Desirable Airline Service

 

What makes an all round reliable airline that reassures?

Customer service with a balanced empathy and focus.

Engineering standards that are monitored and maintained.

Smooth transitions enabled at connecting airports.

User friendly bookings with resolution of any matters arising.

Boarding and disembarkation spring in the step.

Airline staff who are well trained and valued by the employer.

Seemingly little extras on flight like free wifi, that dessert and responsiveness to the uniqueness of each passenger.

Airline Board and top management who value human beings as vital to the business - and not just sheer profits.

Airlines that strive to provide the leading edge without haughtiness.

Airlines who emphasise on the holistic experience and not blame others on outsourced parts of the business.

#imagekev

Eatery Reviews

 

In this age of increasing disinformation, hidden propaganda, manipulative commercialism and social media hype, are we helped when we check an internet review of an eatery?

Are the scorings reliable?  One person's sense of taste can be another's disdain.  Can an eatery take litigation when its operators opine they have been unfairly assessed?

When goggling began, most reviews of foodie venues were dominated by text.  Then came the barrage of still images, many micro focused with blurred backgrounds, some echoing the ambiance of the place and all illustrating and supplementing what is written.

Eventually images in all forms took over with a crescendo.   Video clips, tantalising angles and added music made viewers really feel we are there with the influencers.  You Tube and Tik Tok fast tracked this waterfall of visual feasts.  Decisions and sensations were more made visually rather than upon listening to the audio.  Next, how do we bring in the wafts of Umami smell and aroma?

Individuals or groups of individuals can perfect the art of foodie tasting with humour, energy and internet income.   Some incorporate travelogues, in a varying range from the upper class seat experience of long haul aircraft flights to more obvious ads for tour itineraries.  Foodie reviews are transforming, experimenting and continuing to use new technology.   I wonder who watches the TV travel or cooking programmes anymore.

Perhaps nothing is as delightful as unplanned dropping by an eatery and enjoying the food, pushing aside any preconceived opinions from one's self or others.   The art and science of culinary sensations is best achieved by stepping on to the venue itself and utilising one's gut feel on the spot.

This brings to the matter of Michelin food guides, rankings and their requirement that winning eateries must fulfil prestated conditions each year to maintain their Michelin rank status.

Opinions of Michelin award teams are usually from individuals who are not local to the culture and country where they swoop in and make their assessments.   Are judges with local preferences and palates not important enough to be given more consideration?  Are restaurant design, elegance and pricing observed distracting from niche taste, strange cooking skills and heritage styles?

Can Michelin award judges have an inherent and unacknowledged bias against the vageries of things foreign? Is fusion cooking standing a better chance of being recognised by Michelin?

It can be amusing in contemporary times that scrolling on screens has fuelled the process of choice of eateries.  And then there is easy access to wifi and the need to post things on a real time basis - just after one bite and several posted images, an opinion of the food must be formulated.  There is not even sufficient time to digest the dish in the body before an opinion on a bite of morsel of food becomes viral.

Another disturbing tribal live screen following is that of fans watching what individual influencers eat every evening.   Does it reflect the pervasive extent of boredom that this can become a watching sport?

I know of people who quietly enjoy what they have eaten or drunk - and quietly go on to the satisfaction of having completed another day.  Such humans will not give impressions of food unless asked.

So there are millions of food images hanging about our cyberspace Universe. What eventually happens to them when they are no longer viewed? 

The eatery business needs regularity of custom, excitement of venue and marketing in all aspects. 
Word of mouth in the locality is no longer enough as greater mobility brings in diners from far and wide.
The post impact of a declared pandemic has changed significant
parameters for businesses that pay much rent, cannot rely on staff being available and depend on broken supply chains.  Social media  in this respect can help, but if not managed optimally, it can also be a two edged sword.

As for other things in life, success can bring about its own down stream challenges.   Cynicism can set in potential customers with too much hype in viral foodie opinions.

Relaxed venues begin to have three sit down sessions an evening.   Surcharges of whatever variety begin to be charged to so called milking the cow while the going is good. 

It all starts with someone giving an opinion for the world to see, read or hear in an entertaining way.

#yongkevthoughts

Purchasing Choices

 

The duopoly of supermarkets continues across Australia, as corporate muscles are flexed against suppliers, staff and customers in a relentless obsession of growth in profits, dominance and control.

I support more of stand alone independent grocers and direct producers, they have more variety on their shelves.  As prices in Coles and Woolies have gone up, they cannot compete price wise with some independent grocers, especially ethnic ones like Italian, Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, Indian, etc.

My strategy now is to be mindful of selected items of grocery to buy - and suppport small business in my locality as far as I can. A more focused approach helps to avoid wasting expenses on addictive food, zoom for more quality in edibles and exercise our minds and hearts in better choices with discretion.

Fresh eggs are not bad at Aldi, they do not shelf them in fridges like Coles and Woolies. Fresh milk at Aldis is a good buy, but at the same time there can be a lot of distracting products at Aldi outlets.

More distracting is the preponderance of products laden with sugar, salt, preservatives and fat at the main supermarkets.  Do walk the aisles and make up your own mind.

If one resides in an Australian regional area, I understand there can be a lack of choice -  and one depends more on the duopoly.

This is echoed in the lack of competition especially in the Australian sectors of domestic air travel, pharmacies and banking.

Fresh produce markets are fascinating to me, but generally since Covid, prices have spiked st such stalls, even if quality is maintained.

I have also dabbled in ordering online offers of groceries and white goods - some provide free  and next day delivery at the very latest.
The physical store model is increasingly under threat - the way some businesses are treating customers is viewed in disdain by more people I know.

Need we visit a supermarket venue to get essential food?  We step in such places and we observe some using them for social chats.  We also note the rise in self managed check outs with narrow spaces.  Cameras are attached to monitor the movement of human beings.
Pyschological games are played with posters put up by the supermarket to induce us to buy, but which underestimate our level of intelligence.

Do reflect on the huge numbers of real estate such supermarkets sit on, they can easily get into the commercial property game once they stop selling food.

There has truly been this relentless drive to know what you and each family have bought in the past to shape millions of purchasing profiles.   The underlying rationale is that once you buy something, you will buy it again.   This model excludes the very possible human trait of not purchasing the same thing ever again - and the right to have a significant change in taste.

The use of membership cards implies the giving of peanut reward points to customers.

The duopoly puts its bets on greater convenience, habitual pattern of spending and lack of competition for the majority of the population to
regularly visit its outlets.  They are also experts in marketing, human behaviour and commercial practices.  

#yongkevthoughts