SERVICESCAPE STUDY

KFC & Dunkin’ Donuts

Submitted to:

Prof. Ranbir Sodhi

Submitted by:

Group-6

ACNOWLEDGEMENT

We would like express our gratitude to Prof. Ranbir Sodhi for his guidance in this project. We

would also like to thank the staff at KFC and Dunkin Donuts to help us in our study with their

valuable inputs and time.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter Sub Chapter Topic Page No.

I Introduction 1

II Servicescape Parameters 2

III Methodology and Findings

(a) KFC 3

(b) Dunkin Donuts 4

IV Analysis

(a) KFC 5

(b) Dunkin Donuts 5

V Conclusion 6

VI References 7

VII Exhibits 8

LIST OF EXHIBITS

Exhibit Topic Page No.

1 KFC: Interior 7

2 KFC: Seats 8

3 Dunkin: Interior 9

4 Dunkin: Walls 10

5 Dunkin: Seating 11

6 Dunkin: Menu Display 12

1

I. INTRODUCTION

Servicescape is a concept that was developed by Booms and Bitner to emphasize the impact of

the physical environment in which a service process takes place. The servicescape includes the

facility's exterior (landscape, exterior design, signage, parking, surrounding environment) and

interior (interior design and decor, equipment, signage, layout, air quality, temperature and

ambiance).

The servicescape design and its synchronization with other elements of service, has an impact

of customers perception of quality. For example the customer experience in a fast-food

franchise vis-à-vis a small restaurant can be strikingly different; even though the quality of the

food maybe same, the customer may perceive higher quality in the latter over the former based

on the environment in which the service is provided. The servicescape design can not only help

the provider to charge a premium price on its service but also differentiate in the market on its

unique features.

2

II. SERVICESCAPE PARAMTERS

To study the impact of physical environment on the service in case of a restaurant, following

parameters were observed:

1. Ambience:

a. Color

b. Lighting

c. Clean

d. Music

e. Seating

f. Smell/Aroma

g. Temperature

2. Menu & Signage

3. Employee response(well-received)

4. Consultation

5. Food Quality

6. Packaging

7. Waiting Time

8. Payment Flexibility

9. Billing(Easy to understand)

10. Parking Facility

3

III. METHODOLOGY AND FINDINGS

The team studied the two fast-food franchise KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) and Dunkin Donuts

at two different timings observing as peak (evening 6 PM) and non-peak hours (Morning 11:30

AM). The parameters mentioned above were noted by each individual member separately, the

below mentioned findings are collated version of the same.

(a) KFC

Parameter Finding

Color & Decor Light colored walls (creamish) contrasting red & browns booths. Anime friends having fun together painted in the booths. (Exhibit-1)

Lighting All lights not working. Lights near the window above the seats having adequate natural light were on but those in the booth areas were off.

Cleanliness Only the table cleaned after the customers left, seating area of booth was not clean. Flies at the noon time.

Music American Pop. Adequate volume.

Seating Visibly Old. Slightly tattered. No tables for a large group of more than 6 people. (Exhibit-2)

Smell A mix of food and room freshener. Weird.

Temperature High temperature of AC when only 14 customers present in the noon time. Low temp. when crowded at 6 pm.

Menu & Signage The menu focused on the offers for today followed by combo meals, on the side walls of the counter à la carte menu was mentioned. Signage were present in all the necessary points

Employee Response In-adequate staff during both peak and non-peak hours, thus the response was hasty.

Consultation The staff did not try to up-sell their combo meals to customers ordering à la carte

Food Quality Items cooked in-house were fresh but add-ons like brownies for dessert were not fresh.

Packaging The food was packed adequately for immediate consumption, for take-away the food was packed in paper bags which will not help it stay hot, thus in-adequate.

Waiting Time 12 minutes in non-peak hours. Under-staffing. Only 1 counter out of 5 working for ordering. The personnel handling order-taking & billing; also helping with order delivering resulting in queuing even when a few customers present.

Payment Flexibility Accept all cards, meal coupons (Sodexho) accepted.

Billing Easy to understand all the taxes.

Parking Parking for Caculo mall can be used.

4

(b) Dunkin’ Donuts

Parameter Finding

Color & Decor Theme decor. Light blue color walls. Black colors heads/brains in 2-D

over the wall. Each brain having some ideas, some blank. Creative &

unique interior. (Exhibit-3 & 4)

Lighting Adequate lights.

Cleanliness Only the table cleaned after the customers left, seating area of booth

was not clean. Flies at the noon time.

Music Inadequate volume. Can’t make out which song is being played.

Seating Seating area divided into three areas. Can accommodate a large group

of 8-10 people on the same table. (Exhibit-5)

Smell Pure smell of Food

Temperature Normal

Menu & Signage Clear & detailed (Exhibit-6)

Employee Response Excellent

Consultation Excellent

Food Quality Good

Packaging Extraordinary

Waiting Time 4 minutes in non-peak hours. 6 minutes in the evening hours.

Payment Flexibility Accept all cards, meal coupons (Sodexho) not accepted.

Billing Easy to understand all the taxes.

Parking No Parking

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IV. ANALYSIS

(a) KFC

It has the advantage of being located at Caculo Mall. Hence, provide customers the

facility of parking & enjoy their meal carefree.

Understaffing which affects the service time & increases the waiting time for customers.

Cleanliness needs to be paid attention towards. Old seats, dirty table & flies create the

wrong impression in customer’s mind & spoil the experience as well.

No special care taken to maintain the aroma in the restaurant. Customers can smell

chicken which should be paid attention to, as vegetarians may not be comfortable about

the same.

The music & interior décor targets the youth.

(b) Dunkin’ Donuts

Fast service & excellent employee response & consultation to customers.

Music remains a noise as the customers can’t enjoy anything which they can’t even

recognize/ hear clearly.

The interior does not target any particular age group as the customers can interpret

theme in various ways & relate to it. Moreover, the unique interior gives a unique

experience too.

The provider does not have any parking space thus at peak time it becomes difficult to

find parking around the store.

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V. CONCLUSION

Various factors of the physical environment which form the servicescape for a service affect the

overall experience of the customer. For restaurant services; customer’s interest, likability, and

satisfaction would be affected by the parameters studied for this project.

Both KFC & Dunkin’ Donuts fair good in terms of food quality but the former one has more

waiting time. The ambience for the restaurants is good but KFC should take care of the

cleanliness & aroma issues. Apart from these factors, both the restaurants do fairly well in terms

of providing payment flexibility, billing etc.

Also, KFC has similar interior in terms of color themes for all its restaurant chains (red/brown)

whereas Dunkin’ Donuts has a different theme. Hence, for any customer walking into these

stores who have visited them at other places, KFC provides the similar experience unlike

Dunkin’ Donuts, which gives the customer a new experience.

7

VI. EXHIBITS

Exhibit-1

KFC: Interior

8

Exhibit-2

KFC: Seats

9

Exhibit-3

Dunkin: Interior

10

Exhibit-4

Dunkin: Walls

11

Exhibit-5

Dunkin: Seating

12

Exhibit-6

Dunkin: Menu Display