Abstract: In 2 1 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 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 in 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

2 1 century, service marketing has become a hot spot sought after by all walks of life. The unique charm and function of service marketing are believed to be familiar to people engaged in the market. As an important member of the service industry, 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 the core concept of "service marketing". As an important member of the catering industry, foreign fast food cannot stand out from the fierce confrontation between Chinese and western fast food without service marketing.

First, the problems existing in the service marketing of foreign fast food enterprises

With the rapid development of domestic catering industry, more and more foreign capital and enterprises have entered the catering industry in China, and more and more foreign fast food enterprises have also entered. However, to our regret, in the face of fierce market competition, food innovation and price are still the most commonly used weapons of many foreign fast food enterprises. Their market competition concept still stays in the product marketing stage, and their daily operations and marketing activities are guided by the traditional 4p (product, price, channel and promotion) theory [1]. In China, foreign fast food, as a typical service industry with high customer participation, has obvious characteristics of service products, which leads to significant differences 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 using traditional product marketing theory to guide the marketing practice of fast food has brought profits and benefits to enterprises to a certain extent, but it has also brought many problems to foreign fast food enterprises:

(a) Foreign fast food enterprises are still excluded from China.

With the accelerated pace of life of modern urbanites, people's dietary requirements tend to be simple and casual. Young white-collar workers often go to fast food restaurants for lunch; Going out on weekends, western fast food is the best choice for young people to eat; On holidays, western fast food restaurants are crowded with people ... but in some public places, we often hear people scold how foreign fast food 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 malicious words are extremely unfavorable to its development.

(B) the lack of service differences and personality, foreign fast food can only "serve the majority."

The service of foreign fast food enterprises has amazed many domestic fast food enterprises. We acknowledge 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 that the pace of the restaurant is too fast, even music, talking and walking are fast. Some customers also complain that the 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 standards, as long as most people are satisfied. If the managers of foreign fast food enterprises know that "there are 250 supporters behind a customer", the damage caused by indifference to a few people is incalculable.

(3) It is difficult to attract new customers by attaching importance to sales services and neglecting pre-sales services.

Employees and managers of foreign fast food enterprises all work in restaurants, pursuing the "customer 100% satisfaction" they advocate. 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. Special children's seats and playgrounds provide convenience for parents with babies. Customers don't have to worry about finding spices, napkins and other trivial things. All they need to do is enjoy delicious food and perfect service. However, all this can only be enjoyed if you enter the restaurant and become their customer, that is, the service sold in China. Due to the relative strangeness of foreign fast food and the lack of awareness of pre-sale service, new customers will be nervous about the services they provide before consumption, which will lead new customers to choose other familiar enterprises to eat, so as to reduce the gap between actual experience and expectations [2]. This will not attract new customers for a long time, resulting in insufficient customer resources.

(d) Services are often repeated or omitted, which increases costs and reduces efficiency.

When restaurant receptionists are interviewing customers, it is very embarrassing to interview 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, receiving 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. Repetition or omission of these services is absolutely negative.

(e) No standardized services were implemented.

Western fast food pays attention to standards in many aspects. Take McDonald's as an example, its main foods are always hamburgers, French fries and coke. Even if there is a change, it is only a slight adjustment on the original basis, such as adding some chicken to the hamburger. 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 strictly enforce the standards in chain stores around the world, McDonald's has compiled a 350-page employee operation manual, which specifies the operation methods and steps of each job in detail to guide the work of employees around 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 that after cleaning every plate, they should spray disinfectant and wipe the surfaces of tables and chairs, but during the peak business hours, few employees can follow the standards. As for the standard of washing with sterilized hand sanitizer every hour and rubbing for 20 seconds above the wrist, no one abides by it.

Second, the analysis of the causes of service marketing problems of foreign fast food enterprises

(A) foreign fast food neglected to establish a local image and serve the public.

The reasons why foreign fast food enterprises are excluded from entering China are as follows: firstly, they have not established a corporate image based on China, and they do not pay attention to the differences between the local market and the markets of other countries in the world. They think that foreign fast food is still rare in China. Although they have grasped the general needs of markets in various countries: the accelerated pace of life, customers' demand for fast service, clean environment and high-quality food. But it ignores some subtle and important needs: different living standards, different consumer psychology and habits. Second, there is no "serving the public". China people attach importance to feelings, and once they accept your kindness, they will be soft and hard, while foreign fast food does not pay attention to "being kind to society".

(2) Western-style fast food pays too much attention to standards, and it is difficult to meet diversified needs.

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

(C) the way of information dissemination is wrong, and the so-called pre-sales service exists in name only.

Foreign fast food restaurants have spent a lot of time on the design of POP in the store. They try to convey the latest food and promotion information to consumers through various posters, light boxes and banners, but 90% of customers regard this information as a decoration, and their eyes only stay on it for 3-5 seconds. Moreover, the employees of foreign fast food enterprises basically work in restaurants, which can only achieve services sold in China to a large extent. Only when you walk into the restaurant can you appreciate the attentive service and professionalism of the waiter. 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 people get coupons, and all efforts are in vain.

(d) One person has multiple jobs, but none of them has specialized knowledge, resulting in duplication or omission of services.

Foreign fast food enterprises value the all-round development and team spirit of employees, so the training plan for employees is basically along these two aspects. A new restaurant receptionist should learn and master broadcasting, in-store visits, customer interviews, material sorting, recording and management, and be required to complete these within seven hours on duty; A small waiter must also learn to fry, fry, roast and adjust all the positions. That everyone has to do everything every day, but it is not specialized, but not refined. Although it emphasizes the necessity of teamwork and clear division of labor, communication and coordination often fail because everyone in the team must complete the same tasks.

Third, foreign fast food enterprises to strengthen service marketing countermeasures

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

Service marketing emphasizes dynamic braking and quick response to the market, especially for transnational foreign fast food, the localization of service marketing is very important. According to the special needs of cultural traditions, consumption levels, consumption patterns and customs of various countries, enterprises should formulate localized service marketing mix strategies in line with 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 Hu Spicy Soup, which are in line with the eating habits of consumers in China. 2. Price: McDonald's once launched two standard-sized sandwiches in the United States at a price of only 1 USD, which ignited a price reduction and promotion war in the fast food industry. However, during the same period, the price in China market increased slightly. Although affected by the SARS epidemic, the domestic catering industry has cut prices one after another, but the passenger flow has not been affected because of the successful promotion. 3. Channels: Efforts should be made to expand the service coverage mainly in-store and supplemented by out-of-store. It is necessary to invite customers in and employees out, so as to close the psychological distance with consumers through integrated marketing communication, thus establishing the image of China company in customers' minds and enhancing the brand recognition of foreign fast food by China customers. 4. Promotion: starting with personnel selection, advertising, business promotion and public-private relations. It is best for the restaurant staff to be local people who have been trained in a standardized way; Advertising should be done mainly through television, newspapers and the Internet. The protagonist of the advertisement should be the ordinary people in China, and the advertisement should be full of human feelings. Commercial 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 June last year 165438+ 10, McDonald's donated10 million yuan to china charity federation for the purchase of Xinhua dictionary, which was donated to more than 20,000 primary school students in poor areas/kloc-0, with remarkable influence.

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

The core of fast food is to meet the needs of mass consumption, and it emphasizes hygiene, quickness and convenience. QSCV of McDonald's and CHAMPS standards of KFC can be regarded as models of foreign fast food. However, the standardization of services can not meet the different needs of all consumers, and the unchanging service standards 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 differentiated and personalized services according to customers' preferences, so that customers can have psychological satisfaction and goodwill towards 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 comes first, and pre-sale services are strengthened to attract and retain customers.

In order to attract new customers, retain old customers and ensure that foreign fast food enterprises have a steady stream of customers, restaurants should also strengthen pre-sales services while doing a good job of sales-providing information to customers when they are not spending. Since catering services are invisible and intangible before customers consume, we can provide some practical clues on the coupons that have been signed and require recycling statistics to help customers understand and understand services, reduce information asymmetry between enterprises and customers, and promote service consumption. At the same time, because customers pay more and more attention to the benefits of emotional identity and status brought by diet, the extension products of foreign fast food are paid more and more attention by customers. In order to avoid the adverse impact of 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 and retain customers? Customers always want products or services that cost more than they pay. Therefore, restaurants must provide customers with the maximum delivered value, that is, the difference between customer value and customer cost [5]. Increase customer value: First of all, start with product quality, set strict indexes such as storage temperature of semi-finished products, ensure the unique flavor of food, establish strict procurement system and control raw materials. Secondly, continue to advocate fast, friendly and thoughtful service. Third, cultivate employees to be polite and bring high human value to customers. Finally, enhance the value of foreign fast food image. The golden "M" door of McDonald's symbolizes joy and delicacy. Uncle McDonald and Colonel KFC represent peace and friendship. Visiting foreign restaurants has become an experience of American food culture and one of the symbols of modern happy life in China. Reduce the total cost of customers: providing fast service can save customers' waiting time, and standardized food can save customers' hard work when ordering food ... customers make consumption choices after comprehensively considering value and cost.

(4) Strengthen teamwork and professional division of labor, advocate service separation and adjustment, and avoid service duplication or omission.

1. Strengthen teamwork and communication with partners, make clear the internal division of labor, give full play to their respective advantages, and be expert and refined: foreign fast food enterprises can require each employee to study multiple positions, but they should be light and heavy, with outstanding personality. Everyone does not have to do everything every day, as long as the team is well coordinated, who is in charge of what and which fast food area, and then rotate every day. 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 letting customers 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, thus overcoming the difficulty that catering industry can't balance the contradiction between supply and demand with service storage.

(five) the combination of professional training and "walking management", the implementation of service standards.

1. Instead of letting the first training representative in the restaurant do it himself, it is better to use him for service training, so as to ensure the accurate delivery of standard services. In addition, training introduction, video recording and other methods must be used to assist basic training. 2, "walking management"-managers visit the front line, no matter in what capacity, mysterious customers or senior inspectors, their task is to urge and encourage employees, so that employees can always remind themselves of their service standards, because they are always staring at them, and take this as the basis for employees' promotion.

refer to

[1] Zou. Marketing [M]. Hunan: Hunan Normal University Press, 1998.53-56.

[2] (America) philip kotler. Marketing management: analysis, planning and control [M]. Shanghai: Shanghai People's Publishing House, 9th edition.

[3] Feng,,. Modern marketing management course [M]. Dalian: Dongbei University of Finance and Economics Press.

[4] Wang Xiaoming. McDonald's/KLOC-Class 0/8 [M]. Kyushu: Kyushu Publishing House.

[5] Xia Tiejun. American restaurant management [M]. Hunan: Hunan Science and Technology Press.

For reference only, please learn by yourself.

I hope it helps you.