Academic Director of the Institute of Service Excellence at SMU (ISES) Assistant Professor Marcus Lee said that while it is obvious that food & beverage (F&B) businesses have to focus on improving food quality, there are other service-related elements which, when put together, may be a stronger lever to influence customer satisfaction. This insight came from survey data ISES collected for its latest Customer Satisfaction Index of Singapore for the F&B, and tourism sectors. Analysing how various factors or “touchpoints” relate to customers’ satisfaction in these two sectors, ISES said that certain touchpoints show themselves to be “basic needs”.