Good food they can have at home. When people go out, they want service.

A survey by Empathica is cited in a Marketing Daily story this morning, which suggests that consumers across the U.S. and Canada want great service, not just good food, when they decide on a restaurant. Click here to see the story.

Implications: During Consumer DNA workshops over the past several weeks, I’ve had more than one conversation with marketing executives about how sit-down, family-casual restaurants lost share during the great recession, and what kinds of tactics might bring those customers back, now that a recovery is underway. My position: Low price is what drew customers from sit-down restaurants to fast food, but low price is probably not what will gain them back.

What about candle-light dining and date night? What about the feeling of being “waited on” by someone who sincerely enjoys serving customers? What about the quality of the food (and health), not just an entrée at a sale price?

Talk to your customers to be sure—a little good research is better than a lot of speculation—but what customers want from their sit-down dining experience or upscale restaurant is probably not limited to a cheap price on a meal. A coupon might get them back in, but the way they enjoyed their evening will bring them back in again and again.

Mike Anderson