Service quality in sit-down restaurants in the Southern suburbs of Cape Town

Abstract

The quality of service that is currently being offered by restaurants in the southern suburbs of Cape Town does not consistently meet with the service expectations of consumers. This results in the formulation of a negative perception of service quality. A knowledge of customer expectations is critical in delivering quality service and largely determines the success or failure of service-oriented organisations. One of the maj or challenges facing restaurants is meeting or exceeding the everincreasing expectations of consumers as this determines whether consumers are satisfied or not. It is therefore important to assess the current state of service quality within restaurants. In this study the Servqual model, which is one of the most widely used tools in measuring service quality, was used· to assess the service quality within restaurants. The Servqual model is a questionnaire which can be modified in order to measure service quality within a specific service industry. The model consists of a set of twenty-two statements measuring the expectations of consumers and a matching set of twenty-two statements measuring the perceptions the consumers have of the service quality that they have been exposed to. The consumers then indicate their responses on a Likert-type scale, which accompanies each statement. There is no immediate solution to improving the poor perception of service quality that exists, as any service quality programme is a long-term process that needs to be systematically implemented.