Optimizing food ordering and serving process at a restaurant
- 1. Team 2: Swati Adhau Stephanie Chaisson Maura Rizzuto Emily Rose Eric Sher Ben Solomon OM726 – Fall 2013 Optimizing Food Ordering/ Serving Process at Viga
- 2. Agenda Overview & Context Process Analysis Findings & Recommendations Predicting Impact after Recommendations are Implemented Questions
- 3. Overview 304 Stuart Street, Boston About Viga: Family-run take-out & catering business started in 1999, with 3 locations in Boston (our focus was on Stuart St. location in Back Bay) Who are Viga’s Customers? Business professionals stopping in on their lunch break who do not have a lot of time to wait in line (busy schedules)
- 4. Goal & Competitive Advantage Goal: “Provide a quality product at a reasonable price with superior customer service…” Competitive Advantage: Very fast service High-quality, fresh food Proximity to nearby businesses
- 5. Layout of Viga (Stuart St. Location) Kitchen G l a s s W i n d o w Pizza/ Pasta Calzones Hot Cold Sandwiches Sandwiches Cooler for Cold Salads and Drinks Cashier 1 Cashier 2 Cashier 3 Small Counter L a r g e Silverware/ Napkins Entrance/Exit L a r g e G l a s s W i n d o w
- 6. Existing Process Flow Diagram Decision Point Choose Station Queue Queue Place and receive order at Pizza/ Calzone station Grab Chips, Drinks and Queue Desserts Queue Queue Queue Queue Place and receive order at Pasta station Place and receive order at Hot Sandwich station Queue Queue Queue Pay at Cash Register Place and receive order at Cold Sandwich station Pick up napkins/ silverware Exit
- 7. Observation Our Goal: Find out ways in which Viga can improve its front-of-house operations. Our Questions: Are people abandoning the line, or avoiding Viga altogether due to perceived wait time? Is Viga’s management utilizing its limited physical space in a way that would allow for maximum capacity utilization? What type of technology might allow Viga to utilize its small space in a more revenue-maximizing way? Our Method: Explore Viga’s front-of-house process by observing/collecting data on their daily operations at times of peak demand (12 – 1PM) throughout the week. Observe volume of customers coming in and out (in 5 minute intervals) and customers’ throughput time during the hour.
- 8. Data collection • Date • Time of day • Throughput time • # customers in • # customers out • # customers abandoned Date: • Sampled over six random weekdays • Treated days equally Time of day: • Took several observations around lunchtime (12 – 1 PM) • Recorded data every five minutes Throughput time: • Picked random customer • Tracked time from entry to exit # customers: • The #in gave us the capacity • The #out gave us the cycle time (#out/5min) • The #abandoned gave us clues when there might be a problem
- 9. Station Task Times We attempted to measure individual task times for each station Found it nearly impossible without interfering with their business (limited physical space) We could easily conclude based on # of steps per station and station popularity, that the hot sandwich and pasta lines take the longest and cause the bottleneck. Hot Sandwich Station Tasks 1. Choose bread 2. Choose meat/filling 3. Scoop sauce 4. Add cheese 5. Wrap/close sandwich 3. Sprinkle cheese 4. Cover 5. Add sticker 6. Package 7. Add sticker Pasta Station Tasks 1. Scoop 2. Add meat Cold Sandwich Station Tasks (often open and had two workers)… 7 steps/2 workers = 3.5 steps per worker 1. Choose bread 2. Choose condiments Pizza Station Tasks 1. Put on plate 2. Put in bag 3. Choose meat/filling 4. Choose toppings 5. Wrap/close sandwich 6. Package 7. Add sticker
- 10. Discovering the problem Hypothesis: high throughput times = long lines and abandonment 02:00 01:00 Higher throughput time from 12:30 to 12:45 Abandonment can occur when > 5 min Lines are likely out the door 5 5-minute time periods 12:00 PM 11:45 AM 1:15 PM 0 1:00 PM 12:45 PM 12:00 PM 11:45 AM 12:30 PM Time of entry 00:00 10 Lower cycle time from 12:15 to 12:45 Does not become less than 8 sec Abandonment occurs when people are moving What does this tell us? 1:15 PM 03:00 15 1:00 PM 04:00 20 12:45 PM 05:00 25 12:30 PM 06:00 12:15 PM cycle time (seconds/customer) 30 12:15 PM Throuhghput duration (min) 07:00
- 11. Measuring success At cycle time = 8 seconds, capacity in five minutes = 37.5 customers CU = (60sec * 5min)/8sec CU = 300sec/8sec = 37.5 450 Throughput time (sec) Capacity utilization 140% 120% 100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% 0% 5% Reduction in customers 10% 15% 20% Max CU at peak time = 123% Max CU < 100% if cust.reduction > %20 Max CU goes from 123% to 98% Average CU becomes 60% from 76% 25% 400 350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0 0% Reduction in customers 5% 10% 15% 20% Max throughput at peak time = 6:22 (min:sec) Max throughput < 5 min if cust.reduction > 25% Max throughput goes from 6:22 to 4:51 Average throughput becomes 2:42 from 3:38 This is our goal, but how do we get there? 25%
- 12. Recommendations Goal 1: To achieve shorter avg. throughput time, increased capacity and increased revenue Utilize the large glass windows behind the cash registers as literal takeout window. Build an online ordering platform to shift 25% of the current in-store sales online Online orders can be prepared during the small periods of downtime they have throughout the peak lunch time period. To Achieve Shorter Avg. Throughput time, Increased Revenue and Capacity Avg. throughput time can be reduced by designating an employee to hand out paper menus, to help customers decide their orders while in line. Exit
- 13. Recommendations Goal 2: To improve customer service Light System for cashiers to indicate their availability. Designate an employee at the door who can pass out paper menus to people in line. Install large signs above each food station to reduce the confusion. Add a prepackaged utensil set (fork, knife, spoon and napkin) while bagging customer’s order. Improved Customer Service Viga could re-order stations so that items that customers are likely to pair, are next to eachExit other.
- 14. New Process Flow Diagram In-Store or Online order? Start Decision Point Choose Station Queue Queue Queue Place and receive order at Pizza/ Calzone station Grab Chips, Drinks Queue and Desserts Queue Queue Place and receive order at Pasta station Place and receive order at Hot Sandwich station Queue Queue Queue Pay at Cash Register Queue Place and receive order at Cold Sandwich station Place Order Online Queue Show receipt and collect order from takeout window Exit
- 15. Impact on the bottom-line • Online prepaid orders would reduce the customers in store line by 25% • Shorter in-store lines would decrease the rate of abandonment and attract new customers looking for faster service • Increase in the number of customers served between the peak period of 12 – 1pm = 25% • Current customers = 450 25% increase = 112.5 customers Avg order/customer = $7 • 25% Revenue increase/day = $787.5 • 25% Revenue increase/month = $15,750
- 16. Questions
Editor's Notes
- #5: We interviewed the location’s manager, Flavia, in person and by phone. She has been with the company for 10 years, and told us that in her view, Viga’s strong points are: fresh food and (fast) customer service.
- #6: Stations are labeled with signs along the wall (but can be difficult to see from the back of the line).The hot and cold sandwich stations are cramped together in one corner, making it hard to distinguish between the two lines and creating one of the many bottlenecks in the process. There’s a prepared foods case with salads and racks for a variety of chips that are inconveniently located near the entrance and next to the pizza/calzone line.
- #7: One line of customers (general queue) splits into four lines based on product offerings: Pizza/calzonePastaHot sandwichesCold sandwiches.Customers need to decide what they want to order, and then join the appropriate line.Viga employees shout to customers when there are openings at their stations. Customers place their orders.(The manager, Flavia, acknowledged that some people may not like the yelling, but it was necessary in order to keep everything running quickly.)
- #8: We wanted to observe at a time when the employees were working to the greatest capacity utilization, so we’d be able to identify inefficiencies more easily.We focused on throughput and cycle times instead of task and wait times because it was difficult to get physically close enough to the action without getting in the way (packed house).By observing during this peak time and collecting data in small increments of time, we were able to notice fluctuations within the hour that led to our conclusions and recommendations for improvement.
- #13: In order to increase revenue despite the space limitations, we recommend that Viga institute an online ordering system. This system would permit customers to order and pay for their lunch ahead of time. They could then verify their order by showing the cashier the order confirmation printed or on their smart phone. This process would allow Viga to immediately reduce the number of customers coming in and out of the door, and hopefully to recognize more revenue in the same window of time.In order to seamlessly incorporate the influx of online customers to collect their pick up orders to the already space induced crowd in the store, we propose Viga utilize the large windows behind the cash registers as literal take-out window. By doing so, this category of customers won’t even need to enter the restaurant. As a result, they will not add to confusing line situation or contribute to a higher average throughput time for the other customers. These customers take longer to order because they cannot see the menu until they are very close to it, or essentially next up to place an order, at which point they may have to switch lines and hold up customers behind them. To alleviate this we recommend that Viga designate an employee at the door who can pass out paper menus to people in line, answer any questions and perhaps offer samples of pizza, calzones or pastasRather than having cashiers shout to customers that their cash register is available, we recommend that Viga use a light system, similar to that used in large stores like Marshalls to direct customers to the next available cashier. For example, if it takes an average of 30 seconds to make a menu selection and customers are able to do that while idling in the line, average throughput time will decrease.
- #14: In order to increase revenue despite the space limitations, we recommend that Viga institute an online ordering system. This system would permit customers to order and pay for their lunch ahead of time. They could then verify their order by showing the cashier the order confirmation printed or on their smart phone. This process would allow Viga to immediately reduce the number of customers coming in and out of the door, and hopefully to recognize more revenue in the same window of time.In order to seamlessly incorporate the influx of online customers to collect their pick up orders to the already space induced crowd in the store, we propose Viga utilize the large windows behind the cash registers as literal take-out window. By doing so, this category of customers won’t even need to enter the restaurant. As a result, they will not add to confusing line situation or contribute to a higher average throughput time for the other customers. These customers take longer to order because they cannot see the menu until they are very close to it, or essentially next up to place an order, at which point they may have to switch lines and hold up customers behind them. To alleviate this we recommend that Viga designate an employee at the door who can pass out paper menus to people in line, answer any questions and perhaps offer samples of pizza, calzones or pastasRather than having cashiers shout to customers that their cash register is available, we recommend that Viga use a light system, similar to that used in large stores like Marshalls to direct customers to the next available cashier.
- #15: One line of customers (general queue) splits into four lines based on product offerings: Pizza/calzonePastaHot sandwichesCold sandwiches.Customers need to decide what they want to order, and then join the appropriate line.Viga employees shout to customers when there are openings at their stations. Customers place their orders.(The manager, Flavia, acknowledged that some people may not like the yelling, but it was necessary in order to keep everything running quickly.)