ACCESSING CUSTOMERS SATISFACTION OF DEPARTMENTAL MENUS. CASE STUDY OF KADUNA POLYTECHNIC

Description

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.0     Background of the Study

The history of Kaduna Polytechnic can be traced way back to 1951, when the idea to start a Technical Institution in Northern Nigeria was thought about, the idea resulted into the establishment of Kaduna Technical Institute in 1956. The establishment of Technical Institute, Kaduna was as a result of the acceptance by the British Government on the recommendation of the Higher Education Commission, which suggested the upgrading of Yaba Higher College to Technical Institute and proposed Technical Institutes in Kaduna and Enugu. The institution was established with the objective of providing diverse instruction, training and research in technology, the sciences, commerce, the humanities and programmes of in-service instruction for members of the public service in Nigeria. In 1968, it amalgamated two training centres, namely; the College of Science and Technology and Staff Development Centre, with Survey Unit joining later. These formed the nucleus of its four- college structure then. Kaduna Polytechnic outside the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria, is known to be the biggest higher institution in Nigeria. For the avoidance of doubt, the comparism includes all other polytechnics, universities, colleges of education and other centres of higher educational pursuits in the country. It is also rated as the largest technical institution in Africa. It is a large institution in physical size and numerical strength of students and staff population and in the number of programmes it runs. It is a polytechnic built on four campuses, each campus is as big as many higher institutions in the country. The Polytechnic is highly cosmopolitan with students from all over Nigeria and other countries. From a modest figure of 158 students in 1961, student enrolment increased to 894 by 1968. Currently, the polytechnic has over 25,000 students undertaking more than 138 programmes in 44 Academic Departments with staff strength of about 2,963 (Academic and Non- Academic) The late Premier of Northern Nigeria, Sir Ahmadu Bello, Sardauna of Sokoto and Late Alhaji Isa Kaita, Wazirin Katsina, the then Minister of Education contributed immensely towards the establishment of this institution. It is significant to note that the Late Premier, Sir Ahmadu Bello opened the Staff Development Centre officially in July 1964, after the first students’ admission in 1963. The Board of Governors of Kaduna Polytechnic was up to August, 1991 made up of representatives of the “eleven owner state governments”, universities and the private sector. It was responsible for the general supervision and control of the institution. The Board is now known as the Governing Council. The Rector is the Chief Executive Officer of the institution. In the performance of his duties, he is assisted by the Management Committee comprising the Deputy Rector, Registrar, Bursar, Polytechnic Librarian, the College Directors, Director of Medical and Health Services, Director of Works, Director Physical Planning, Director Centre of Technology Entrepreneurship Education and Development (CTEED), Director Kadpoly Consult, Director Special Duties and Director Strategic Planning and Data Management. The monumental growth and achievements, physically and intellectually have proved that the institution has maintained its Spider image. The “web” has spread from Nigeria to Africa and beyond.

Kaduna Polytechnic is envisioned to be a key player in the education and integral formation of professionally competent, service-oriented, principled, and productive citizens. Through its tri-fold function of teaching and training, research, and extension service, the institution aims to provide a system that is characterised by high public esteem and demand with high internal efficiency. It will be a prime mover of the nation’s socioeconomic growth and sustainable development through the provision of trained and competent manpower. The Polytechnic hopes, over the early years of this new century, to consolidate its leadership in flexible off-campus, on-campus and online learning. It will become the recognised leader in a number of highly significant research and development areas. It will achieve a totally integrated web-enhanced academic, administrative and business information system. It will become the “Polytechnic of first choice” for an increasing number of school leavers and will be identified as a prime source of web-based training and commercial expertise with a diverse international customer base.

The core Mission of Kaduna Polytechnic are as follows;

1. Prepare Nigerians regardless of gender, social-economic status, creed and ethnic affiliation, to take control of their own destiny, liberating them from dependency and endowing them with initiative, creativity, critical thinking, entrepreneurial skills, democratic values and an appreciation of work and the world of work.
2. Educate and train Nigerians for higher productivity and responsible citizenship in an environment where educational access is equitable.

• To accelerate the development of professionals ready to meet international competition.

1. To inculcate nationalism and patriotism in the hearts and minds of the students and graduates.
2. To provide expanded access for lifelong learning and training.

Kaduna Polytechnic was established based on these objectives;

1. Produce semi-skilled, skilled and technical manpower necessary to restore, revitalize, operate and sustain the Nigerian economy and substantially reduce unemployment.
2. Provide trained manpower in applied sciences, technology and commerce, particularly at professional grades.

• Provide the technical knowledge and vocational skills necessary for agricultural, industrial, commercial and economic development.

1. Provide people who can apply scientific knowledge to the improvement and solution of environmental problems for the use and convenience of man.
2. Harmonize and interrelate with industry and the labor market to provide people with competence-based training that is relevant to the socio-economic needs of society.
3. Enable young men and women to have an intelligent understanding of the increasing complexity of technology towards becoming enterprising and self-reliant.

Department of hospitality management is a department in Kaduna Polytechnic, it is an offshoot of the previous department of food science and catering studies, which came into being in September 1972 offering introductory courses in hotel and catering studies, Nutrition and Dietetics studies. It took off with an initial intake of 37 students only in 1974, an introductory course in food technology commenced. By July 1998 the first set of HND graduants in catering and hotel management, nutrition and Dietetics were considered fit and awarded their certificate while the graduants of food technology were considered in July 1979. However, with an increase in student population, the management and NBTE decided on October 1981 to split the department into two autonomous departments, viz: a: Department of catering and hotel management b: Department of food technology. With the department becoming autonomous in 1981, a draft syllabus of 1987 and 1989 NBTE approved curriculum and courses specification of National Diploma and Higher National Diploma in catering and hotel management and Tourism were adopted by the department and academic programs commenced in the following:

a: HND in catering and hotel management

b: HND in Tourism

C: National Diploma in catering and hotel management

D: National Diploma in Tourism

E: Advanced certificate in catering and hotel management

F: Intermediate certificate in catering and hotel management

G: Pre-ND in catering and hotel management

H: Pre-ND in Tourism

In line with the best practices and norms, the department was later named Department of Hospitality, Leisure and Tourism management until 2015 when it was again split into two autonomous departments because of directives from National Board of Technical Education (NBTE) viz:

1: Department of Hospitality Management

2: Department of Leisure and Tourism management

The department of hospitality management as presently constituted run programs in the following courses:

1: HND Hospitality Management

2: ND Hospitality Management.

The department has two large kitchens and two restaurants, one set is used for training, while the remaining are used to serve meals to students and staffs. At the restaurant used to serve food to customers, continental and African dishes are offered. The service style is “table de hot” style of service. The kitchen is well equipped with cooking equipment’s and utensils example; Gas cooker, industrial mixer, pots etc. The restaurant is well finished with tables and chairs, air conditioner, fans and a mini bar. The waiters and cooks are the students who are under-going training.

Satisfaction is an overall customer attitude towards a service provider, or an emotional reaction to the difference between what customers anticipate and what they receive, regarding the fulfillment of some needs, goals or desire. Customer satisfaction is a common occurrence in our today’s competitive environment, as quality service delivery offered to customers is the key to sustainable competitive advantage for businesses whether small, medium or large scaled in any part of the world which include Nigeria (Biljana, 2011).

Satisfied customers form the foundation of any successful business because customer satisfaction leads to repeat purchases, business loyalty, and positive word of mouth which translates to more and more buying. There are numerous studies that have looked at the impact of customer satisfaction on repeat purchases, loyalty and retention (Biljana, 2011).

A restaurant with good customer service and quality always invites loyal and new customers whereas even a single poor customer experience can affect the image of the business as a whole. It is very important for a restaurant business to know and understand the concept of customer satisfaction in order to improve it and meet the requirement of the customers (Angelova & Zekiri, 2011).

In recent times, with the level of competition in businesses, small and large scale businesses are focusing their priorities towards customer’s satisfaction to be able to gain competitive advantage for survival, as they tend to make efforts in providing their customers with better service delivery. There is so much to be gained if business owners and managers understand that their customers are key to their survival and take adequate steps in ensuring that they are satisfied at all times to enable them return for more patronage, this understanding can have a long term effect on patronage as students by word of mouth can relate their experience with their mates who can tell others and with such the number of people who visit the restaurant will increase rapidly.

With the above understanding a research on accessing customer’s satisfaction of departmental menus is necessary as it will be used to understand how students and staffs can rate their levels of satisfaction based on the kind of customer service they receive from the eatry, this study will be of immense help to the owners and managers of restaurants especially those in Kaduna state polytechnic as they will see loose ends they are supposed to work on to increase their patronage.

• Statement of the Problem

Every business is interested to know more about their business impression and their customer’s perception which could help them bring positive changes and attract more customers, this is a known fact even amongst restaurant owners and managers in tertiary institutions such as Kaduna state polytechnic. Students and lecturers are the main patronizes of the restaurant and they may have divergent views as regards to the food quality, menu pricing and value they attach to what they receive, also how they feel about service promptness, friendliness of workers, the environment and the overall customer service if they are asked to rate service delivery as a whole.

Customers have more choices and flexibility these days, people are more aware of the value and the competition in purchases. In a restaurant business, if a customer is dissatisfied due to the poor service quality and product, he/she is more likely not coming back to the same place again.

Based on the need to understand really how customers feel about service satisfaction at the departmental restaurants in Kaduna polytechnic, this study will focus on data collection and analysis to fully understand what customer satisfaction has been for customers of the restaurant.

• Objectives of the study

The objective of this study is in accessing customer satisfaction of departmental menus in Kaduna state polytechnic. This study amongst others will pursue the following specific objectives:

1. To know menus provided in the restaurant.
2. To find out customer’s expectations of menus.
3. To find what brings satisfaction to a customer with respect to menu planned.
   • Significance of the Study

This study is significant because it will lead to understanding the kind of menus provided in the departmental restaurant, also it will lead to understanding what customer’s expectation are about the menus served in the department and it will also lead to knowing what menus bring satisfaction to customers.

• Scope of the Study

The study is designed to focus on knowing menus provided in the departmental restaurant, knowing what the customer’s expectations are of menus and finding out what brings satisfaction to customers in the departmental restaurant.

• Research Questions

• Do you know the menus provided in the restaurant?
• As a customer at the departmental restaurant, do you have expectations on menus served?
• What brings satisfaction to you as a customer at the departmental restaurant?