On the service marketing of foreign fast food enterprises

Absrtact: In the 21th century, service marketing has become a hot spot pursued by all walks of life, especially the catering service industry. For foreign fast food, an important member of the catering industry, it is even more necessary to strengthen service marketing in order to stand out from the fierce fast food competition. This paper further analyzes the causes of the problems existing in the service marketing of foreign fast food enterprises, and puts forward some countermeasures for reference according to the actual situation.

Keywords: foreign fast food; Service marketing; Problems; Reason; Countermeasures

In the 21th century, service marketing has become a hot spot pursued by all walks of life. The unique charm and function of service marketing are believed to be familiar to people who engage in the market. As an important member of the service industry, the catering industry has formed an indissoluble bond with service since its birth. The service marketing of catering industry is to adopt various strategies, integrate all positive factors inside and outside the restaurant, give full play to the advantages of the group, create business opportunities, manage customer needs, and optimize the allocation of existing resources in order to maximize profits. The catering industry in the new era should strengthen its core concept of "service marketing". Foreign fast food, as an important member of the catering industry, is inseparable from service marketing if it wants to stand out in the fierce confrontation between Chinese and western fast food.

1. Problems existing in service marketing of foreign fast food enterprises

With the rapid development of domestic catering industry, more and more foreign capitals and enterprises have entered the catering industry in China, and the number of foreign fast food enterprises is increasing day by day. However, to our regret, food innovation and price are still the most commonly used weapons for many foreign fast food enterprises in the face of fierce market competition. Their market competition concept is still at the stage of product marketing, and their daily operation and marketing activities are guided by the traditional 4Ps (product, price, channel and promotion) theory [1]. In China, foreign fast food, as a typical service industry in which customers are highly involved, has obvious characteristics of service products, which leads to a significant difference in its marketing promotion mode and emphasis from product marketing. The practice and results of foreign fast food for more than ten years show that, although the traditional product marketing theory has brought profits and benefits to enterprises to a certain extent, it has also brought many problems to foreign fast food enterprises:

(1) Foreign fast food enterprises are still excluded in China

With the continuous acceleration of the pace of life of modern urbanites, people's dietary requirements have begun to tend to be simple and random. Young white-collar workers often go to fast food restaurants to enjoy their lunch; Going out on weekends, western-style fast food is the best choice for young people to eat; On holidays, western-style fast food restaurants are crowded ... But in some public places, we often hear people scold foreign fast food for how it impacts local restaurants, how expensive it is, or junk food, and the service is too westernized. It can be seen that foreign fast food is still rejected by some people in China, and these unscrupulous words are extremely unfavorable to its development.

(2) The service lacks difference and individuality, and foreign fast food can only "serve the majority"

The service of foreign fast food enterprises has amazed many domestic fast food enterprises, and we admit its pride and point out its shortcomings. For example, fast service is the characteristic of foreign fast food, and 95% customers will become repeat customers. But there are still many customers complaining about the fast pace of the restaurant, even the music, talking and walking are fast. There are also customers who complain that the spicy food is not spicy enough, and the food is too salty. When we reflected these opinions upwards, the restaurant replied: We all do it according to the standard, as long as most people are satisfied. If the managers of foreign fast food enterprises know that "there are 251 supporters behind a customer", the harm caused by indifference to a few people is incalculable.

(3) It is difficult to attract new customers by attaching importance to the service of selling in China and neglecting the service of pre-sale.

Employees and managers of foreign fast food enterprises all work in restaurants and pursue the "111% customer satisfaction" advocated by them. They emphasize "smiling service" and professional quality, and a clean and elegant dining environment is their magic weapon. The dining room equipment is strictly disinfected and the cookware is made of stainless steel, so customers don't have to worry about hygiene problems. Special children's chairs and children's playgrounds provide convenience for parents with infants. Customers don't have to worry about trivial things such as finding spices and napkins. The only thing they need to do is to enjoy delicious food and perfect service. However, all this can only be enjoyed when you enter the restaurant and become their customer, that is, the service of selling in China. Due to the relative strangeness of foreign fast food and the lack of awareness of pre-sales service, new customers will feel nervous about the services they provide before consumption, which will lead new customers to choose other familiar enterprises to eat in order to reduce the gap between actual experience and expectation [2]. This will not attract new customers for a long time, which will lead to insufficient customer resources.

(4) Repeated or omitted services often occur, which increases the cost and reduces the efficiency

When a restaurant receptionist is interviewing customers, it is very embarrassing to visit a customer who has just been interviewed by other receptionists. Customers like warm service, but hate being served repeatedly, especially when he is in a hurry. Accepting the same but unnecessary service twice will not only attract customers' complaints, but also waste employees' time and energy. Similarly, if a customer who needs help with paper towels or straws can't find a waiter, he will feel left out and dissatisfied. The phenomenon of duplication or omission of these services is absolutely negative.

(5) Standardized services are not implemented

Foreign fast food pays attention to standards in many aspects. Take McDonald's as an example, its main foods are always hamburgers, French fries and cola. Even if there are changes, it is only a slight adjustment on the original basis, such as adding some chicken to hamburgers. There are strict quantitative regulations on food: the diameter of hamburgers is 25 cm, and the storage time of French fries should not exceed 7 minutes. In order to make the standards strictly implemented in chain stores all over the world, McDonald's has compiled a 351-page employee operation manual, which specifies the operation methods and steps of each work in detail, so as to guide the work of employees all over the world. But unfortunately, even McDonald's and KFC, the benchmark enterprises in foreign fast food, can't implement the standards they advocate. For example, restaurants require spraying disinfectant and wiping the surfaces of tables and chairs after cleaning up every plate, but few employees can do it according to the standard during the peak business hours. As for the standard of washing above the wrist with sterilized hand sanitizer every hour and rubbing for 21 seconds, no one abides by it.

second, the analysis of the reasons for the service marketing problems of foreign fast food enterprises

(1) Foreign fast food neglects to establish a local image and serve the public

The reason why foreign fast food enterprises are excluded from entering China is that they have not established the image of a China-based company, paid no attention to the differences between the local market and the markets of other countries in the world, and think that foreign fast food is still rare in China. Although they have grasped the general needs of various countries' markets: the accelerated pace of life, customers' need for fast service, clean environment and high-quality food. However, it ignores some subtle and important needs: different living standards, different consumer psychology and habits. Second, there is no "serving the public". China people value feelings, and once they accept your kindness, they will be soft-spoken, while foreign fast food does not pay attention to "giving kindness to society".

(2) Western fast food pays too much attention to standards, which makes it difficult to meet diversified demands.

Western fast food pays great attention to standards, which reduces the flexibility of service. When faced with diverse and changeable service demands, it is often helpless. As a catering industry, people's needs for dining in restaurants are diverse and changeable, with social, emotional and self-expression needs. Some like to be cheerful and some want to be quiet. It is almost impossible to satisfy all customers with a unified standard.

(3) The way of information publicity is not right, and the so-called pre-sale service is ineffective

Foreign fast food restaurants have spent a lot of time on the POP design of their stores. They tried to convey the latest food and promotion information to consumers through a variety of posters, light boxes and banners, but 91% of customers regard this information as a kind of decoration, and their eyes only stay on it for 3-5 seconds. Moreover, employees of foreign fast food enterprises basically work in restaurants, and to a great extent, they can only achieve the service of selling in China. Only when you walk into restaurants can you realize the attentive service and professional quality of waiters. Employees who really go out to serve only distribute coupons. However, due to the lack of effective supervision and verification, customers who come to restaurants still don't have coupons, but few of them get coupons, and all their efforts are wasted.

(D) One person has more posts, and all of them are not specialized, which leads to duplication or omission of services.

Foreign fast food enterprises value the all-round development and team spirit of employees, so the training programs for employed employees basically follow these two aspects. A new restaurant receptionist should learn and master broadcasting, in-store visits, customer interviews, sorting, recording and administration of goods and materials, and be required to complete these in seven hours on duty; A small waiter must also learn all the positions of frying, frying, baking, blending, etc., so that everyone has to do all the things every day, but not specialized, but not refined. Although it emphasizes the need for teamwork and clear division of labor, communication and coordination often fail because everyone in the team has to complete the same variety of tasks.

3. Countermeasures for foreign fast food enterprises to strengthen service marketing

(1) Establish a local image, actively participate in public welfare activities, and serve the public

Service marketing emphasizes dynamic braking and rapid response to the market, especially for multinational foreign fast food, the localization of service marketing is very important. According to the special needs of cultural traditions, consumption levels, consumption patterns, customs and habits of various countries, enterprises should formulate a localized service marketing mix strategy that conforms to the local market [3]. 1. Products: The core foods of foreign fast food are hamburgers, French fries and cola, which can be slightly changed according to the consumption habits of different countries. For example, in China, McDonald's has introduced fast food such as Mai Xiang Fish and Hot Soup, which are in line with the eating habits of consumers in China. 2. Price: McDonald's once launched two standard-size sandwiches in the United States with a price of only $1, which ignited the war of price reduction and promotion in the fast food industry. However, the price in China market increased slightly in the same period. Although the price of catering industry in China was reduced one after another due to the SARS epidemic, the passenger flow was not affected because of the successful promotion. 3. Channels: We will strive to expand the service coverage which is mainly in-store and supplemented by out-of-store. We should not only ask customers to come in, but also ask employees to go out, and narrow the psychological distance with consumers through integrated marketing communication, so as to establish a China company image in customers' minds and enhance China customers' brand recognition of foreign fast food. 4. Promotion: starting with personnel selection, advertising, business promotion and the relationship between the public and the private. It is best for the restaurant staff to be local people with standardized training; Advertisements should be made mainly through television, newspapers and the Internet. The main characters of advertisements should be ordinary people in China, and advertisements should be full of human feelings. Business promotion mainly uses price discounts, coupons and gifts; "Take it from society and use it for society" should be the long-term commitment and business purpose of enterprises, and actively support local public welfare undertakings. For example, in October last year, McDonald's donated RMB 1 million to china charity federation for the purchase of Xinhua Dictionary, which was donated to more than 121,111 primary school students in poverty-stricken areas, with great influence.

(2) realize differentiation and personalization on the basis of service standardization, and learn to listen to customers' opinions

Fast food takes meeting the needs of popular consumption as the core, and stresses hygiene, quickness and convenience. QSCV of McDonald's and CHAMPS standard of KFC can be regarded as models of foreign fast food [4]. However, the standardization of service cannot meet the different needs of all consumers, and the unchangeable service standard will lose customers. Therefore, while formulating strict standards to ensure the consistency of service quality, we must realize the differentiation and personalization of services. This requires foreign fast food enterprises to carefully collect customer information, establish customer files, and provide customers with differentiated and personalized services according to their preferences, so that customers can have psychological satisfaction and good impression on the enterprise, and then cultivate customers' loyalty to the enterprise. Listening to customers' opinions scientifically is a shortcut for us to better provide differentiated and personalized services, and let consumers tell us what kind of services they need.

(3) information first, strengthen pre-sales service, attract and retain customers

In order to attract new customers and retain old customers, and ensure that foreign fast food enterprises have a steady stream of customers, restaurants should strengthen pre-sales service while doing a good job in sales-customers can still provide information when they are not spending. As catering service can't be seen or touched before customers consume it, we can provide some tangible clues on the coupons that have been signed and require recycling statistics to help customers understand and understand the service, reduce the information asymmetry between enterprises and customers and promote service consumption. At the same time, because customers are paying more and more attention to the emotional identity and the benefits of identity and status brought by eating, the extended products of foreign fast food are paid more and more attention by customers. In order to avoid the adverse effects brought by the importance of this extended product, it is necessary to make the service recognized by customers through communication, advertising and promotion activities. How to attract customers and keep them? Customers always want to get products or services that are greater than the cost they pay. Therefore, restaurants must provide customers with the maximum delivered value, that is, the difference between customer value and customer cost [5]. Increasing customer value: First of all, starting from the product quality, strict indicators such as the storage temperature of semi-finished products are formulated to ensure the unique flavor of food, and a strict procurement system is established to control raw materials. Secondly, continue to advocate fast, friendly and thoughtful service. Third, train employees to be courteous and courteous, and bring high person value to customers. Finally, promote the value of the image of foreign fast food. The golden "M" gate of McDonald's symbolizes joy and delicacy. Uncle McDonald and Colonel Kendeji represent peace and friendliness. Visiting foreign restaurants has become an experience of American food culture and one of the symbols of modern and happy life in China people's minds. Reduce the total customer cost: providing fast service can save customers waiting time, and standardized food can save customers' painstaking efforts when ordering food ... It is after comprehensively considering the value and cost that customers make consumption choices.

(D) Strengthen teamwork and professional division of labor, advocate separation and adjustment of services, and avoid duplication or omission of services

1. Strengthen teamwork and communication with partners, make clear the internal division of labor, give full play to each other's strengths, and be expert and refined: foreign fast food enterprises can require each employee to learn multiple positions, but they should be light and heavy, with outstanding personality, and everyone does not have to do everything every day, as long as they are well coordinated within the team, who is responsible for what. 2. Service separation and adjustment: Service separation refers to the partial separation between service personnel and consumers in the service process, that is, semi-self-service, such as allowing customers to help themselves with napkins, straws and ketchup. At the same time, because catering services can't be stored and easily disappear, we can adjust the contradiction between supply and demand by adjusting time, space and price, so as to overcome the difficulty that catering industry can't balance the contradiction between supply and demand with service storage.

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