I’m
surprised to find that the subject of psychology of quality and expectations is
so complex.
Tore
Pedersen explains regarding quality & expectations: If the expectations are
high the quality is valued higher. But if expectations are low, the quality is
valued lower. If the expectations are low it requires a lot of effort to overturn
our experienced quality.
The sense
of quality is built over time. It takes a lot of effort for our restaurant to
build up high expectations and high experienced value for our menu.
We could
try and learn to understand our guests by asking our guests about their
expectations and feelings. According to Professor Margareta Friman we can ask our
guests before their visit or after their visit.
Asking
before their visit will be based on affect forecasts: how do you think you will
feel when visiting our venue?
Or we can
ask after the visit: How did you feel?
There are
different ways for us to build up expectations before the visit. The more
contact and more “top of mind” our restaurant is before the visit, the higher
the expectation will be. High end- restaurants, like owned by chef Heston Blumenthal
are experts in building up expectations. Before you visit you are to send them
a whole questionnaire filled with information about your preferences,
interests, expectations, emotions and memories. The restaurant will then create
a tailor made-menu for you. Naturally the expectations are sky-high, but met
every time because of the research beforehand.
So how can
our small restaurant create higher expectations when we don’t have the
resources to send and analyse questionnaires (nor do we wish to have menus
costing €200-€1000)? We can use story-telling as a way to build up emotions,
expectations and mystique . Social media using pictures and stories are also
effective in building the right ambience.
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