Paying attention

Paying attention
Theme
I have observed six different restaurants. Here are my observations and insights:

Nello’s

Observations
Before I entered the store:

• Does the restaurant draw you in? If so, how?
o Not much the door and sign seemed a little old, but matches the restaurant theme. It’s
marketing is driven by recommendations and not by visual appeal.
• Is the door open or closed?
o The door was closed
• How does this make you feel?
o Made me feel in doubt if the restaurant was opened. If a waiter hadn’t opened it right
after I tried to open it, Ï would have left and gone somewhere else. I guess they do that
for safety reasons, because I went there at night and the street is kind of isolated.
• How big is the sign lettering and in what font?

o It’s big enough to notice across the street. The font is like this: Nello’s
• What does it tell you about the restaurant?
o The sign seems to match the place, because the handwriting style makes it more
personal, customized, home made, not industrialized.

Environment:

• What is the color scheme of the store? How does this affect you?
o The predominant color is yellow, but there are lots of posters of ancient italian movies,
an Italian flag, a flag of the Rome soccer team, sculptures, paintings, mirros, writings and
drawings that reminds us of Italy. That’s because the restaurant was founded and is still
owned by Nello, a famous Italian actor that came to Brazil to retire and opened a
restaurant, with the purpose to sell italian food that seems home made.

• How high is the ceiling? How does this feel?
o The ceiling is higher than most places, but it doesn’t seem that way because the lights
are very low. This increases the atmosphere of intimacy, which is great.
• How brightly lit is the restaurant? How does this affect you?
o It is poorly lighted, but this creates a climate of romance, which was good, because it
was my fifth dating anniversary

• How loud is the environment?
o It was quite low, but probably because we went a little late at night and there where
few customers. But we were able to listen to the other customers’ conversation.
• What is causing the noise?
o Mostly chating, but it wasn’t loud, as I’ve said
• Is there music playing? If so, does it fit the environment?
o No. This was good, because we were able to talk and listen each other properly
• Is the store warm or cold?
o The store was colder then the outside, which was great because it was a really hot night.
The temperature was ideal.
• Is the restaurant crowed with merchandise or is it sparse?
o It’s crowed with Italian items, as I’ve said

• Does the restaurant have a distinctive smell?
o Not in particular.
• Where is the cash register located
o It’s located near the entrance, but the waiter brings the bill to the table, the customers
don’t generaly interact with the cash register
• How visible is the restaurant security?
o Invisible
• How long do you want to stay in this restaurant?
o Two hours
• Does the environment influence the perceived value of the merchandise?
o Yes, the environment causes a great impression

Personnel

• How long does it take before a waiter initiates contact?
o The waiter came imediately
• Does the waiter have a script to follow with each customer?
o Not in particular, but the speech doesn’t vary much, because the service have only a few
possibilities of interaction (what would you like to order, do you want a beverage…)

• Does the waiter treat different customers differently?
o No, pretty much the same
• What is the ratio of waiters to customers?
o One waiter to 8 customers on average
• What age and gender are the employees?
o All male and middle aged (30-40 years)
• Do the waiters have a uniform?
o Yes, they have to use a white shirt, red tie and a black vest. Very Italian.

• Do the waiters match the stores image?
o Yes, totally, I feel a little in Italy, they give another touch of sofistication to the place,
you feel well served, the waiters are very polite.

Products

• What is the first product you notice?
o The dishes (were clean)
• Is there a central display table with featured products?
o No, you don’t see the food until It is brought to the table by the waiter.

• How are the products arranged?
o The meat is placed in a single plate and there are other auxiliar recipients for sald and
rice. The presentation of the food was very pleasant, the salad seemed fresch, colorful
and well organized.
• Are there free samples or demonstrations?
o No
• What products are at eye level?
o None
• What items in the store are in the least accessible locations?
o Alchoolic drinks
• Where are the most and least expensive products located?
o Least expensive: bottle of water
o Most expensive: imported drinks
• Are the impulse items near the cash register?
o No, because it’s the kind of restaurant that the waiter brings the bill to the table

Customers

• Are most customers alone or with someone else? What is the relationship?
o With someone else, mostly relatives, friends or dates
• What is the average age and gender of the customers?
o 30-50 – male and female, equally

• When a customer enters the restaurant, do they tend to walk in the same path or direction?
o The waiter leads the customers to the most appropriate table considering the number
of people
• How long do customers stay in the restaurant, on average?
o Two hours

• What do customers purchase in the restaurant (meals, desserts, beverage)?
o Generally an entrance, main dish, beverage and dessert

INSIGHTS
• The story of the place is written in the menu, and the whole environment have elements that
are referenced in the story and the Italian roots of the founder, which made this restaurant very
special and unique.

Desfrutti
Observations
Before I entered the restaurant:

• Does the store draw you in? If so, how?
o Yes, the entrance is very beautiful (see the picture) and there is a banner and a nice
menu in the sidewalk to atract the customers

o The door is always opened
o Welcome
o It’s not very big (see picture)
o I tells me that it is directed to women and probably offer healthy and natural food. But
the weird thing is that the public is very diverse (a lot of guys also go there)

Environment:

o The walls are yellow but the place is very colorful because of photographs of fruits and
juices. The area where the natural juices are made is visible by the customers, so you
can see the fruits and colorful juices too. It’s very plesant, makes us feel happier and
more energetic to face the rest of the day.

o The ceiling is high, this makes me feel that the place is very big and comfortable, with
enough space to all customers.
• How brightly lit is the store? How does this affect you?
o It’s very very bright, because it uses natural lighting. Makes me feel upbeat, optimistic.
o It’s very loud
o Chating – the accustics of the place weren’t the best…
o No
• Is the restaurant warm or cold?
o It’s cool, because of the air conditioning (it was a very hot day, the temperature was
great)
o The visual elements are sparse, pleasant to the eyes
o Fresh fruit

o Next to the place where they make the juices, away from the entrance
o invisible
o 45 minutes
o Influences tremendously, the place seems refined, clean, bright, “spaceful”, healthy

Personnel

o It takes too long, sometimes more than ten minutes. The service is the place’s weakest
point.
o Not in particular, but the speech doesn’t vary much, because the service have only a few
possibilities of interaction (what would you like to order, do you want a beverage…)
o No
o One waiter to 10 customers I guess
o It’s 50%-50% between males and females, ages from 20 to 30
o yes
o Yes, clean, young, with colorful clothes

Products

o The wraps, because of the banner in the entrance
o No, but the fruits are strategicaly displayed for the customers to see
o The food is beautifully arranged on the plate, with some herbs decorating it, very nice
and clean, the food always seem fresh and delicious
o no
o Juices (are prepared and then placed on the counter, so that customers can see them)

o N/A
o Least expensive: bottle of water
o Most expensive: dishes with grilled noble beef
o No, Desfrutti doesn’t sell junk food or soda, because of it’s purpose to serve only
healthy food and encourage a healthy and balanced nutrition. That’s why they don’t sell
chocolate or candy near the register.

Customers

o Generally with someone else, mostly co-workers (it’s near lots of commercial buildings)
o 25-40 years old, 50-50 male and female
• When a customer enters the store, do they tend to walk in the same path or direction?
o Yes, normally go straight ahead and a hostess show the way to the most proper table
o 1 hour
o Normally a dish with wraps, crepes, natural sandwiches or grilled meat with salad and a
juice. The place is very famous because of its differenct juices, including therapeutic
ones, with surprising mixtures between several Brazilian fruits, honey, coconut water,
and other stuff (their names references the part of the body or disease the juice helps to
treat -> anti-flu, anti-stress, anti-depression, skin, etc)

Insights
• The place could be perfect: great environment, great food, great lighting and temperature. But
it’s not, mostly because of the bad operations management of the service:
o It takes too long to be attended
o The employees are not well devided by zones - even though you tend sit in the same
place, you are rarely served by the same waiter. If it was the same waiter, probably he
would remember the pattern of your orders, and execute the service more efficiently
and with less mistakes
o The functions are not very clear. Some employers wear black clothes and others orange
clothes, but the function of each one is not clear to the customer (you don’t know
exactly who is supposed to take the orders, who only takes the plates of, or who is just a
hostess. You see a whole lot of employees, but you are not sure who you are supposed
to call)
o The process has a useless repetition: the waiter takes the order in paper and then has to
enter a code in a terminal with an information system (there are only two terminals in
the entire restaurant) and place the order there. Why not use palm tops and do the
process just once?
o Because the waiter has to register the same information twice, many times he tries to
remember the order by heart to translate to the system. But by the time I stood there 3
orders where wrong, and they had to replace them, probably there are many mistakes
in this process because the memory of the waiter is not very good, and there are a lot of
simultaneous orders.
o As we can see the juice production and delivery system, I noticed that there is no policy
of First in First Out, some juices that were made after others, were delivered first.

Coffee Break

Observations

o Yes, they decorate the restaurant according to the closest holliday and put their
marvelous cakes for everyone to see from the street.

o Open
o The whole place feels like a home, not a restaurant, specially because it actually was a
residential house before it turned into a restaurant, but also because of other factors
that I’ll comment later.

o The sign is medium, the font above
o It tells me that it’s not a fancy place, but it’s cozy, friendly and simple

Environment:

• What is the color scheme of the restaurant? How does this affect you?
o The color of the walls are yellow (now I realize that practically all the restaurants I went
to have the same predominant color!) and there are colorful pieces of decoration (such
as those flowers in the picture below). These things all sugest that the main target is
female!

o It’s low, just like at your house. Feels like home!
o It’s as bright as a home
o It’s very loud
o Chating: lots of women!
o Yes, popular Brazilian music, the ones that middle aged women enjoy a lot! That’s why it
fits the environment. There is also a TV always tuned in a news channel (in other places
where the target is male, normally they leave it in the sports channel , that basically
talks about soccer, the greatest passion of our country!).
o Normally warm, but they have air conditioning system
o No, just some folders made with a home printer advertising diferent sorts of juices and
desserts

o Yes, smells like your mama’s home when you arrive on lunch time! Home made food!
o Near the entrance

o The place doesn’t seem to be very worried about it
o 45 minutes-1 hour
o Yes! As I’ve said, feels like home. They determine the target very well and satisfies them
even though they don’t have much space available!

Personnel

o 2-3 minutes, at most

o Normally people tend to go more than once a week there, because it’s near the office,
and also they tend to sit in the same areas. The waitresses always serve the same zones.
So you are likely to not even have to order, because the waitress knows the pattern of
your orders. She just confirms with you.
o Yes, because of the reason above, the service seems very personalized
o One waiter to 12 customers
o Almost all female, 20-30
o Yes, they have: orange T-shirts and an apron

• Do the waiters match the restaurant image?
o Yes, very much

Products


o The marvelous cakes and confectionery they display by the entrance
o There is a display for the cakes and snacks
o Side by side, behind a glass
o No, unfortunately – that would be a good idea, because the cakes are delicious. If
people were more attracted to them with free samples the sales would surely go up.
And these sorts of products have extremely high margins, much bigger than regular
meals.
o Candy and junk food! Oh my God, my diet…
o Popsicle! There is a problem in this restaurant: you have to order the popsicle to the
cash register lady, she asks an employee to go get the flavor you want and then you get
access to this impulse product. They don’t have much space, that’s their weakest point.
o Most expensive are a la carte meals with noble meat, and least expensive are candies by
the cash register
o Yes! Lots! They are good at this, women love to have a sweet taste in the mouth after
lunch!

Customers

o With someone else – mostly co-workers
o Women, from 25-45 years
o Yes, there are two floors, people tend to create habits and go to the same floor
o 1 hour
o Meals of the day, juices, mostly, and coffee. Sometimes the marvelous cakes and
desserts.

Insights
Although they have several phisical space constraints, the owners of the restaurant manages to deliver a
high quality service. Because of the waitress system, you feel individualized and well served. The food is
always hot and tastes like your mom’s food, which will always be the best one in the world. The
elaborated decoration of the holliday shows that they care about the place. In comparison with the
previous restaurant, which is much more resourceful, this place does a far better job in serving the
clients. The payment system, for instance is much simpler, with paper based commands, and they rarely
make mistakes.

Mondego

o Not so much, they try to advertise the food and low prices in a black board, but it’s not
very appealing.
o Wide open

o That the access was easy, everyone can go there
o It was big, but it’s not very visible because there were obstacles preventing you to see it
entirely. The font was like the photo below:

o It tells me that the brand is not the most important part of the business in this case

Environment:

o The place is yellow, as the previous examples. I wonder why is that? Does it make
people hungry? This place is more monochromatic than the other ones. Seems simple,
and less expensive.

o It’s very high, because it’s a two-floor house adapted to became a bakery-restaurant

o It’s very bright, mostly with artificial lighting. But it doesn’t feel so clean and upbeat as
the previous places.
o Reasonably loud.
o The majority is male, they don’t tend to talk as much as women. The main source of
noise are the TVs, normally tuned in the sports channel. But I think they should adopt
closed caption, because you can’t always listen to the TV.
o No, so that we can hear soccer news more clear
o Normally too hot, specially on the second floor. They have a ceiling that absorbs too
much heat, the place feels like a greenhouse
o Just for popsicle, the question is not applicable
o Sometimes it smells like cleaning products, which is not very pleasant
o By the entrance

• How visible is the restaurant security?`
o Not visible
o 30 minutes, tops
o Well seems to be a much simpler place than the previous ones, focused on men
searching for lots of food and really low prices. In that sense the environment is
adequate.

Personnel

o 2-5 minutes
o Yes
o Generally no
o One to 10 customers

o Varies very much: middle aged women, young and middle aged men
o Yes, a red one with an apron
• Do the waiters match the restaurant image?
o Yés, in the sense they are not sofisticately dressed, enhancing the feeling of cost-benefit
of the meal

Products

o Normally I notice the popsicle freezer
o Yes. This kind of restaurant is what we call self service. They are very popular in Brazil,
they display a wide variety of food, ranging from salad to carbs and meats, to attend all
possible tastes. The customer serves himself with the amount of food wanted and pays
according to the weight of the plate.
o It’s like the meals in school: each item in a division, side by side. It seems a little gross, in
fact, that’s why I don’t normally go to such restaurants!
o No
o Bakery stuff: cakes, cookies, bread, snacks, candy
o Nothing in particular
o N/A
o yes

Customers

o With someone else – coworkers. People tend to eat almost every day with the same
people
o Male, 25-35 years old
o Yes, towards the food of the self service system
o 30-45 minutes

o Normally self service and some beverage. And impulse products by the cash register.

Insights

It would be a good idea to change the material of the ceiling of the second floor, for the place to be
colder and more comfortable. Or more powerful air conditioning system.

Tempero Suave

o Yes, they have recently reformed the front and it’s beautiful, with wooden details and
bushes that leave the impression of higher quality

o Always open
o That I can easely access the place, and I’m welcome
o Not very big, but it’s writen in a glass, enhancing the sense of sofistication
o From the outside, it seems like a fancier restaurant than the previous ones

Environment:

o Guess what: yellow walls!

o Higher than a house, makes me feel
o It’s bright because of the natural lighting from the street and the food area is also well
lighted. Makes me feel safe about the products, because I can see them clearly.

o Not very loud, the high ceiling improves the accoustics of the place
o Chatting and TVs
o No, but they turn on the TV on the sports channel. An interesting thing is that all
restaurants tune in the same soccer TV show (Jogo Aberto). That’s a nice competitive
advantage of the TV show, that creates barriers to entries, because now if the
restaurant tune in other channels, they may lose customers.
o Not particularly warm or cold. There is also conditioning system.
o It’s crowed with people!
o Yes, smell of the food they serve
o Near the door
o Not visible
o 30-45 minutes
o Yes, you tend to think they can delivery food with much more quality than they actually
serve…

Personnel

o It takes 2-5 minutes for the waiter to notice you. As the restaurant is also in the self
service system, the only interaction with waiters is to get beverage
o No
o No
o 1 to 20
o Male 25-30 years
o Yes
o yes

Products

o Salad: a whole variety of salad, very colorful and fresh
o Yes, as the image below

o In plates, each one with one type of food for you to serve yourself. It feels less like you
are in a refectory compared to the previous restaurant analysed.
o no
o All the available food
o Pospicles: they are there in the back, behind the cupboard in the photo above

o N/a
o Yes, but with less variety of junk food than I expected

Customers

o Someone else, coworkers
o Women – 25-40 years old
o Yes, towards the food in the self service system
o 45 min
o Just meals, beverage and impulse items

Insights
The appearances mislead you… that’s a commom proverb in Brazil. Although the restaurant looks very
nice, the food and service are not quite good. They could invest more in improving the quality and
flavors of the food service.

The system to buy beverage also needs improvements: people get the food on the table behind and
then registers the command in the table in front, where they also order beverage. But you don’t get the
beverage right away. Customers have to take a colored tag and then wait for someone to bring you the
right beverage. I really don’t understand how the information is processed and passed to the waiters,
but the system probably is not efficient, because normally you eat the entire meal before the beverage
comes. One solution may be to include beverage in the top part of the cupboard on the left and adopt
trays, so that the customers may get the beverage along with the food and synchronize the
consumption.

Café Cultura


o Yes, it’s located in the building where I work and the presentation of it’s front is very
good:

o The door to come in is partially open (just one of the two glass doors) and the door to go
out is closed
o Makes me feel that the place is more exclusive, restricted to business people
o Not so big, but very visible. It’s a nice font, with a different design (the fume from the
coffee cup forms the “f” letter, which is fun and fancy)
o Tells me that it’s not for everyone

Environment:

o The color scheme is much darker than the other restaurants (the main color is brown).
This makes me feel that the place is more sofisticated.

o The ceiling is very high, the place seems bigger and more sofisticated as well.
o It’s very bright because all the walls are actually huge windows: all made with glass
o A little loud
o Chating
o No music, just TV, normally in a news channel. You can see if the place is more directed
to business people or women just observing the channel! No soccer in this place…
o Cooler than the outside, normally, which is good. Always a good temperature
o No merchandise
o Not in particular

o Near the exit door, which is different from the entry door. That’s nice, because you
don’t get in a crowded place
o 45-1 hour or 15 minutes if you are in a hurry to deliver something at work and have
gone to the closest place to eat
o Yes, the whole environment reinforces the sofistication required by business people

Personnel

o Less than one minute
o yes
o no
o 1 to 10 customers
o 50-50 men and women, 25-35 years old
o Yes, a black one
o Yes, the dark colors match the more sofisticated environment. Attention: I’m talking
about sofistication in the context of restaurant workers go to, and in comparison with
the other restaurants described! It’s not a fancy place to eat dinner on a special date.

Products

o Salad, a wide variety of fresh salad
o Yes, the self service table
o In plates, side by side
o no
o All food
o Impulse items!!!

o You order the expensive items and the least ones are in the impulsive items section
o Yes, but can’t be reached by the customer directly, only by the cash register employee

Customers

o Alone (when in a hurry to deliver something at work), or with someone else, either co-
workers or other parties (clients, suppliers, consultants) for business lunch meetings
o On that day women at their 30’s
o Yes, the plate and food for you to serve yourself is right in front of the entrance door
o 40 hour
o Meals and beverage. They also serve snacks (that are good If you are in a hurry)

Insights

The impulse items are too far away from the customers! They are behind those ladies by the cash
register, in a way that you have to ask them to get the item for you. In this rational process of asking for
someone to get a candy or junk food for you end up giving up the act. They could sell a lot more if
customers could reach any items with their own hands, without having to feel embaraced.

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