Follow-up Statement from Norman Markgraaff CEO of KwiYo. Firstly, I would like to start by apologising to anyone who has been offended by the recent articles suggesting that KiwiYo does not allow the words “Kia Ora” to be used as a greeting. This in fact is not the truth and we are sincerely sorry for the miscommunication and hurt caused. Social media, radio airwaves and TV stations are abuzz as to how KiwiYo should welcome their customers into their shops after a KiwiYo staff member, who recently joined the company, was asked to follow the KiwiYo welcome presentation policy. It is our understanding that the young lady greeted a new customer by saying “Kia Ora” only and omitted the rest of the KiwiYo welcome script/guidelines. The current KiwiYo Welcome Policy states 1) Greet every guest with a real smile! 2) Ask if they have been to KiwiYo before. 3) If they have, say (something like, “Great to see you back”) and offer additional assistance if required. 4) If they have not been to KiwiYo before, you need to explain the process. Keep it brief but clear. Explain the difference between Tart Base, Plain Base and Sorbet Based product. 5) Offer a sample cup and tasting stick for them to try the different yoghurt flavours. 6) Keep a watchful eye on all customers as they make their choices and progress from frozen yoghurt to mid-weigh to toppings to cashier. Explain again if there seems to be doubt or confusion about what to do next. For the sake of consistency within the Franchise Group, we use our typical KiwiYo welcome message in training, “Welcome to KiwiYo, have you been here before?”. KiwiYo staff who have worked for the company for years will agree, they make the welcome script their own within the guidelines of the welcome policy. One KiwiYo staff member has responded with “Oh man I say Kia Ora to customers all the time now they are going to think I’m just doing it because of all this”. KiwiYo has been challenged with the fact that there are three national languages in the country and that we should consider adapting our policy to deliver the welcome presentation in these languages too. The fierce debate rages on whether it is politically correct or not, fashionable or not, or preferable or not, to use “Kia Ora” in the welcome greeting or not. As the owners of KiwiYo we would like to adopt a policy that is acceptable to all, after all, it is our mission to make every KiwiYo customer feel welcome, provide excellent customer service and serve the most delicious frozen yoghurt and waffles. My skills as a Kiwi still need a lot of practice because we’ve only been here for 3 years, but my life skills, grey hair and wisdom suggest that we seek out and work towards an acceptable compromise, and a solution where happiness can be restored to all. A KiwiYo store is a happy place, meant to bring joy, laughter and pleasure to both young and old and to deliver fantastic service coupled with an amazing New Zealand manufactured product to its customers, definitely not the political battlefield or proving ground suggested by some of the passionate commentators. KiwiYo offers direct employment to over 100 people across the entire multi-cultural population of New Zealand, with specific instructions to its store owners and managers to staff their stores with people representative of a cross section of their customer base. I’m sure all parties will agree that these jobs are important to the youth that have them and to the New Zealand economy as well. Considering the multi-cultural nature of the Kiwi nation at large and the corresponding multi-cultural cross-section of the KiwiYo customer base, I think it only fair to accept that various staff members in the different stores be allowed to “tweak” the KiwiYo welcome (which for the benefit of all, is an instruction guideline rather than a word-by-word recitation), to suit the shop and to suit the customer. Our welcome instruction to our store operator in Beijing is the same in New Zealand as in China: “Smile, make the customer feel welcome in our store, establish if they know how a KiwiYo works and if they don’t, show them”. My proposal is to advise our stores in New Zealand that our “welcome presentation” will be to welcome a customer to KiwiYo in such a manner that the customer is made to feel extremely welcome and cared-for and that the welcoming staff member may use their discretion in the prefacing of our welcome presentation with “Kia Ora’. However I will do my best to implement the use thereof as standard practice in all international KiwiYo stores. I will consult with the Chamber of Commerce and NZTE and whatever other representative trade associations necessary to establish what their policies are, as this issue is relevant to every single retail business in New Zealand that has any intention of greeting or welcoming their customers into their places of business. This crosses the realms of banks, hardware stores, hospitality stores, airlines, hotels and hairdressers to mention but a few. I view this matter as a positive challenge and I am certain we can all sit around a table and enjoy a KiwiYo and happiness can once again prevail in the greatest rugby nation in the World! Norman Markgraaff CEO KiwiYo
Posted on: Thu, 21 Aug 2014 18:20:58 +0000