was an open check stand with a checker waiting to help anyone that wanted her to check their groceries.

About that time two of the self-serve stations opened up so I was now first in line. I could see that another person was almost finished with his station so I decided to wait.

This made me think… if a restaurant had half their tables self-service and the other half with wait staff, which side would fill up first?

Obviously there are lots of variables; what type of restaurant, what time of day, how large the group is and many more. But, are we moving toward a day when people would rather do self service in restaurants. If you asked me 10 years ago if I thought people would rather check their own groceries than have a checker do it for them I would have thought the question was ridiculous. And, now I do it on a regular basis.

There is no prospect of me saving any money at the grocery store either. But, in a restaurant the self-service section could be set up as a no tip zone and customers would be saving 15% to 20%. I personally enjoy visiting with the wait staff, but there are times when I could see myself wanting to just get in and out and opting for the self-service side.

This week I read a Harvard Business Review blog and article about the trend toward Self-Service checking. The survey results and discussions are very interesting and something that all restaurant owners should be thinking about. Even if you are not thinking of adding a self-service section, do you know what your customers really want in the way of service? Are you wasting money trying to delight your customers when all they want is to be satisfied?

Please take a minute to complete our survey and come back later to see what the trend among restaurants across the country is.

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