4. Matching the service style to the food
For Modern Market, pivoting to expanded service has been in discussion for a couple of years, Robison said. After piloting the revamped service model in three restaurants, it rolled out systemwide late last year.
Forcing guests to bus their own tables and interrupting their conversations with buzzers alerting them to pick up their orders was an ill fit with Modern Market’s high-quality fare, Robison said.
“Having to take your plate up to a bus station just didn’t quite match up with the elevation of our food,” she said. “We want them to leave with a great memory of what the food looked like and tasted like, so they’re encouraged to come back.”
Modern Market employs a blended-service model in which customers order at the counter and food is brought to them. The chain is testing a radio-frequency tracking system for orders in three units. It’s especially useful in Modern Market’s largest restaurants, stores that span multiple levels, to give diners a tracking device with each order so food runners can be automatically guided to the correct table, she said. Smaller stores rely on table numbers to match food with diners.