- By keeping employees satisfied, restaurants can ensure happy customers.

By Linda A. Fox, The Toronto Sun

David Lipton and Craig Henry have a lot of work on their plates. And sometimes that work amounts to a chip or a crack in the porcelain. The pair run Sensors Quality Management Inc.(SQM), a small business that helps the hospitality industry keep its house in order.

Lipton, 32 and Henry, 31, met while both were attending Ryerson's Hospitality and Tourism Management Program. After graduation, they gained experience at a variety of jobs both in the hospitality field and outside. In addition to delivering the Sunday Sun as a kid, Lipton put in a few years at McDonald's, Delta Hotels and Resorts and Regal Hotels. Henry spent time with the Sheraton Centre Hotel, Valhalla Inns and CP Hotels and Resorts in capacities ranging from front desk to management.

But when the recession loomed, like many others, Lipton and Henry both found themselves on the laid-off list. From personal experience the men knew the hospitality industry (restaurants, hotels, air lines etc.) didn't always measure up. And that most of them didn't even know where they fell short. Enter SQM. "We were in a situation where we needed to invent our own jobs," says Lipton, "but in a field that we both knew well."

With about $2,000 in savings from each partner, SQM was born. From there followed cold calls to prospective clients. First a couple of major hotels came on line and now, as Lipton puts it, "our growth has been a gazillion per cent."

The company goes in a evaluates a hospitality company from the customer's perspective. Is the front desk running efficiently at the hotel? Is room service available during hours advertised? Is a restaurant's dinnerware chipped, cracked or worn? Is "last call" really "last call" at the bar? "These are all things a customer takes note of," says Henry. "And if the wrong impression is created, that customer may take his money elsewhere next time."

Lipton says SQM tries to make its hospitality industry clients aware of the shortfalls in their service and how to rectify the problems. And just what kind of shortfalls have Lipton and Henry been finding in the year-plus SQM has been on the prowl? "Well we've found a fresh fly in a 'fresh' salad, chipped wine glasses, a dangerously frayed cord on a floor lamp in a hotel room, a cracked in-room coffee pot among other things," says Henry. "All problems that could all be potentially dangerous."

After its appraisal of the situation, SQM submits a written report to the client. And it's not just the externals that are judged by SQM. It could be the ins and outs of the accounting department, reservations desk, or in whose pocket money from the bar tips winds up.

And if you work in the industry, you probably won't even know SQM is on your premises. The two guys ordering a burger at the table by the window might be from SQM, or the man telephoning to ask about a room reservation for the weekend might just be the one. Lipton and Henry do a lot of their work as "undercover customers."

SQM has its sights set much further afield than the hospitality industry, not that they are up and running. "We feel there is a niche for our kind of quality investigations in the retail industry, banking, or automotive," says Lipton. They already have representatives working for them right across Canada, making SQM a coast-to-coast company. And in the future, the pair would like to end up as a management company in the hotel and restaurant field. Lipton says business in Canada has to follow up on the notion that it is world class by "proving we can give the level of service that merits that label."

So often, the management of a hotel, restaurant or retail store is the last to notice the little things that drive a customer crazy," he says. "That's where SQM comes in. We serve as damage control."

By Carolyn Blackman

TORONTO - Call them mystery shoppers or corporate spies, but whatever you call them, Sensors Quality Management Inc. (SQM) is there to tell you how your business is being run when you are not around.

Owned by partners David Lipton and Craig Henry, SQM was formed just over a year ago to independently evaluate businesses. Although it specializes in the hospitality field, its services are available to all industries world-wide.

Lipton says he realized the service was needed when he began to get "a bit disenchanted with seeing Canadian businesses not doing as well as American businesses. The main difference is that American businesses spend more time, effort and money on training and monitoring their employees. A lot of U.S. companies are using quality control work."

SQM evaluates a business from the customer's perspective based on the company's own standards and criteria. "If a hotel's phone is to be answered in three rings, we'll check out the situation." Lipton said.

He said SQM is often called upon to check out a company's competition. "It is generally acknowledged in business that most companies like to see what their competition is doing. We can do their work for them and they can save their manpower for something else.

Lipton was recently a mystery shopper at several restaurants "and I was both disappointed and pleasantly surprised." At one restaurant, "things were not running smoothly," but another was doing fine.

Not that the well-run restaurant has no further need of SQM, Lipton said. "They can use this information to reinforce their philosophy and service standards. They can give one person a pat on the back and help others strive for better work. The best quality service program is ongoing."

Lipton said SQM can tell managers whether staff is knowledgeable about products and services, if employees are professional and courteous, if service meets expectations and if the staff is pro-active or reactive.

He stressed however, that SQM is not a consulting company. "Our representatives do not advise or counsel our clients on how their operation should be run. Rather, we observe and report, based on our client's criteria."

Lipton said that although clients use SQM for a variety of reasons, his company provides three major benefits. "First, clients obtain detailed feedback on how their business is performing in relationship to its own specific standards. Second, the information obtained during the study of operation can be used to isolate areas which may require attention or chantge. Finally, both strengths and weaknesses of people in the organization are identified. This can assist companies in determining areas of further employee development."

He said quality products and quality service begin with quality thinking "and it is about time that Canadian companies pulled up their socks and began thinking quality and service."

Copyright © The Canadian Jewish news, 1994