Restaurants across Guyana are set to benefit from a new agreement reached amongst the Guyana National Bureau of Standards (GNBS), the Tourism Hospitality Association of Guyana (THAG) and the Guyana Tourism Authority (GTA). This agreement, which was concretized on Wednesday November 14, 2018 as part of Tourism Month 2018 will resulted in the promotion and implementation of the National Standard for Restaurant: Code of practice for quality and management in the restaurant service (GCP17:2003). Through the implementation of the standard, it is anticipated that restaurants and other food establishments will generally improve the quality of service offered to consumers.
Head of the Marketing and Communication Department of the GNBS, Syeid Ibrahim in highlighting the initiative stated that the Bureau will be embarking on a corporate marketing venture with GTA and THAG to promote and endorse the standard. He further stated that this will be done in a phased manner that will include reviewing the standard to fill the gaps, if they are any; making the standards available to all sizes and categories of establishments; offering of technical support to establishments based on stipulated requirements; and the evaluation and possible certification of conforming establishments. Ibrahim admitted that usually it takes time for society to incorporate standards into the culture and for the people to use them. However, more restaurants in Guyana need to pay attention to standards if they intend to benefit from an economic revolution.
GNBS, THAG, GTA to collaboratively work with Restaurants to implement National Standard
Meanwhile, President of THAG, Mitra Ramkumar lauded the GNBS for the new initiative as he believes that it will yield the level of conformance businesses need to offer the best quality of service to their customers. The President of THAG further stated that he views the implementation of the Restaurant standard as making “Business sense” and it will ultimately make customers happier. Ramkumar also believes that conforming restaurants will benefit significantly when the Oil and Gas Industry comes on-stream. He gave the commitment of THAG towards the implementation of the restaurant standard and declared that every member of the Association will be provided with a copy of the document. Eventually, this offer will be extended to non-members too.
Commenting on behalf of the GTA, Ms. Davina Layne, Licensing and Training Manager of the Authority stated that having quality tourism offerings is critical for customers to have value for their money and at the same time have them desire to return to a particular restaurant because of a great service they had experienced. Ms. Layne said that quality is key for any visitor to a food establishment and having a standard, which was specifically developed to enhance the quality of service offered by restaurants, will guide them in consistently providing a good experience for those who indulge in the local cuisines offered by these establishments.
By adapting to best practices and following quality control measures, restaurants will be able to gain customers confidence, realize return visits by customers, grow revenues, increase efficiency and productivity and reduce overhead costs.
The GNBS will be offering the restaurant standard for sale at a significantly reduced cost to encourage all categories of restaurants to get onboard the new initiative, so that by the end of 2019 a large majority of these establishments will be in conformance.
