Satisfying your customers is key to running a successful restaurant. To do that, you need to know exactly what they want from you.
Restaurant surveys allow you to more accurately find out what customers think about your business, and how you can improve. That's why we've compiled 55 restaurant survey questions you can use to gain crucial insights about your business.
Restaurant surveys have a range of benefits, including:
We've rounded up 55 sample restaurant survey questions for you to use in your venue. These questions will enable you to get vital insights on your customer's end-to-end experience of your business.
Understanding your restaurant demographics enables you to increase customer satisfaction in your business. By understanding who is visiting your business, you can learn how to deliver food and service that delights them.
Demographic questions should usually be multiple choice. You can use ranges to make data easier to analyse and prevent your customers from needing to reveal too much specific information. When storing any information about your customers, make sure you comply with regulations in your jurisdiction.
Some examples of simple demographic questions to include in a restaurant survey are:
You can also go a bit deeper and ask more personal questions about your customers. You should make it clear that answering these questions are completely optional, as diners may not feel comfortable sharing these details.
Some other demographic questions you might ask can include:
Remember not to generalise your customers simply because they share a characteristic. Each customer is unique, but understanding your demographics on the whole can help improve your business.
Another crucial area to understand about your customers is how they found out about your restaurant. By understanding the discovery process, you can assess the success of your marketing efforts, or learn about new avenues you'll need to consider.
Provide a list of common ways customers may have heard about your restaurant, including word-of-mouth, social media and online search.
Provide multiple choices including friends/family, online reviews and social media influencers.
You can leave this question open-ended, or provide multiple choices such as personal recommendations or seeing specific dishes on social media.
Leave this open-ended or provide options like Google Maps and DesignMyNight.
Provide options like high-quality photos, videos, behind-the-scenes content and influencer content.
After gathering this survey data, you may come away with plenty of ways to improve restaurant visibility. With ResDiary, you have the tools you need to get the word out about your venue.
This includes our integrations with Meta and Reserve with Google, enabling diners to place bookings through your social media profiles or in Search results. We also integrate with discovery platforms like DesignMyNight and Restaurant Hub, providing crucial visibility for your business.
Understanding a customer's reservation process is vital for improving their satisfaction with your business. These questions will enable you to understand their reservation habits, and their specific experience with your venue.
You can provide options for this question based on frequency ("Always", "Rarely", "Never").
Provide options such as phone calls or restaurant websites.
Provide options like "1-2 days in advance" and "1-2 weeks in advance.”
Provide options from "Very willing" to "Not at all willing.”
You can provide options for this question, but make sure to leave space for customers to describe the difficulty they faced.
If you find that you need to level up reservations in your restaurant, ResDiary is the perfect tool. We offer a range of features that ensure customers can place reservations more seamlessly.
This includes customisable widgets you can feature on your restaurant website. If your customers are keen to call your restaurant to place bookings, you can rely on ResPhone to automatically answer the phone when your team isn't able to.
Our built-in automated email functionality even enables you to send reminders to customers, reducing the risk of no-shows.
There's nothing more important in your restaurant than your food. Offering great dishes and beverages is the key to keeping diners coming back for more.
Some questions in this category call for scale to measure satisfaction. This scale could include options from "Not at all satisfied" to "Extremely satisfied", depending on the question. These food restaurant survey questions include:
Some open-ended questions to include in this category are:
This information should give you a strong starting point for understanding how your menu can be improved through customer preferences.
The service a customer receives defines their experience in your business. Your survey should paint a comprehensive picture of the service they receive in your venue.
For these questions, provide a similar range of options as you do for food quality questions. This gives you a direct point of comparison between these two pillars of your restaurant.
Some restaurant service survey questions to include are:
You can round out this section of your survey with some extremely open-ended questions:
If your service standards need a tune-up, ResDiary can help. Our high-quality reservation management features help your services run more smoothly.
When you can automatically control the flow of bookings, manage waitlists effectively and rely on booking notes, your whole team is able to operate more effectively. For more information, check out our in-depth guide to optimising restaurant operations.
You can also use CPL Learning to improve your service standards. With an array of modules for front-of-house employees, your whole team can learn to offer better service during every shift.Don't overlook the importance of ambiance and facilities in your restaurant. These are further key factors that form a huge part of the customer experience in your business.
Like other categories, many of these questions can use a scale of satisfaction. You might find it useful to include space for follow-ups, too.
Then, close the section out with some more open-ended questions:
This feedback should be some of the simplest to action out of everything you'll get from your restaurant survey. You may need to focus more on cleanliness in your business, adjust your furniture or reevaluate temperatures in your restaurant.
At this point, it's time to get some more high-level feedback. Your diner will have had a chance to evaluate their overall dining experience by this point, so these insights should be very valuable.
Start off this section of your survey with questions that can be answered with a numerical scale:
Then, include some more open-ended questions:
With these questions, you'll get some deep insights into the experiences of your customers, with all aspects of your venue considered.
In the final part of your survey, it's time to find out how likely customers are to return to your business. Using these questions in conjunction with previous responses, you can tell how different aspects of your business affect return intention.
For instance, you might find customers who love your food are more likely to return than customers who love your service.
Some restaurant survey questions to ask in relation to return intention are:
Provide options from "Very likely" to "Very unlikely.”
Provide options like "Within the next week", "Within the next month" and "Within the next year.”
Leave this question open-ended or provide options like "Enjoyed the food quality" and "Appreciated the restaurant’s atmosphere.”
Leave this question open-ended or provide options like "Disappointed with food quality" and "Poor service.”
Leave this question open-ended to make sure you get authentic and potentially unexpected feedback.
One advantage of this section of your survey is identifying customers who are eager to return. By capturing your customer's email addresses and phone numbers, you can easily target customers with email and SMS marketing.
There are many methods by which you can conduct surveys in your business. Some popular options include:
ResDiary has the tools you need to gain effective customer feedback. Using ResDiary's email marketing functionality and integration with Silverstreet, you can follow up with customers and get the required insights to improve your business.
You can also use customer relationship management systems like Acteol and Nollie to better understand the feedback you receive. With comprehensive customer profiles, you can develop your venue in ways that lead to greater customer satisfaction.
Once you've optimised your venue through customer feedback, you can get more visibility for your business with our integrations with DesignMyNight and Restaurant Hub. This helps to ensure you get the foot traffic you need to grow.
Book a demo with ResDiary today and discover all the ways we can help to optimise your business.