Profile Paper

Profile Paper
Walking in to an office filled with vibrate colors in the form of stripes along the wall with the huge Taco Bell logo placed in the center of the wall, I saw my District Manager, Christina Mims, sitting at her desk talking to one of her Restaurant General Managers about bringing up there customer base. I sat in one of the chairs in front of her desk with my tape recorder and notepad full of questions about the ins and outs of the restaurant industry and Taco Bell. As she ended her conversation with one of her General Managers, I looked around her office and saw all the awards she received in just the two years of being a District Manager and didn’t realize how difficult and rewarding it could be to have her position. With her long sandy brown hair that came down to the middle of her back and her brown blazer, she got off her blackberry and smiled at me. “Good Afternoon Jessica, I’m so excited that you decided to interview me today. Are you ready to start?” was the first thing that came out of her mouth as her eyes lit up and her smile continued to show on her face.
Asking about the differences between Taco Bell and other restaurants, she thought the main differences between them were “Taste, Appearance, and Price.” When compared to Dell Taco, one of Taco Bell’s biggest competitors, she said “Their taste is bland, they have smaller portions of food, there are no common characteristics about all there buildings on the inside and outside, and their prices are lower due to their smaller portions.” Christina also believes that Taco Bell handles their customer complaints differently. We do have a system that we follow when dealing with upset customers to make them want to come back, and keep them satisfied. The system is called L.A.S.T, which stands for Listen Apologize Satisfy and Thank. When approached by an irate customer, this is how Christina attacks the situation, “I listen to the customer twice because they tend to talk about their problem more then once and they just want someone to listen to their problem and sympathize with them. I apologize for their inconvenience to let them know that the company is concerned with the problem and we did not mean to mess up their order. I satisfy them by offering them something more then what they asked for like an extra cinnamon twist or drink. Lastly I thank them for coming to me with the problem and allowing Taco Bell a second chance to correct the problem. That way they know we are more then just a fast food restaurant company, but we are also a company that is concerned with our customer’s satisfaction.
Due to the change in economy I also asked her rather or not she knows of any projects that had to be discontinued because of it. She responded “Yes, there were a lot of scrape and rebuild projects that we had in mind to expand the company and upgrade some of the older stores. Since the company has been unable to renew land contracts there will be some closing of stores, and we are unable to buy more land because the interest rates on loans are so high. Our budget as to how much money we can spend on uniforms, equipment, and other supplies have been cut also.” Christina has found some trends in the food industry despite the economy, “such as sales have increased because people can’t afford to dine in at full service restaurants, pay tips, and a full meal. Also, now a days people want a quick meal because they may have two jobs and don’t have time to cook or eat a full meal in-between shifts. As a downfall on our part, I found that our customer service skills have decreased because everyone is depressed or stressed out from the struggle.” Even though Taco Bell is in the struggle, the company still tries to help out the community by “hiring a lot of people that have been laid off rather then young adults, giving coupons to non-profit organizations, and also participating in donations for World Hunger and the Boys and Girls Club.”
Staying positive is one of Taco Bell’s main focuses with the employees. We believe that a happy and successful company comes from the employees that work there because there is nothing more important then them but the customers. So when hiring people some of the biggest challenges that Christina faces is “finding the right people with a positive attitude, well qualified, that wants to work, and is willing to do the job.” We have various kinds of customers that we have to please so hiring the right people is very important. The three main types of customers we get are “the lunch break customer, kids/teens that are indecisive and play around in the store, and the family that just wants their order to be correct and time isn’t that big of an issue.”
Fast food restaurants have a lot more to them then just the simple cash or credit transaction that goes on between the customer and the employee. Not many people see that, and being an employee I have learned how to treat people that are at work because I know what they are going through. I know that they are not only working, but they are trying to meet goals for their company.