no one likes to wait in a line.
As my business has grown, so have the lines. I have discovered that people are only willing to wait for just *so* long before they turn around and leave. Even to this day, when I see someone come into my place and take one look at the line of eight people waiting to be served, they turn around and leave... it drives me nuts.
GRRRRRR!!! I HATE THAT!
So, I spent some time looking into this. If someone walked into the place, I wanted to be sure they stuck around to buy something!
As my business has grown, so have the lines. I have discovered that people are only willing to wait for just *so* long before they turn around and leave. Even to this day, when I see someone come into my place and take one look at the line of eight people waiting to be served, they turn around and leave... it drives me nuts.
GRRRRRR!!! I HATE THAT!
So, I spent some time looking into this. If someone walked into the place, I wanted to be sure they stuck around to buy something!
First and foremost,
improve speed of production.
I'm going to write a couple of posts about production and service speed in the near future, but that is not what this one is about.... Suffice it to say that your first emphasis should be on increasing the speed of production. My average customer is now served in 45 seconds, so we can motor through customers pretty fast.
Second - design the line.
People hate standing in line; they feel like it is a waste of their time. Thus, you must convince them otherwise: reduce the 'appearance' of a long line, add distractions to keep them from thinking about their being in a line, make sure they know what they want when they reach the register, AND add things for them to buy while waiting for their turn.
reduce the *appearance* of a line
In short - don’t make it straight. A straight line looks longer and feels longer than a curvy line. Try to design your line so it curves, goes up and down and around. Here is how I set up the line at Koffee? to try and address this issue:
The guy in the black shirt on the left is standing in front of the
cash register. The door to the outside is on the right (thru the
curtain). You can see from this example that as a line forms it must form
in a snake-like pattern.
make sure people know what they want when they reach the register:
Some coffeehouses I've visited have poor line placement, so it is difficult to read the menu until you are AT the register... This leads people to stand in front of the line gawking at the menu "uuhhh - I'd like a... uhhhh - a latte? and do you have any cookies?" This slooowwwssss down the line dramatically. Instead, you must have the line and traffic flow set up in such a fashion that by the time a customer gets to the register, they know for certain what they want, ready to order.
As you can see from the picture, people can start reading the menu from the base of the steps going up to the ordering area. Once they reach the top of the stairs, they are within reach of the grab & go cooler and can see the baked goods in the cases. Thus, by the time they reach the register (on the left), they know exactly what they want and have grabbed what they need from the cooler. This means the person at the register can just ring them through. Fast!
distract your customers!
Add things along the path of the line to distract and amuse customers. I've tried a number of things along these lines. I like the digital picture frames; they are cheap and you can add in rotating pictures at timed intervals to promote products, services etc.
make sure people know what they want when they reach the register:
Some coffeehouses I've visited have poor line placement, so it is difficult to read the menu until you are AT the register... This leads people to stand in front of the line gawking at the menu "uuhhh - I'd like a... uhhhh - a latte? and do you have any cookies?" This slooowwwssss down the line dramatically. Instead, you must have the line and traffic flow set up in such a fashion that by the time a customer gets to the register, they know for certain what they want, ready to order.
As you can see from the picture, people can start reading the menu from the base of the steps going up to the ordering area. Once they reach the top of the stairs, they are within reach of the grab & go cooler and can see the baked goods in the cases. Thus, by the time they reach the register (on the left), they know exactly what they want and have grabbed what they need from the cooler. This means the person at the register can just ring them through. Fast!
distract your customers!
Add things along the path of the line to distract and amuse customers. I've tried a number of things along these lines. I like the digital picture frames; they are cheap and you can add in rotating pictures at timed intervals to promote products, services etc.
I also like to show written responses to suggestions (from the suggestion box) on a cork board (you can see it on the wall to the left).
Some other things I've used in the past to distract people are a stack of newspapers near the line, a paper menu of our products, and funny posters. I've seen some place TV screens with black and white cartoons running in circuits to keep people distracted. I don’t do that because I don’t like TV in my establishment... but it could work in yours!
line the line with stuff to buy
You see this all the time when you are waiting in line at the grocery store: candy, small items, magazines, gum, sitting in easy-to-grab racks right next to where the line runs. These guys are masters of the line! I recently went into a pharmacy and saw this: WOW!!! Now THAT is using the line to maximize sales!!
I have much to learn from you Master CVS!!
I think you get the idea; put up some tasteful shelves, hanging baskets of shirts, travel mugs, etc. along the line pathway that people can pick up, examine and buy. You'd be surprised how much that can add to the transaction!
Well, that is enough for today. I hope you found this helpful, and PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT! Let’s get a discussion going here. I want people’s thoughts on this.
Best,
Duncan
The Coffeehouse Guy
I think you get the idea; put up some tasteful shelves, hanging baskets of shirts, travel mugs, etc. along the line pathway that people can pick up, examine and buy. You'd be surprised how much that can add to the transaction!
Well, that is enough for today. I hope you found this helpful, and PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT! Let’s get a discussion going here. I want people’s thoughts on this.
Best,
Duncan
The Coffeehouse Guy
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