“The average service time has gone from five minutes down to three and a half minutes.”
Zankou Chicken is a mediterranean fast casual concept that began as a small family-owned business on a street corner in Lebanon in 1962. Co-owner Ara Iskenderian says that the restaurant was founded by his grandparents, and in 1984, his parents brought their famous recipes to California to start a business there. The restaurant, now one of eight locations run by Iskenderian, serves healthy foods using high-quality proteins and locally sourced produce, and are known throughout Southern California for their family recipes.
One of the initial challenges that Zankou Chicken restaurants faced was the competitive nature of the fast casual market. “The faster you can deliver the food and the better service you can give, it puts you that much ahead of the competition,” said Iskenderian. The issue stemmed from the ordering process. Customers would first place an order at the counter, take a number and wait to be called. The waiting combined with the bustle and noise level of the restaurant “added a whole element of stress just to get your food,” said Iskenderian. “With everyone’s busy life and all the things going on, nobody wants to worry about what number they were at Zankou Chicken.”
Iskenderian began to focus on solutions for providing better service to his customers, something better than the number system and shouting method. His research led him to LRS’ guest pager solution.
“We thought the design was very nice and that it was a beautiful-looking product. What we loved most about the guest pagers is how easy they were to use, as well as the look and feel,” said Iskenderian.
During its busiest hours, Zankou Chicken typically serves up to 50 customers at a time. Implementing the guest pagers has greatly improved speed of service, streamlined processes and has made it much easier for his staff to do their jobs. “They can now focus on providing better service instead of calling out numbers,” said Iskenderian.
By eliminating the numbers system and implementing the guest pagers to alert customers when their orders were ready, Iskenderian said that the average service time has gone from five minutes down to three and a half minutes.
Customers have peace of mind and no longer have to worry about listening for their number to be called. According to Iskenderian, using the pagers eliminates that element of stress, allowing guests to relax and fully enjoy their time at Zankou chicken.
Now that staff members aren’t burdened with name shouting and adding to a disruptive atmosphere, they can now focus on delivering better service and engaging with customers in the restaurants.
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