Customers’ Demographic Characteristics, Expectations and Actual Experiences Before and After Visits to Catering Establishments in and Around the University of Cape Coast, Ghana
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Customer service plays a vital role in any business especially the catering industry which is a “people” industry and so the main purpose of the study was to investigate the quality of customer service in catering establishments in and around the University of Cape Coast. Data was collected from 200 purposively selected regular restaurant customers of hotels and restaurants in and around Cape Coast using questionnaires with closed-ended items. Respondents were asked to rate their expectations prior to their visits and their actual experiences using a scale of 5. The data were coded and analysed using SPSS, version 17. Means were computed and the paired ‘sample t-test was used to determine whether significant differences between the means of customers’ prior expectations and actual experiences were significant.
The key findings were that, 85.0% of means were above the general mean, signifying that the customers’ satisfaction was met. However, there were highly significant differences between the means of customers’ expectations prior to visit and their actual experiences during and after the visits, indicating that some of their expectations were not fully met, although they were satisfied with the services received. Among the recommendations were that management should constantly train and educate staff to be abreast with modern trends of providing quality service and also meals served should have a good variety and be worth the price at which they are being sold.
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