MACHANG
Q: What factors have contributed to your organisation achieving this rank in customer excellence?
A: At Pubs ‘N Places (PNPL), the brand owner and franchisor of the Machang pub chain, we believe in robust training and development, along with sustainable process management and continuous audits. This helps us operate and execute consistent product and service delivery throughout our chain.
Also, people are the main strength in our business. We follow a simple philosophy at Machang – to treat every one of our employees the way that we want to be treated. This in turn is reciprocated by our staff towards our customers.
Next, we treat every single patron as a guest and not a customer. Guest-centricity is at the heart of our business, which builds a personalised service connection with our internal and most importantly, external customers.
Q: And what is your assessment of today’s consumers and their needs?
A: Today’s consumer is very advanced and informed. Whether it’s the mainstream, middle or upper categories, they’re well-versed in the products and services that they purchase, and competitive offerings in the market. Especially due to social media, customers get to know very fast when there is a great product and service offering.
Our consumers require quality products, and fast and friendly service, in a clean and safe environment with value for money. We take pride in being the largest pub chain in Sri Lanka delivering these expectations.
The uniqueness of Machang is that it offers all our patrons a truly Sri Lankan neighbourhood pub experience, similar to international standards.
Q: How has the country’s economic environment impacted buying behaviour?
A: There has been a considerable impact on buying behaviour especially in this category, resulting in negative comparisons year-on-year.
The rising cost of ingredients and primary products has increased our cost of goods. Moreover, fluctuating utility prices have also impacted us heavily in menu management and pricing.
Employee retention is also a major factor as most experienced employees leave for foreign employment, in turn increasing our training and staff related costs, which is also a burden on profitability.
Q: Could you outline the steps your organisation takes to achieve customer excellence?
A: We believe in going the extra mile and providing personalised service to our guests to achieve customer excellence through robust training. And we strive to exceed customer expectations by rewarding and recognising our team members for doing so.
We also engage in communication through social media and other means, such as on premise and digital customer surveys, to get feedback and recommendations from our guests on areas where we need to improve, and take constructive criticism positively.
Q: What role does technology play in achieving customer excellence? And how does your organisation capitalise on technological advancements?
A: We believe that technology plays a huge role and a vital one at that in the area of customer service excellence. Digitalising operational key performance indicators (KPIs) to make service delivery more efficient, accurate and fast is the way forward, and we are noticing a lot of changes in the sector on this front.
In today’s context, with a major part of the food sales mix being from deliveries, technology plays a vital role from ordering to GPS delivery tracking to digital payment methods. Machang is making strides in these areas to assist us in service excellence whilst providing tangible data to monitor operational parameters.
Q: In your view, is customer loyalty a thing of the past? Why or why not?
A: Definitely not – customer loyalty is very much a key factor in business, whichever time or generation we are in.
Customer loyalty ensures business sustainability and longevity. In particular, the present Gen Zs who have exposure to many brands and products look for high quality and good service along with value. If an organisation can deliver these aspects consistently with well trained staff, it will automatically build loyalty towards the business.
This is what we believe at Machang and we are focussed on not only building customer loyalty, but also rewarding and recognising our staff members through several initiatives we have planned.
Q: What are the organisation’s plans for the future?
A: As the largest pub chain in Sri Lanka, and being responsible for the progress and growth of both our franchisees as well as our partners, we believe in consistency and quality over quantity.
Therefore, our aim is to first ensure that we as a chain and our partners deliver the fundamentals in terms of quality and service along with safety, whilst consolidating their top and bottom line revenue streams in a sustainable manner.
We are focussed on expanding cautiously in the current context. However, we’re very optimistic about the expansion and growth of the tourism industry in Sri Lanka, and with all the efforts being made in that sphere, there is a lot of opportunity and potential to expand the brand in the future.
