episode-12

Aim to be the best store in the area through service.
Thanks to our wonderful part-timers in Hanoi!

There is a female international student who is currently working part-time at Sennensha in Japan.
She is from Nghe An Province, the same province as Uncle Ho Chi Minh.
Her name is Rena.She is studying law.
“Do you know what the highest mountain in Japan is?”
“Mt. Fuji," she replied.
“So what is the second highest mountain in Japan?”, I asked.
“?” (she made a confused face).
“What's the highest mountain in the world?” “Himalaya! It's in Nepal.” Right!
“Then what is the second highest mountain in the world?”, I tried again.
She laughed and said, “Wha-ka-n-na-y.”
[I don’t know]
The difference between first and second is huge.
In terms of numbers, the gap is only one point, but the level of recognition is overwhelmingly different.

In Japan, there is a term “the best store in the area” or “No. 1 regional store strategy”
[The Lanchester Strategy].
If you are a small business, this may be the key to a thriving commerce.
It is a way of thinking that allows small, medium, and large companies to find their "strengths" against their competitors in all aspects of their business activities and to improve their performance by working to become the "best".
No matter what industry you are in.
You can find more information about it on the Internet.

For example, the ARIGATOU Cafe would work like this.
We make 100 types of kakigori for our main product.
“Hanoi, No. 1, the largest variety, 100 types of desserts made with homemade ice.”
You can type out things like, “Wow, 100 types! Don't be surprised to see the menu.
100 kakigori dishes that can be taken on Instagram.”
There are not many stores that offer 100 different versions of their main products.
100 different versions is overwhelming!
You can create a strong impression on customers.

Among the 100 varieties of kakigori, there are "kakigori" collaborations with specialties from 63 provinces in Vietnam, and "kakigori" based on Vietnamese fairy tales, folk tales, and love stories.
If we use Japan as main theme, we can consider "kakigori" such as Mt. Fuji or cherry blossoms. This may be popular with Vietnamese customers who are interested in Japan.
We will carefully nurture our own store's best. We will continue these activities for a year, three years, five years, and ten years.
As I wrote in Episode 2, ARIGATOU Cafe aims to be the “Regional No.1 in the 3 aspects”.
1.Ser vice, Hanoi No.1
2.Merchandise, Hanoi No.1
3.5 S, Hanoi No.1 (Arrange、Tidy、Refresh、Clean、Follow the rules you have decided)

As for customer service, before the cafe opened, I visited some of the top hotels and cafes in Hanoi, restaurants that cater to tourists coming from all over the world, and some high class Japanese restaurants.
As far as cafes are concerned, I checked the customer service from a very small store in Hanoi, to world-famous chain, and Vietnam's leading franchise cafes.
That cafe seems to provide a self-service system where the staff is responsible for the order-taking part, but once the order is ready, the customers are on their own.
At the ARIGATOU Cafe, everything is handled by part time staff, from the moment when a customer arrives at the cafe to guide them their seats, until they leave.
We guide customers to their seats, take their orders, deliver their items, casually observe them, maybe deliver an extra cup of tea, and when they leave, the staff settles the bill.
There are six to seven times when the store’s staff and customers come into contact with each other. For some customers, the number is as many as ten times.
I ask all part-timers to serve customers in a way that will make them smile, give a thumbs-up, or say, “Thank you.”
However, unfortunately, due to the poor Vietnamese language skills of our Japanese staffs, we are unable to communicate well.

We made posters in both Vietnamese and Japanese for all staffs to read aloud every day.

The part-time staffs are all friendly and good-natured people. And the Japanese staffs are doing their best to convey the fun and depth of customer service.
If we educate the current level of part-time staffs well, we can surely become the number one in customer service. Well, we are very close.
We are now starting to provide a "hand towel service". It feels cool and refreshing when you receive it. Smells refreshing, too. The part-time staff is making these kinds of towels. I ask them to give a hand towel and casually observe the face of the customer who used it.
Also, when customers leave, all the staffs go outside the store to see them off. These are the two most important things that we do.
In Japan, there are companies that have installed AI cameras in their stores to collect data on the smiles of customers and staffs, which can be used to improve customer service and further enhance customer satisfaction.
At ARIGATOU Cafe, we entrust the contact with our customers to the Vietnamese part-timers in the store.
It should be natural without being pretentious, refreshing without being impersonal, with a nice smile and beautiful behavior. Customer service requires a deep and high level of taste.
If each staff member can feel their own "moment of truth" and enjoy it through their work, they will have a lifetime of unforgettable experiences and stories. I am looking forward to the future of all the part-time staffs.