Is Your Craft Service’s Customer Service On Target?

Craft service is as much about customer service as it is food service. They go hand in hand. You can have the greatest snack food in the world but if you’re not treating your customers right you won’t have anyone to serve the food to. Your craft service’s customer service must be on target!

Taking good care of your customers, i.e. cast and crew, can result in a higher referral rate, repeat business, and satisfied customers.

Here are six customer service strategies to keep your craft service at the top of hiring producers lists.

Serve Quality Food

Even on a modest craft service budget you can buy good food. You just have to be a savvy shopper. Don’t simply buy a bunch of salty and sweet “junk food.” Instead, shop the perimeter of your grocer for fresh produce, dairy, and meat.

See my post, “Craft Service Snack Idea: 16 Tasty Snacks That Won’t Break The Craft Service Budget” for some really awesome ideas.

Train Craft Service Assistants To Be Empathetic

Teach your assistant to listen to the concerns of the cast and crew. Stress that everyone works hard on a production and will often vent their frustration on the craft services person. When this occurs you want your assistants to be able to show that they understand the person’s annoyance and will do whatever necessary to alleviate the situation.

Offer Extra Services

Everyone likes to get a little more than they paid for. Offer to order, pickup, and setup second meal. Or, buy fresh flowers for an actor’s trailer. Perhaps walk around set with a tray of sandwiches or a fun snack like lollipops. Any little extra you can do to make the cast and crew feel like you really care, will go a long way.

Fulfill Request Quickly

Craft service request abound! You will get them during pre-production as well as when principal photography starts. Show your diligence and take care of requests as soon as possible. For example, if it’s a request for a particular food item and you’re near a store that carries the item, go buy it.

sign up for the CraftySnax craft service bulletin and I’ll send you my free report, “get more craft service jobs this year.”

Resolve Complaints Immediately

You should be just as expedient in taking care of complaints about your service as you are in fulfilling requests. Listen carefully to the person’s complaint to make sure you understand, let them know you understand and apologize that the situation has occurred, the solve the problem.

Have A Themed Day

From time to time the set caterers will have a themed lunch like “Taco Tuesdays”. Why not have a craft service themed day? For example, if you’re working on a weekend you could have “Smoothie Sunday” or maybe “Fish Fridays” where you put on the craft service table various seafood choices like a shrimp platter, smoked salmon, crab dip and crackers, etc. Whatever theme you choose for your craft service table will make a memorable impression on cast and crew.

Following these six strategies will help put your craft service a notch above the competition. Some will require more effort than others but the payoff can be huge in referrals and repeat business.

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Add your customer service tips in the comments below.