Maggi at 4 am thanks to Bishuda!

Week 2, Experience 2 by Kevin: “Maggi at 4 am thanks to Bishuda!” (June 27, 2009)

Background

Angshuman Ghosh and I had just completed our first assignment for Professor Rajkumar’s course, “Services Marketing” and we were wondering whether to spend another 2 hours trying to refine it. Angshuman stated, “Kevin, it will be good, if we can have another look – examine all the case facts and ensure we have not missed anything”. I replied, “Sure. Just give me a 10-minute break – I need to have something to eat.” Almost simultaneously, we said, “Bishuda!” Thus began our 4 am walk to the ground floor of the St. Thomas Men’s Residence and to Bishuda’s, just outside it …

Prior Expectations

A legend, in the true sense of the word… Bishuda is a legend for all XLers. The old canteen has now been shut down. The new XL dhaba is yet to gain true acceptance (with food quality issues not helping its cause). Even Dadu is desperately trying to ruin his years of hard-earned goodwill with XLers by hiking prices to exponential levels (Saudi Arabia and the OPEC could take lessons from him!). But through all the chaos, there remains one place which was and is truly loyal, sincere and uncomplicated – Bishuda’s! Hence, we expected a fabulous service experience – so what if it was 4 am!

Actual Experience

There was no one around and since it was not yet dawn (dawn being 5 am, this time of the year in Jamshedpur), it was quite dark. But the bright light of Bishuda’s counter shone through. Angshuman was not hungry and did not plan to order. I hoped to have either an aloo paratha or a ‘butter Maggi’. On reaching the counter, I asked Bishuda for an aloo paratha. He replied saying that it was quite late and he was closing shop. However, he was quick to suggest an alternative. His cooking utensil had some Maggi left over from his 3 am preparation. (he prepares enough Maggi for around 6 – 8 people every hour) He promised to re-heat it as well. I agreed, since I did not mind having Maggi – and after all, it was late, as Bishuda had stated. In 10 minutes, he had re-heated it and I had consumed a much-needed snack. This enabled me to carry on working with Angshuman till we could finish the refinements.

Service Trinity Model

Core Service

· Good quality preparation of simple snacks at late hours · Reasonable range of snacks

Funding Mechanism

· Customer pays · Company saves on operations (self-service: on ordering nimbu paani, I filled up water myself in a cup with the pre-stored lime concentrate)

Customer Management System

· Very approachable and friendly attitude to customers (I expected to be welcomed by Bishuda even at 4 am, and I was welcomed!)

Employee Management System

· Bishuda could give his helpers small bonuses on nights of brisk business · XLers could start a small trust fund to help him expand the scale of his business so he could offer a greater variety of snacks

SERVQUAL ratings

Dimension	Rating (out of 5)	Remarks
Tangibles	3	The ambience (no seating) is not much to speak of, but at 4 am, you can’t expect too much!
Reliability	5	Bishuda is always reliable
Responsiveness	4	He immediately gave me a feasible alternative to aloo paratha namely Maggi
Assurance	4	I was sure that I would get something good to eat at Bishuda’s, even at 4 am!
Empathy	5	Bishuda was empathetic to my need and re-heated the Maggi just for me

N.B.: (1 = very poor, 5 = very good)

Critical Analysis and Suggestions

On analysis, I feel that Bishuda deserves all the accolades he can get. Except for him, I would have had to go hungry. Virtually all restaurants (except a few up-market places) are closed at 4 am. Also, he did not turn me away at all – merely suggested a change in order and kept his promise in re-heating the Maggi.

Suggestions? Not really. Except maybe … could we have him go on till 5 am? Only kidding! J