Recovery Strategies for Service Failures: The Case of Restaurants

The study objective was to determine the efficiency of recovery strategies for various service failures in the restaurant industry. Efficiency was determined by the customers' willingness to return (WTR) and visit the restaurant. The main findings suggest that recovery strategies that include service interaction with customers were dominant over strategies which include monetary compensation. Furthermore, it has been found that the most problematic service failures are the ones involving inappropriate servers' behavior, slow service, and food/beverage spillage. The study concludes with implications and recommendations for matching each service failure with a recovery strategy which will improve customers' WTR to the restaurant.