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Finale—Just Desserts
Susan F. Sieloff, Northeastern University

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Felicia Lassk, Northeastern University

elicity Klass took the top document out of her in-box and considered the note

F attached: “What do you think of this? Paul.” Paul Conforti, one of the owners of

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Finale, the Boston dessert restaurant chain, wanted Felicity to look at the April 2010
market research summary from Survey on the Spot, a mobile market research application.
This application allowed customers to fill out a real-time survey about their experience on
their smartphones or online while still in the restaurant. In early 2010, Conforti had been
one of the first to adopt the new survey method, seeing it as direct information from the
customer.
We can have dozens of customers each month complete the survey based on their actual
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experience and they can tell us whether or not we’re doing a good job. I think getting
information directly from the customer rather than from a company that we are paying
to act as a proxy for the customer is a much better way to do it.
Felicity Klass, an independent market research analyst, usually did the data analysis
for her clients. Felicity was impressed that Finale was using the Survey on the Spot
mobile application to collect survey data, since she had been reading several market
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research blogs that predicted both unprecedented growth in the ownership of smart
phones and that the diffusion of mobile technology would change the marketing
research industry. Since mobile research was still new, many of her clients had yet to
embrace mobile technology for research purposes.
The summary of April 2010 responses from Finale customers had been designed to
Finale’s specifications (see Exhibit 1). It included “word clouds” that illustrated the sig-
nificant open-ended responses from customers. By clicking on a word in the word cloud,
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a manager could view the related comments (see Exhibit 2 for comments related to
“desserts” and “prices” from the question six word cloud). The results looked very pos-
itive for Finale. Since adopting Survey on the Spot, Conforti had discontinued month-
ly mystery shoppers and eliminated quarterly in-store surveys at each location, so there
was a lot riding on this new survey.
Felicity read the summary and called Paul to get his take. He stated that the numbers
looked almost too good, leaving little room for improvement, something he doubted. He
and his staff relied on the summary report from Survey on the Spot and he felt that
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perhaps they should do a more thorough analysis. Of particular concern were the net
Copyright © 2010 by the Case Research Journal and by Susan F. Sieloff and Felicia Lassk. Use of this case
requires students to access and use the data set available from the contact author. Note that “Finale—
Just Desserts” is the first case of two companion cases. This case deals primarily with data analysis and
data interpretation and has an SPSS data set available. The companion case, “Finale and Survey on the
Spot,” deals with the managerial implications of the data.

Finale—Just Desserts! 1

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617.783.7860
 promoter scores (NPS), which had been promoted as the key question to gauge cus-

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tomer satisfaction and which had been found elsewhere to be highly correlated to busi-

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ness performance (Reichheld 2003). According to Paul:
We’re getting really good scores, so we don’t have a lot of instances where [service] recov-
ery is required. It was a little unnerving at first. We thought maybe we were getting only
the people who were having a good experience and missing all the people who were hav-
ing a bad experience. Ken [Kimmel] and Geoff [Palmer, developers of Survey on the
Spot] told us: “You don’t need to worry about that. We have plenty of examples of peo-

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ple getting bad survey results.” Thus far, we’ve reviewed three monthly summary reports
from Survey on the Spot [see Exhibit 1 for April’s report], but maybe if we dig deeper
into the data, we’ll find out more.
Felicity thought about this initial conversation with Paul to determine what he
wanted from the survey results. Paul had stated that:
We’re using Survey on the Spot to give our guests a real time opportunity to provide us

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with feedback on their experience in the restaurant. . . . Now we can have dozens of cus-
tomers each month complete the survey based on their actual experience and they can
tell us whether or not we’re doing a good job. . . . It’s my hope that our use of Survey on
the Spot will result in better service and it will provide us with information we can use
to improve ourselves and the experience we offer the guest.
In reviewing the survey (Exhibit 3), Felicity noted that the questions covered many
product and service issues important to any restaurant: how often customers visited,
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what was ordered, the value received, and satisfaction with various aspects of the restau-
rant experience (service received, cleanliness/appearance of the restaurant, food and bev-
erages, recommendation of Finale, whether you would return, and overall satisfaction).
She was surprised that no demographic information was included. When the survey was
created, Paul told her that due to the shorter length needed for mobile surveys, he was
comfortable not including these types of questions. He stated that Finale already knew
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their customer: a young woman who was highly educated and affluent who typically
visited Finale with girlfriends or with a date after dinner. Given that his customers were
probably early adopters of technology, a mobile survey seemed best suited to this group.
After reviewing the summary results, Felicity thought about which research ques-
tions should be explored to provide insights to Paul. The summary report provided the
mean for each of the satisfaction questions and the NPS percentage (and overall these
results were quite good). Felicity questioned, however, what these averages really meant
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in terms of improving the Finale experience. Were any of these measures of satisfaction
more important than others? Exactly what drove customer satisfaction at Finale? Based
on the summary report alone, it was not clear. Even though Paul was specifically asking
about the April 2010 summary, Felicity thought it was best to explore all of the data to
date (February 1 through May 15, 2010, provided in the SPSS file1) to provide useful
insights to Paul.

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1. Students may wonder why January data was not included. The reason is that Finale
was still testing the application, so the data from January was not truly representative
of the guest satisfaction survey. In addition, since there were few respondents in
February, management decided to incentivize its servers to encourage customers to fill
out the survey. Based on this management change, the response rate increased after
February. Asking for the server’s name was added to the survey in March.
2 Case Research Journal • Volume 31 • Issue 1 • Winter 2011

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Exhibit 1 Finale April 2010 Survey on the Spot Results Report

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Finale—Just Desserts! 3

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617.783.7860
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Exhibit 1 continued

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No
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4 Case Research Journal • Volume 31 • Issue 1 • Winter 2011

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617.783.7860
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Exhibit 1 continued

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No
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Finale—Just Desserts! 5

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617.783.7860
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Exhibit 1 continued

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No
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6 Case Research Journal • Volume 31 • Issue 1 • Winter 2011

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Exhibit 1 continued

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No
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Finale—Just Desserts! 7

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Exhibit 1 continued

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Source: Survey on the Spot.

Exhibit 2 Select Verbatim Responses from Question Six Word Cloud

If the manager selected “Desserts” from the word cloud, the following verbatim responses would be shown:
April 30, 2010, 9:28 p.m., via iphone: Special offers, featured “lighter” desserts for the summer.
April 28, 2010. 8:25 p.m., via BlackBerry: I would like to see more desserts on the menu, like some from the bakery.
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April 26, 2010, 12:47 A.m., via Web: The personal and friendly service, the delicious drinks and the sweet desserts!
April 21, 2010, 10:16 p.m., via iphone: Coupons for free desserts.
April 17, 2010, 12:48 p.m., via Web: I think that it would be better to focus on the ways that dessert can be enjoyed. For example,
small plates are a trend that has been popular for the better part of eight years now be them purist Tapas, or just conceptual Tapas,
why not have small dessert plate options? Fruit and Cheese pairings? I think if Finale could offer an even wider range of options, it
would manage to lure in yet more people. Everyone wants to feel pampered and have a treat, and if there are different sizes, and
scopes to those treats, I think I’d be a regular. At present, the menu breaks down between plated desserts, shared desserts, and the
likes, but what if it expanded an iced dessert section to allow for things like granitas, sorbets, and luxury frozen items? I think if
Finale perhaps would expand to dessert choices that would be more waistline friendly, things that involve yogurts, fruits, sorbets, etc.
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. . . perhaps I’d get in there more often.

April 10, 2010, 9:17 p.m., via iphone: more new desserts.
April 9, 2010, 11:58 p.m., via mobile Web: more desserts.
If the manager selected “prices” from the word cloud, the following verbatim responses would be shown:
April 30, 2010, 8:50 p.m., via BlackBerry: Cheaper prices.
April 29, 2010, 11:37 p.m., via Web: Lower prices, better quality.
April 28, 2010, 10:35 p.m., via BlackBerry: Lower prices.
April 28, 2010, 8:26 p.m., via BlackBerry: Lower prices and better music.
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April 26, 2010, 7:56 p.m., via mobile Web: Lower prices.
April 23, 2010, 4:20 p.m., via iphone: Coupons, discounts, better dessert prices.
April 17, 2010, 12:21 p.m., via iphone: Lower prices.
April 16, 2010, 11:04 p.m., via mobile Web: Lower prices.
April 15, 2010, 9:24 p.m., via mobile Web: Lower prices (or special deals like Harvard student discount).
April 8, 2010, 10:34 p.m., via mobile Web: Lower prices.
April 6, 2010, 7:47 p.m., via mobile Web: Lower prices.
April 6, 2010, 6:37 p.m., via mobile Web: Lower prices.
April 4, 2010, 8:29 p.m., via mobile Web: Somewhat lower prices.
April 1, 2010, 10:34 p.m., via mobile Web: Lower prices.
Source: Survey on the Spot.
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8 Case Research Journal • Volume 31 • Issue 1 • Winter 2011

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Exhibit 3 Finale Guest Satisfaction Survey

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Date Submitted
2–February
3–march
4–April
5–may
Source
1–iphone

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2–BlackBerry
3–mobile Web
4–Web
Storecode
1–Boston, mA
2–Brookline, mA
3–Cambridge, mA
Thank you for joining us for a Sweet Experience at Finale. We appreciate your patronage and constantly strive to improve our serv-
ice. Complete this brief survey and receive $4 off your purchase of $20 or more on your next visit.

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1. What was your server’s name? (It’s included on your check.)

2. How often do you visit Finale?

6–more often
5–Once a week
4–Twice a month
3–Once a month
2–Once a quarter
1–Less frequently
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3. What did you order on this visit? (Check all that apply.)
1–Lunch (Q3a)
2–Bakery take-out (Q3b)
3–Non-alcoholic beverage (Q3c)
4–Alcoholic beverage (Q3d)
5–Dinner (Q3e)
6–Dessert (Q3f)
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4. Were you satisfied with your overall experience at Finale?

0–Extremely dissatisfied
1
2
3–Somewhat dissatisfied
4
5–Neutral
6
No

7–Somewhat satisfied
8
9
10–Extremely satisfied

5. How likely would you be to return to Finale?

0–Very unlikely
1
2
3–Somewhat unlikely
4
5–Neutral
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6
7–Somewhat likely
8
9
10–Extremely likely

Finale—Just Desserts! 9

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Exhibit 3 continued

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6. What would encourage you to come to Finale more often?
Open-ended response

7. How satisfied were you with the service you received?

0–Extremely dissatisfied
1
2
3–Somewhat dissatisfied

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4
5–Neutral
6
7–Somewhat satisfied
8
9
10–Extremely satisfied

8. How satisfied were you with the cleanliness/appreance of the Desserterie/Bakery Cafe?

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0–Extremely dissatisfied
1
2
3–Somewhat dissatisfied
4
5–Neutral
6
7–Somewhat satisfied
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10–Extremely satisfied

9. Did your food and beverage selection meet your expectations?

0–Extremely dissatisfied
1
2
3–Somewhat dissatisfied
4
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5–Neutral
6
7–Somewhat satisfied
8
9
10–Extremely satisfied

10. Please explain your reason for your answer.

Open-ended response
No

11. Was your experience/food/beverage worth the price you paid for it?
0–Definitely not
1
2
3–Not really
4
5–Neutral
6
7–Somewhat
8
9
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10–Absolutely

10 Case Research Journal • Volume 31 • Issue 1 • Winter 2011

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Exhibit 3 continued

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12. Would you recommend Finale to a friend?
0–Very unlikely
1
2
3–Somewhat unlikely
4
5–Neutral
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7–Somewhat likely
8
9
10–Extremely likely

13. Join “Sweet Rewards” and receive a free dessert on your birthday. Enter your e-mail below.
1–provided e-mail address.
2–Left blank.

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Thank you for your participation!

Source: paul Conforti and Survey on the [Link]

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Finale—Just Desserts! 11

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