Deepak,

Outstanding Job!Please see margin comments for details.

You have earned 73 of 75 points.

JPG

September 2010

By: Deepak Kumar

CMBA 28 Term 5

OM 503

Table of Contents

1. Executive Summary.....................................................................................................12. Problem Analysis.........................................................................................................13. Methodology................................................................................................................2

3.1. Assumptions..........................................................................................................33.2. Capacity Analysis.................................................................................................33.3. Service Analysis....................................................................................................63.4. Critical Issues........................................................................................................8

4. Recommendations........................................................................................................94.1. System Changes..................................................................................................104.2. Financial Analysis...............................................................................................12

5. Implementation...........................................................................................................136. Conclusion..................................................................................................................137. As-Is Layout...............................................................................................................14

7.1. New Layout.........................................................................................................15

Bala Bay Inn Report

1. Executive Summary

The Bala Bay Inn is currently facing issues regarding its ability to handle customers during its Tuesday night dinner buffet from July to August from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. This has created a situation where 40-50 customers are being turned away at the door, customers also experience long wait times, pizza production does not meet demand, and overall customer satisfaction is down.  This report will analyze the problems facing the Bala Bay Inn and make recommendations that increase efficiency and profitability.

My analysis of the situation quickly revealed that pizza production was not enough to meet demand on the busy Tuesday nights and that capacity was not high enough to accommodate all the customers. I found a number of bottlenecks scenarios in the seating capacity, production and services areas of the restaurant. These three areas created the biggest bottlenecks in the system and had a number of bottlenecks within each process. I developed 11 distinct recommendations that address these issues and if implemented increase capacity, cut down service wait time, increase profitability and improve the customer experience. I made all of the recommendations with consideration to financial and practical constraints. The limited time frame of the Tuesday Night Buffett I didn't make any long-term changes that were unnecessary for the remainder of the year.

The Tuesday Night Buffett is only offered from July to August so all of the changes that are recommended within this analysis are quick and easy. As a restaurateur of many years I understand the need to be imaginative when it comes to solving complex situations in restaurants. This has lead me to offer practical solutions that will put minimal strain on the businesses finances, staff and management. I tried to limit my capital budget whenever possible and provide the cheapest solution so as to maximize profit and also limit risk.  The two most pertinent issues that I found were the limited seating and the shortage of pizza. The wait time was also a worry because it limited table turnover and created extra work for the staff.  Even though Mr. Bole was not as concerned about the dining time, but it isn't possible to spread out demand because everyone wants to eat and get out before 7:15.

I used a number of different methods and made some standard assumptions based on my experience in the industry to reach solutions. I also performed different analysis in regards to capacity, production and service.

2. Problem Analysis

The Bala Bay Inn's Tuesday Night Buffett was started because of the Summer Water Sports show that was put on every Tuesday from July to August at 7:30. This also created a rush to eat dinner for visitors that wanted to see the show. The Bala Bay Inn on these nights had almost all of its customers going to the Ski Show, so everyone wanted to leave before 7:30. The ski show was 200 meters away from the Inn so it would take people at least 10 minutes to reach their destination.

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Bala Bay Inn Report

Most people that came to the Bala Bay Inn on these nights were families with groups of 8, but sometimes as big as 20, with children. Only about 10% of the customers ordered off the menu, most people ate the buffet. The Inn has a seating capacity of 300, but this was limited due to the Buffett at 270 and the bar area did not seat customers so it was capped at 240. All the tables seated 4 people and could be pushed together so this further limited the seating capacity.

People experienced wait times of almost 40 minutes when they came at the peak hours and this needs to be reduced. The current situation has a bottleneck in service in getting the drinks and also the check out to customers. Pizza production is also extremely slow and is experiences shortage early on in the night.

1. Get everyone out of the restaurant by at least 7:15.

2. Service 40-50 extra people each night.

3. Produce enough pizza to meet demand.

4. Cut down on the service time.

5. Cut down on the customer wait time.

6. Maximize profit on Tuesday Nights.

7. Decrease chaos and mess on Tuesday.

3. Methodology

The methods used to make my analysis and recommendations consist of simple capacity, cycle time, customer flow and production calculations. I also created a customer flow analysis diagram to better understand the bottleneck and the customer experience. This allowed me to see the exact steps in the process that are actually slowing down the service time and which areas we can focus on to improve the time.

I also created a timeline from 5:00 P.M. through 7:15 P.M. to see how many customers came in to the Inn and when they left. This also allowed to measure the pizza production times and I was able to see how the shortage of pizzas would affect the customers. This also gave me a better understanding of the rush hours and when the restaurant would be full. A close analysis of the time line is crucial in this analysis because it allows us to make better judgments. I kept the time line to only 2 hours and 15 minutes because that is when the majority of business takes place.

Pizza production calculations were also made to evaluate the capacity and cycle time of the pizza oven. This needed to be figured out so that we knew how much pizza to produce and how long it would take to produce it. This allowed me to make an accurate calculation regarding how many pizzas we would need and when to start work on the additional pizzas. The seating capacity was also important in this analysis to increase capacity in the Bala Bay Inn. The seating

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Bala Bay Inn Report

capacity was also analyzed by making calculations regarding the seating arrangement and the information provided in by Mr. Bol.

3.1.Assumptions

There were a number of assumptions made in regards to this case and they are as follows:

1. All customers left the inn at 7:15 to go to the Ski Show.

2. Fountain Drinks were included in the Buffet and there was a fountain drink machine by the Bar in dining room.

3. The tables were movable anywhere and there is a storage facility that the restaurant keeps the extra tables on Buffet nights.

4. The tables were rectangular and big enough for four people to set comfortably and not square tops. I made this assumption because the Pizza is 38 centimeters in diameter so the table has to be big enough for 2 pizzas to fit for 4 people. This assumption means that 2 tables pushed together would create a table of 8.

5. Starting pizza production 2 hours early would not a problem for any of the staff or management.

6. All of the kids wanted fountain drinks and all of the adults wanted to drink alcohol.

7. The second payment machine and register is at the bar.

8. Getting additional chairs and tables would not be a problem.

9. Two seating's on a Tuesday night meant that the Inn was filled to capacity twice between 5 p.m. and 7:15 p.m.

10. The average diner guest ate 2 slices of Pizza; the Pizza had 12 slices so an average pizza feed 6 people.

11. I assumed that no matter how fast the pizza oven was the set up time for 6 pizzas was about 5 minutes.

3.2.Capacity Analysis

The analysis of the pizza was important to develop how many pizzas were necessary to feed one person. I made the assumption that a set up time for 6 pizzas was closet to 5 minutes and we protect the bottleneck by always operating the pizza over at 6 pizza capacity.  This allowed me to get a capacity of 24 pizzas an hour and the number of cycles at 4 per hour. The 12 slices or one pizza cold feed 6 people and a full buffet of 5 pizzas could feed 30 people. The buffet only has 5 slots for the pizza, so this is the maximum capacity, not the actual capacity.                                  

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Bala Bay Inn Report

Capacity Determination Table

Type of Process

Set up Time

Run Time

Number of Ovens

Number of

Maximum Units Capacity

Cycle Per hour

Continuous 5 10 1 4 6 24

Pizza Production:

Pizza Goal 100 Pizzas

Cycle Time 6 pizzas/15mins

Production/hr 24 Pizzas/hr

Capacity 24 Pizzas

Slices Per Pizza

12 slices

Pizza per person

2 Slices

1 Pizza Feeds 6 People

5 Pizza on Buffet

30 People

The seating capacity was calculated by taking the 300 seats and subtracting 30 due to the buffet. After this I calculated the seating lost due to uneven groups coming in at about 40 seats, this lead to 200 actual seating at the Inn.

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Bala Bay Inn Report

This meant that the Bala Bay Inn served a total of 400 people on Tuesday nights and turned away 50. The menu was ordered by 40 people so 360 people had the buffet and half of those were children. The analysis also breaks down how many pizzas we need to feed the maximum capacity that we should handle on pizza night which would mean we need to make 100 pizzas. The demand at the moment would mean that we need to make aprox. 66 pizzas, 200/6 =33.

Seating:

Pizzas

Capacity

380

Seating:

300

Tuesday Seating:

270 68 pizza

s

Actual Seating:

200 50 pizz

as

Bar Seating:

30

Adults Buffet

180

45 Pizzas

Kids Buffet

180 45

Pizzas

Menu 40 10 Pizzas

Total Served:

400

100 Pizzas

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Bala Bay Inn Report

Turned Away

50

 

 Service Analysis

The customer time table listed below is a detailed service analysis. We see that with no wait time a customer can expect to eat and leave in around 55 minutes from start to finish. With an additional wait time due to pizza a customer would spend over an hour and ten minutes in the restaurant. Minimizing the service time should be a top priority; we can also see clearly that the drink time and the return check time are the bottlenecks. Reducing one or both of these bottlenecks would help out the system and increase capacity.

Buffett

Customer Flow With no Pizza Wait Time:

Total Time 55mins

A. Service Time: 14 Total

Mins

Guests Seated: 1 mins

Greet/Order Drinks:

3 mins

Deliver Drinks 10 mins

Order Meal: 0 mins

Deliver Meal: 0 mins

B. Dining 20 Total

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Bala Bay Inn Report

Time: Mins

C. Service Time: 21 Total

Mins

Request Check: 2 mins

Deliver Check:

2 mins

Collect Check: 1 mins

Return Check: 10 mins

Guest Leaves: 1 mins

Bus Table: 5 mins

Customer Flow With Pizza Wait Time:

Total Time 1hr 10 mins

A. Service Time: 29 Total Mins

Guests Seated: 1 mins

Greet/Order Drinks: 3 mins

Deliver Drinks 10 mins

Order Meal: 0 mins

Deliver Meal: 15 mins

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Bala Bay Inn Report

B. Dining Time: 20 Total Mins

C. Service Time: 21 Total Mins

Request Check: 2 mins

Deliver Check: 2 mins

Collect Check: 1 mins

Return Check: 10 mins

Guest Leaves: 1 mins

Bus Table: 5 mins

3.3.Critical Issues

I used a simple timeline to illustrate the flow of traffic within the restaurant. The customers come and go at a static pace, not in batches, but this timeline helps to illustrate the customer flow between 5 P.M. and 7:30 P.M. The pizza production process also gives us some insight into what is going on during these hours. 

Time Lines:

Customers

Pizza

New Pizza Process

5:00 0 20 46

Rush

5:30

100 10 12

Full

6:00

200 100 Leav

10 12

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Bala Bay Inn Report

e

Rush

6:30 200

100 Leave

10 12

Full

7:00 200

100 Leave

10 12

7:30 0

100 Leave

5 6

Total 65 100

4. Recommendations

After careful Analysis I have made the following recommendations:

1. Use the Dance Floor for 50 Seating

2. Fountain Drink Machine, self-serve

3. No Menu Items

4. Pay up front

5. Beer and Alcohol paid separately, all guests pay dinner in advance

6. Pizza making process started at 3 p.m.

7. Purchase 10 Pizza Heated Oven Bag - $30 a bag/3 pizzas a bag standard

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Bala Bay Inn Report

8. Bake Crust

9. Separate families with kids into main room

10. Use Dance room for anymore additional seating, purchasing extra tables or chairs if required

11. Please wait to be seated sign

4.1.System Changes

By diverting all of the fountain drinks to self-serve we should free up almost 50% of the bar so it should operate 50% after. The payments for alcohol would be made at the bar and guests pay for the buffet before they eat. If a party has no alcohol order they can leave the restaurant quicker and just one bill for the alcohol will also move the check returns along much faster. This should over all reduce the service time to 45 minutes.

Customer Flow With no Pizza Wait Time:

45 Total Time

A. Service Time: 9 Total Mins

Guests Seated: 1 mins

Greet/Order Drinks: 3 mins

Deliver Drinks 5 mins

Order Meal: 0 mins

Deliver Meal: 0 mins

B. Dining Time: 20 Total Mins

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Bala Bay Inn Report

C. Service Time: 16 Total Mins

Request Check: 2 mins

Deliver Check: 2 mins

Collect Check: 1 mins

Return Check: 5 mins

Guest Leaves: 1 mins

Bus Table: 5 mins

 

The additional seating capacity will have to be increased by 60 to gain 50 additional seating Due to Capacity issues even with the increased cycle time for customers we would still have to turn away people because of the seating capacity and some people would still not like to wait. 

Old Model 129.00 Mins 2 Settings

New Model 90.00 Mins 2 Settings

Due to capacity we would still have to turn away customers during the rush traffic.

The additional seating capacity will have to be increased by 60 to gain 50 additional seating to handle all the demand. If we take 30 seats from the dining room that we lost from the buffet and 2 seating from the bar, that gives us 40 seating and we need 20 more to make 60. I assumed that the 30 seats made 8 tables and we lost 2 seats because of seating issues caused by the dining room layout. We might need to purchase 5 new tables and 20 chairs, which allow us to meet extra demand, but 30 additional seating might be just enough to seat 50 more people over 2 hours. The seating is not 100% firm, because some people also stand and don't seat at the Bala Inn.   

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Bala Bay Inn Report

New Seating Actual Seating

Additional Seating

300 250 50

4.2.Financial Analysis

The financial results which include the new implementations give us a net gain of $301.05 on Tuesday. The cost of the Pizza bags are $300.00 and the 5 tables will be anywhere from $75.00 each to $125.00, the chairs are $15.00 to $45.00 each. If you didn't want to add the 5 new tables and chairs, the additional 30 seating might be just enough to hold an extra 50 people.

Old Sales:

Prices:

Tuesday Night

Turned Away

Adult $10.95

$1,971.00

$240.90

Kids $5.95 $1,071.00

$130.90

Deluxe

$17.95 $179.50 $107.7

0

$3,221.50

$479.50

$3,221.50

Totals

$966.45 Net

New Sales:

Prices:

Tuesday

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Bala Bay Inn Report

Night

Adult

$10.95

$2,737.50

Kids$5.95

$1,487.50

$4,225.00

Total

$1,267.50 Net

5. Implementation

The cook will have to start making pizzas at 3 p.m. and they can keep all the freshly made pizzas in the pizza bags until they are ready to put on the buffet. The other 16 that are required can be frozen or you can freeze 12 and get 6 of them ready right before the buffet opens. The pizza bags also allow us to make 6 pizzas at a time and protect the bottleneck. No menu items should be featured on Tuesdays because 90% of the people want to eat the buffet anyway and everyone wants to get out before 7:15 P.M. to see the Ski Show. This will not result in a loss for us because it allows us to make more pizzas.

The layout of the restaurant will change as we will be moving tables from the dining area into the dance floor. I would move as many tables to the dance room as possible so there is more room in the dining area. This will allow the wait staff to move around the buffet area with much more ease. Because the fountain drink is also in the dining room this will allow customers easy access to the machine. This is the easiest possible way to gain extra seating so that no customers are turned away.

Customers will also be required to pay there meal in advance and we would separate the families with kids from the ones without kids. Ideally I would add more seats to the dance floor and have the family with children there and keep a low amount of people in the buffet area. Lastly, I would post a please wait to be seated sign on in the Foyer room so that customers don't skip ahead of others waiting in line.

 

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Bala Bay Inn Report

6. Conclusion

All of the above recommendations can be implemented easily and with minimal investment. These require some reorganization, but next to no training for the staff and a smoother operation on the whole. If all of the recommendations are implemented there will be a measurable increase in customer satisfaction, a decrease in wait time, no customers turned away, higher pizza production rate to meet demand and increased profitability. I hope you have found this report to be both informative and beneficial, have a great Tuesday night at the Bala Bay Inn.

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Bala Bay Inn Report

7. As-Is Layout

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Bala Bay Inn Report

7.1.

New Layout

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