Pre-packaged breakfasts: How to maximise value, efficiency and guest satisfaction
“Here is a genuine hotel breakfast menu: grapefruit, followed by a choice of two cereals. Poached eggs and grilled bacon. Brown and white bread rolls with tea, coffee and cocoa.”
(Fed up in the air, Meanjin literary journal 2014)
Read the full article in the current issue of Accomodation Management Guide.
So wrote the noted cricket commentator, Gideon Haigh, in a highly entertaining short history of food service in the air.
He was quoting from Qantas’ in-flight breakfast menu…to be precise, the menu on its 1938 flying boat service between London and Sydney. How much have breakfast menus changed since that era, on airlines, or indeed in the accommodation industry? Of course, menus have changed elsewhere. Recently I was visiting the sleepy town of Hobart, where I stopped at a local café for breakfast. On the morning menu I noted, among other exotica, choices of braised alpaca or barbecued octopus. (I went for the octopus which was delicious!)
Off-site breakfast choices have been exploding in diversity, accessibility and sophistication. The runaway success of portable breakfast drinks is one example (of convenience rather than sophistication), as are booming breakfast franchises such as Boost Juice. Independent cafés have been proliferating. In my area it seems that a new café opens every other week. I like to joke that by 2025 my suburb will host approximately 4.3 cafes per individual resident.
In separate studies in 2013 and 2015 Travel Essentials commissioned nationally representative independent research by Australia’s leading food research agency to find out more about breakfast and travellers. Our research found that the number of guests who seek breakfast elsewhere than their accommodation is now close to 1 in every 2 guests. Of those who do eat breakfast provided by their accommodation (such as buffet, tray or à la carte), they are less likely to be satisfied than with most other breakfast options. How can accommodation maximise breakfast value in terms of guest satisfaction and operational efficiency?
Our research indicates that there are clues for optimising breakfast. The starting point for improving your guest’s breakfast experience is to ask the prior question of ‘who’ your market is. Breakfast service needs to maximise appeal to ‘types’ of guest, rather than be responding to those who write complaints on TripAdvisor or relying on your own taste preferences.
Our research showed that guests have specific breakfast ‘profiles’. These comprise preferences in areas such as health, convenience, quantity and so on. Delivering options aimed at serving specific guest priorities is likely to increase overall guest satisfaction. None of this need cost more in real terms, rather resources need to be utilised to maximise guest satisfaction.
Some operators fall into the trap of trying to offer ‘everything’ (perhaps not alpaca). I’ve seen tray breakfast menus with options that literally calculate out into hundreds, even thousands, of combinations. The ‘offer everything’ approach is understandable when faced with ever-increasing guest expectations but no sure idea of how to meet them. But it is hardly a recipe for an efficient food and beverage operation. Perhaps your guests are better served with a shorter menu of healthier options rather than large volumes or more choices.
While ‘convenience’ and ‘speed’ at the breakfast occasion are important for many (but not all) consumers, some interpret this as reducing breakfast to something reminiscent of a campsite mess hall in a space with all the ambience of a used whitegoods showroom. Breakfast room hours can be shortened in order to rein in labour costs. But our research showed that early departing guests find breakfast ‘on the run’ relatively unsatisfying. This implies that having nothing available for busy guests (such as corporates) is likely to result in a poor experience. Perhaps a traditional breakfast could be improved with an additional option such as a boxed breakfast for those who prefer a faster, more flexible choice. Our research found that guests are 40 per cent more satisfied by a boxed breakfast than by alternative ‘on the run’ solutions.
The Travel Essentials’ ‘boxed breakfast’ range is being developed to serve consumer profiles and maximise satisfaction. Research found that of those who do use our boxed breakfasts, 84 per cent are satisfied. We not only understand who our current boxed breakfasts reach – and why – we are honing our breakfasts to be optimised for the evolving breakfast habits and aspirations of your guests. This is a conversation we look to have with our customers: maximise return on breakfast through a deeper understanding of how consumer trends meet breakfast operations. It’s what I call a win-win-win outcome.
In 2013 and 2015 Travel Essentials commissioned research by Australia’s largest independent consumer research agency, Colmar Brunton. The studies comprised a nationally representative survey, plus qualitative research, of breakfast habits and attitudes of those travelling in 3 and 4 star accommodation.
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