Survey Says...

You finish a meal and your server sidles over sheepishly and asks you to spend a minute filling out a written survey. A) You do it because you’re mad as heck and someone’s head is going to roll. B) You do it because it’s your favorite waitress, like, ever. C) You would have done it, except you’re in a big hurry to get home because your show is on tonight.

The cumulative value of these surveys to a restaurant is nebulous. On average between 1 and 5 percent of the dining public will fill out a paper comment card, and these responders are generally the disgruntled and the cheerleaders—in other words, the statistical outliers.

Long Range System’s electronic comment card, used at Bd Mongolian Barbeque (see today’s review), captures the opinions of 75 percent of diners. It’s the brainchild of Ken Todd.

“I was in the restaurant business for 14 years. Back in 1995, I was out to dinner with the wife one night and had a typical bad experience. The manager came around and asked how everything had been. I said it was fine and my wife gave me a hard time. I just hadn’t wanted to make a scene. A light bulb went off.”

Todd started a business, got a patent in 2000 and ended up partnering in 2002 with Dallas-based Long Range Systems, a producer of restaurant paging systems. The idea is simple: At meal’s end, your check arrives on a black clipboard with a keyboard embedded in it. Hmm, that’s fun. Feel like taking a quick survey? Sure.

Survey pads are placed in a docking station, the data is downloaded every night and the restaurant is sent a pdf of the results the next morning. “A lot of measurement devices don’t isolate individual servers,” says Todd. “We generate a report every day that rates individual servers on whatever the restaurant is trying to measure. A restaurant can instantly react, and servers can be coached and counseled.”

It sounds a little Big Brother, but this new technology could mean positive change for the dining public. Transmitters in the survey pad mean that some survey responses trigger a page to the on-site manager—an affirmative response to “Is this your first visit?” or a negative response to “Would you recommend this restaurant to a friend?” mean that a manager is heading your way to guide or to solve a problem. The system was used in only 5 restaurants last year—now it’s up near 300 internationally, with names like Chili’s, Shoney’s and Buffalo Wild Wings jumping onboard. With the potential to capture demographic information—age, income, gender, zip code—other applications are numerous. Already it’s being used at Mercy Hospital in Miami as a satisfaction measurement.

Serious stuff, but still it’s novel fun for the restaurant-goer.

“Kids like to play with it and some people perceive it as a toy,” says Todd.

Who says you shouldn’t play at the table?