The spice is in the quality

Two Spice AG operates 16 restaurants, including ten "Yooji's" sushi restaurants in Zurich, Winterthur, Berne, Zug and Lucerne. In addition, a wine shop, the beverage brand Yootea and a production company belong to the group. Martin Waibel, operational manager and quality manager at Two Spice: "The CIP software has become indispensable for us after only two years. We can now record and process complaints from guests incredibly easily. Our standard has once again risen significantly throughout the group." Clever error management is crucial to the Zurich company's business success, as it sets the bar high in all areas. "With many cultural venues, the focus is on lively gastronomy, but the quality is lost," say founders Daniel Kehl and Marc Saxer. The two owners know what professional service means: they themselves worked in the kitchen and in service for many years. "Only the best is good enough for our guests, suppliers and almost 500 employees," they stress in unison.

Complete guest feedback

"With Improve, we achieve to capture the feedback of the guests very precisely and to transfer it into the improvement process. " This from the first impression to the farewell, as Martin Waibel explains. Each complaint can be assigned to the following categories along this process:

• First impression from the outside
• Reservation
• First impression from the inside
• Reception, welcome
• Consultation, sale
• Quality of care
• Kindness
• Food and beverages (product quality)
• Delivery not equal to order
• Quantity, completeness
• Price/Performance
• Host, Team
• Ambience
• Additional sales
• Collection
• Adoption

Improve ensures complete defect recording and a continuously improved host role for the Zurich lifestyle company. When are feedbacks recorded in the system? "Whenever they are received by e-mail or, if expressed verbally, if they cannot be resolved within 24 hours," explains the Head of Service Center. "We also now register customer surveys in this way," adds Martin Waibel. This works very simply: guests fill out cards and Two Spice then enters the suggestions and feedbacks into the system. The own production unit for sushi dishes also benefits from the CIP software. Feedback to this organizational unit is recorded in a separate input mask.

Pool of ideas as a driver of innovation

"Our employees are involved to a gratifying degree and contribute many ideas for improvement," reports Daniel Kehl. On the one hand, Improve is very easy to use, and on the other hand, the user rights at Two Spice are such that employees can enter their suggestions directly into Improve. If the head chef of a company has a recommendation for a new dish, for example, he documents it in the system. After that, everything runs in a defined process. And it gets even better: Two Spice even offers idea prizes! The internal quality circle consists of the deputy managing directors and meets every two months. At these meetings the best inputs are chosen. The pool of ideas also serves as a fund for the required action plan towards the certifier STV (Swiss Tourism Association): Five new suggestions have to be implemented per year.

Simple, fast, transparent

The lively catering company is bubbling over with good ideas. "Synprovis responds excellently and solves questions with the greatest possible simplicity in mind," says the operational manager enthusiastically. The full current transparency enables quick decisions. Example: A Commis de Cuisine (young chef) suggests a new dessert in the system. This suggestion is evaluated within 24 hours. If it is approved, Improve is used seamlessly from implementation to publication on the Internet and adaptation in the POS system. Yooji's Manufaktur occupies a special place. The manufacturer for the ten sushi deli operations is handled as an internal supplier, so that discrepancy reports are made immediately and dealt with in no time at all. But it goes even further: the external laboratory, which is used as standard for hygiene reports, also has access to Improve and contacts the manufacturer directly via the system. "This means that today we can react very quickly and with laboratory evidence to the few cases of a guest being unwell," emphasises Martin Waibel.

Proven cultural change

Marc Saxer appreciates the fact that defects from all areas and organizations now come to the surface on an ongoing basis and are well documented to boot. "Today, errors are discussed in an unagitated manner, always with an improvement goal in mind," he says, pleased with the cultural change at Two Spice. And Martin Waibel adds: "Thanks to the low-threshold use of the CIP software, 100 employees are already using Improve regularly. That's a remarkable number and makes us want to do more." Quality in the operations is now constantly monitored internally, not just by external bodies. In addition, the drastic reduction in the number of emails frees up time for the essentials at the catering company. "It is essential for us to keep the CIP idea constantly alive," explains Daniel Kehl. With good reason. The ambitious Two Spice AG is still on an expansion course. This year, another four businesses are to open their doors.