people with differing opinions
Case Study 2 – The Association of Catering Excellence

The Client
The Association of Catering Excellence is a forum for anyone associated with the Food and Service Management Industry. It was formerly known as the European Catering Association and continues with similar aims but with more emphasis on profiling and promoting the Food and Service Management sector. It is a lively organisation that encourages caterers and associates from all sectors to network, exchange ideas, socialise and keep in touch through a number of events organised across the year. These consist of an Annual Conference/Dinner, National Public Debates and up to 6 main events annually.

ACE Customers View Programme
On behalf of ACE, The Customers View implemented The Listening Post at two of their events in 2005. These were a Ready Steady Cook competition evening on October 4th and “A World of Wine” networking event on November 14th. At each event members of our staff were on hand to take immediate feedback from ACE members and their guests attending each event. After each event we sent out e-mail questionnaires to all attendees which asked them to provide their views about the event. They were also asked to rank the following key criteria: quality of ACE staff/reception; overall quality of the event; quality of the refreshments; and convenience of the venue. The responses were analysed and presented to the ACE Management Team in the form of an executive summary report. For each event a number of key recommendations were able to be made to improve future events of a similar nature.

The Client’s View
Norman Dees the Chairman of ACE was impressed by the ease of implementation, speed of feedback and the quality of the responses received. In particular he was impressed by the tangible recommendations that were able to be made regarding the conduct of future events.