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

One day and one night in a train!

Week 2, Experience 1 by Kevin: “One day and one night in a train!” (June 14 – June 15, 2009)

Background

At the end of my summer internship, I was relishing the opportunity to go back to XL. As Fr. James had once put it, it was my ‘home away from home’. However, to get to Jamshedpur, I would have to endure a 27-hour rail journey on the Gitanjali Express - leaving Mumbai at 6 am on 14^th June and reaching Jamshedpur at 9 am the next day. An odyssey to truly test the mettle of the bravest woman or man! Let alone me!

Prior Expectations

The Indian Railways has indeed improved by leaps and bounds over the past few years. However certain routes (the Mumbai – Jamshedpur – Kolkata route, being one such route) command less attention and hence still have large room for improvement. For example, there is little choice of food on the Gitanjali and the delay in arrival can, at the worst of times, be 6 – 8 hours. I was keeping my fingers crossed as I had a couple of late afternoon lectures to attend on the 15^th …

Actual Experience

Since I had booked my ticket on my own, I expected to be the only XLer on the journey. But I was pleasantly surprised to meet not one, not two or even three, but 4 of my batch-mates! My premonition of the journey being a long and arduous one changed in seconds. On boarding the train, we chatted for nearly an hour and then decided to rest. I was awakened at 9 am by the pantry chief on his rounds, distributing breakfast and taking orders for lunch. I was pleased since often in the past, I had slept through these rounds of the pantry personnel - only to stay hungry until a major station popped up. I thanked the gentleman for awakening me, promptly ordered and had breakfast, placed the order for lunch, and then resumed my early morning siesta. While breakfast was warm and sumptuous, the cold chicken gravy at lunch and the chicken itself left a lot to be desired. The ambience (though not due to the train itself) made up for it – thanks to the cheerful company of friends. I slept soundly through the night – and the train reached on time. All in all, many times better than I had expected!

Service Trinity Model

Core Service

· Safe and on-time arrival at destination · Reasonable food and amenities

Funding Mechanism

· Customer pays · Company discounts prices (passenger train travel subsidized by Indian Railways by increasing the cost of freight train travel)

Customer Management System

· Polite and friendly attitude to customers (pantry chief + wagon conductor) · Appropriately apologetic for train delays (from past experience)

Employee Management System

· Have incentive systems for the best workers · Customer feedback on the experience could be used to identify high performers

SERVQUAL ratings

Dimension	Rating (out of 5)	Remarks
Tangibles	4	The upper berth which I had was clean; overall train neat
Reliability	4	I expected the train would not reach very late, since the Gitanjali has really improved of late, on this parameter
Responsiveness	5	The pantry chief and wagon conductor were very responsive
Assurance	4	I was happy to be awakened and informed when the orders were taken, this time
Empathy	5	Good amount of it from the two employees I interacted with

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

Critical Analysis and Suggestions

I found the pantry chief to be intelligent, firstly in awakening me and secondly in the way he explained the menu to me. True, there was less choice – but he still seemed fully aware of exactly what everything was. Also, the wagon conductor was efficient to ensure that blankets and bedding were provided to us even before we entered the train. The journey itself had no unscheduled stoppages and the train was on time.

My only suggestion would be for the pantry car to probably offer a slightly wider variety of simpler dishes so that customers have more choice and there is little scope to get the preparation of a dish wrong.