CASE 14

Designing and Managing Services

MIRCHI & MIME-A PERFECT JUGALBANDI OF CONTEMPORARY FINE CUISINE AND A UNIQUE SERVICE

“A well-crafted case that succinctly captures the truly unique characteristics of Mirchi & Mime and beautifully blends them with the core dimensions of superior customer service. It constitutes a very interesting and rich context for demonstrating to students how creative design and superior service, coupled with concern for society at large, can contribute to marketing excellence and sustainable competitive advantage.” Dr A Parasuraman, Professor of Marketing & Holder of the James W. McLamore Chair, University of Miami (author SERVQUAL Model)

THE PREMISE

This unique 110-seater bar and grill restaurant in Hiranandani Gardens, Powai (in Mumbai), was started by Prashant Issar and Anuj Shah, alumni of the Henley School of Business (UK). Prashant had 22 years of experience in the food and beverage industry while Anuj has 15 years in the corporate administration world. Both were eager to put their entrepreneurial abilities to the sword. Both had peaked very early in their professional life and were bored with enjoying the “good life” of doing nothing challenging. As they were looking for investment avenues, two potential investors suggested the concept of Signs, a Toronto-based restaurant, which was hailed for its innovative approach of employing the deaf. This duo, then, decided to bring the unique and novel concept to India.

Their vision was to take this concept further with a total of 21 mime concept restaurants in India, London, Dubai, and Singapore by 2018. Driven by the values taught to them by their alma mater, the two believed in two core values that shaped the inception of this unique restaurant nestled in the heart of Powai, Mumbai:

1. Integrity and commitment are more important than capability and skill.
2. It is important to generate wealth for society in addition to generating wealth for the individual.

Diversity in culture, societal gap, and acceptability of this concept in India inspired them to meet the people who would go on to become their most popular brand ambassadors for “Mirchi & Mime”.

THE JOURNEY

Before opening the restaurant, Anuj and Prashant first studied sign language and recruited staff from the Rochiram T. Thadani High School for Hearing Handicapped located in Chembur east, Mumbai. They spoke with not just their prospective employees, but with their families as well. They explained that the job would provide lasting, viable means of employment, and that would not only provide sustenance to the employee but in most cases bring economic stability to their families as well. The pre-requisites for a job at this restaurant were a radiant smile that came from the heart, focus in endeavour, a hunger for progress, and an uncanny intuitiveness for service to please others. The duo believed that integrity and commitment (internal values) are more important than capability and skill (external values), which can be developed.

Once the staff was recruited, they were trained for eight weeks by experts from Dr. Reddy’s Foundation with support from NASEOH. The module was led by Clyde and Ranjan, who joined the core team. The program comprised of introductory modules on life skills, job readiness and the English language, followed by an extensive basic hospitality skills module. Furthermore, the entire core team of Squaremeal Foods, including the chefs, were taught basic sign language by a certified tutor. The transformation of the team under Clyde & Ranjan’s guidance was ground breaking.

With the staff trained and ready for service, the team felt that this was certainly do-able. Going by the saying “A restaurant can last forever but the concept cannot”, the team realised that it was food that would have to lead the concept and service was only value addition and the icing on the cake.

They managed to put together a team of two young chefs with contrasting experience in world food and classical Indian cuisine. This led to a culmination of an unusual and exciting compilation of dishes, which defines their strength and brand proposition, “Good food served quietly”.

INTEGRATION OF THE SERVQUAL MODEL IN DEFINING THE SERVICE PHILOSOPHY

As firm believers of the saying by Donald Knuth, “The best practise is inspired by theory”, this duo has spent considerable amount of time to build the core ecosystem of the restaurant. The SERVQUAL model—developed by Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry in the 80s (popularly known as the PZB Model) and assimilated by Prashant and Anuj during their Henley Business School days—was used as the fundamental model and facilitator to measure, evaluate, and manage quality analysis of services in the restaurant.

The five dimensions—as used in the SERVQUAL model—were profoundly studied to arrive at the exclusive check list to build this unique fine-dining experience.

• Tangibles refer to physical facilities, equipment, and appearance of personnel—the packaging for the delivery of the service.
• Reliability is the firm’s ability to perform the promise service accurately and responsibly every time a customer interface is encountered.
• Responsiveness is the firm’s willingness to help customers and provide prompt, effective service.
• Assurance is knowledge and courtesy of employees and their ability to inspire trust and confidence.
• Empathy is caring and individualized attention paid to customers—service delivered from the heart.

Careful attention was given to each of the above five dimensions at each and every stage to make this conceptual dream a living reality

Tangibles

The team believed that tangibles in a restaurant business are highly important as a poor design gives rise to apprehension. A clear and simple brief was given: design was to be atypical of an Indian restaurant with a comfortable dining space which is contemporary, and has a stylish and contemporary cutting-edge design.

Minnie Bhatt of Minnie Bhatt Design transformed the bare shell into a stylish international space with carefully planted moments of truth. The restaurant is quirkily decorated, with a semi-private dining area settled under a wall decoration of mix and match, vintage culinary utensils, and with bell jars covering objects spread across the restaurant that exudes a bistro like charm. One wall boasts of a collection of traditional Indian recipes from an anonymous cookbook written in the 1900s, thus giving the customer a hint of what cuisine he/she can expect.

Some of the key points considered while executing the design were:

1. An open-door design layout was picked over a closed curtain layout as the team believed that it is the openness to accept and portray talent in the form of service that would help them excel in achieving their vision of wealth creation for the society.
2. Critical attention was to given to ensure that it was a restaurant and not a gimmick. Nothing that portrayed the concept of mime or silence was encouraged nor shown.
3. The tangibles were kept as generic as possible which did not give a hint to anyone about the concept of mime.
4. Special care was given to the sensitive nature of the staff’s disabilities. The menus were designed to visually show the customer what dish to order.
5. The menu layout is in a matrix format and easy to order. Instructions for sign language are illustrated and explained on the menu.

Reliability

The dimension of reliability was brought across the table with the quality of food and experience. The team worked upon making food the compelling reason to revisit coupled with service being a value-added experience.

Responsiveness

The inherent quality of responsiveness is evident among all the members of the team at Mirchi & Mime. Even during the afternoon hours when the restaurant remains closed, a visitor is welcomed with a smiling face and is promptly offered a glass of water by anyone who sees him approaching the closed doors. A feeling of warmth resides within the four walls of the restaurant, and it is this culture that persuades a visitor to step in again to enjoy the splendid culinary experience.

Within only four months of the launch, the restaurant was flooded with long queues, social media buzz, blogger reviews, and testimonials and reviews by visitors on Zomato. Responsiveness to the team had a different meaning. None of the visitor comments were liked, shared, or responded to by the team. Instead alterations in the menu, cuisine, and design were made based on the customer’s comments but without a response online. With the massive flow of reviews online, the team believed that responding to comments would eventually result in creation of a template response that would act as an expectation ground for the masses.

Assurance

The staff went through a rigorous training module which included sessions on Life Science, job readiness, simple English, and service skills. This training was not only given to the 27 servers but also to the others in the team to build understanding and relevance in a holistic manner.

Stock options for employees were given to all who completed one year of service, which further boosted the morale of the team and led to newer heights of customer delight. Mirchi & Mime was a second home for the employees that rewarded them richly for delivering a great service to the customers.

Empathy

The training helped build a sense of confidence and achievement within them, which indeed led to their abilities being used effectively and honoured. The line on the T-Shirts read “I know sign language. What’s your super power?” instilled the rightful reason for being employed.

The service gap is defined as the difference between what the customer expects and what is delivered. This gap was bridged by eliminating any kind of expectations from the customer. There was no buzz created at the time of launch with the sign boards, concept, or cuisine. The team believed that when there are zero expectations, the experience is equal to the expectation, and it is this experience that will bring back the customer. Thus, the entire business model revolved around serving the best quality food silently and effectively.

THE EXPERIENCE

The concept of Mirchi & Mime is pretty simple. Diners are greeted at the entrance by a hostess who points to the reservations-of-the-day book. Reserved diners scan the book for their names and point, while walk-ins can simply shake their heads and, well, walk in! Once seated at their tables—with illustrated menus in their hands—diners can, once again, simply point and indicate the number of portions. An easy-to-follow gesture glossary is also appended to the menu for diners to indicate other eating accoutrements like cutlery, crockery, salt, pepper, spices, etc.

Manager’s intervention takes place at various touch-points in the service delivery process. The first one occurs with the host introducing the concept to first-time diners. Sign language is demonstrated to the diner to help ease the service experience.

After a 10–12 minute wait, dishes start making an appearance on the table accompanied by tiny signboards indicating what each dish is, and the rest is as simple as sitting down to a meal at any other “regular” restaurant. And once you’re done, a simple chin tap with your right hand conveys your appreciation—a gesture enthusiastically appreciated by the server. It conveys that you have made their day. This is followed by bill payment and thanks.

EXPERIENCE SPEAK

An anonymous review on Zomato is an indication that the philosophy of the Mirchi & Mime team is understood, appreciated, and loved by all. The reviewer stated, “The numerous positive reviews of this place finally made me get to Mirchi & Mine on a busy weekday. The guys running this place were kind enough to get us a place promptly. Let me start with the wonder I had when I saw all these guys serving all the customers with a huge smile on their face. An absolutely amazing concept! I am glad someone thought of this. But mind you, it’s not just about the Mime, it’s all also about the Mirchi, the food’.

SCALABILITY

The team plans to open 21 mime concept restaurants in India, London, Dubai, and Singapore by 2018. With immense scope and availability of resources to pursue this dream, the venture is likely to face challenges at every stage of their journey. The Mime chain has now opened 2 restaurants in Mumbai with 52 mime servers and hopes to scale this unique fine-dining restaurant concept across major cities in India and globally.

QUESTIONS

1. Discuss the pros and cons of the unique Mirchi & Mime fine dining concept.
2. In this new era of shifting customer relationship, how has Mirchi & Mime forged a strong internal and external customer-based engagement using customer empowerment and customer co-production to deliver compelling value to the relevant stakeholders?
3. What are the challenges you foresee for the team on their journey to build and expand to 21 restaurants by 2018?
4. Keeping the SERVQUAL model in mind, what are the gaps seen in the restaurant service industry? How has Mirchi & Mime managed to bridge these gaps?
5. The restaurant was designed to give a unique dining experience to all. What is your response to expanding the mime concept into a home delivery service? Will this lead to exploitation of the specially-abled community or increase the revenues for the business dramatically? Will this concept work? Can the unique experience of the restaurant be replicated in the home delivery mode of service delivery? If you were the decision maker in the Mirchi & Mime team, what decision would you take?

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Ms Trisha Parekh-Phd student in NITIE, Mumbai and former Research Associate at K J Somaiya Institute of Management Studies and Research, Mumbai for content building and drafting the case study.