Managing Business Operation: The of Subway Restaurant - Case Study Example

MANAGING BUSINESS OPERATIONS     By         Location Company: Subway restaurant Part one: Background of operations Subway restaurant is a fast food outlet was started in 1965 through the effort of Fred DeLuca, who was out of searching for a source of income to help finance his education in a medical school. Together with his partner, Dr Peter Buck, Fred opened a small submarine sandwich shop from humble beginnings and the duo learnt the basics of business management and operations from experience. The initial purpose of the small business was to provide a source of income for the owners, but with growth, the business became a worth while venture for the owners. Essentially, the growth was characterized by the opening of Suway restaurants acroos the continents to which its reception was overwhelming. Subway purposed to serve the first food market with the best sandwiches at a fair price, thus aiming at being the market leader in the industry. With over 40,000 restaurants in 107 countries, Subway restaurant has become a force to reckon with in the first food industry. The firm has been able to outdo the previous world largest first food, McDonald to become the largest chain of restaurants in the world. It opens up new branches through franchising thus having branches worldwide. Though it is the largest fast food restaurant, Subway has been facing stiff competition in the American market from other small but fast growing restaurants in the country like the fire House subs, Jimmy John, and jersey mike’s (Maze 2014, p. 1). Among the external factors affecting the organization include competition, increasing consumer awareness of healthy eating and economic conditions of the country. The firm is able to outdo its competitors through improving its services as well as having special offers on their sandwiches to attract more consumers. To respond to the rising need for healthy fast food by consumers, the Subway restaurant is offering the subs fresh and healthy sandwiches as npeople are now more aware of the consequences of unhealthy dietary inclusions. The special offers also serve to respond to the economic conditions through providing fairly affordable subs for the customers. Part Two: Transformation process and evaluation of the operations The main operations of the company are to prepare sandwiches for sale to its customers. It is a process from sourcing of the ingredients from suppliers to the final point of serving the sandwich to the customers. The ingredients have to be in good condition and freshly packed to enable the firm to serve the freshest possible subs for its customers. The main ingredients of the restaurant include baking floor for sandwich bread preparation and the raisins and spices for the bread, lettuce, tomato, onions, green pepper and cucumber all for the sandwich (Subway 2014, p. 1). The salad ingredients are meat/ poultry and standard vegetable. Cheese and salad dressing will only be included with permission from the customer. The process of sandwich preparation begins with the backing of sandwich bread. This involves mixing the ingredients to the right proportion and placing in the oven to bake at a given temperature. The other ingredients for the sandwich and salad are only prepared as soon as the customer orders a sandwich and the sandwich is prepared according to customer specification; for example veggies delite. A veggie delite. Source: http://www.Subway.com/menu/MenuCategoryItems.aspx The vegetables will be chopped and the sandwich prepared on the spot when the customer orders for one. Meat products are prepared in advance to save preparation time when ordered so that the only task will be to arrange the pre-prepared ingredients in the sandwich bread. The end result is a delicious looking sandwich. The four v’s of operation includes volume, variety, visibility and variation. To maximize output at the lowest possible cost, the firm has to produce high volume of sandwich to maximize on its potential. Through large producing high volume, the firm incurs low cost of production thus it is able to charge fairly low prices for their fast food while making the same profit margin. Low volume will increase production cost on top of not being able to satisfy the market demand for Subway products. With only the sandwich bread prepared in advance, the firm is able to prepare the sandwich of choice for its customers on order. The short time taken to prepare a sandwich contributes to the variety offered. Through its customized services, Subway is able to prepare a variety of fast food for its customers, though with an increased cost of providing a variety of ingredients to satisfy the varying customer needs. With variation, the customers can only choose sandwich, which is within the ingredients list of the restaurant thus there is standard pricing and the costs can easily be managed by the restaurant. Allowing customers to dictate whichever ingredients they so wish will increase the cost of production and the pricing of the products will also vary thus through compiling a list of the most demanded ingredients in the sandwich, Subway is able to come up with a standard list of available options at a standardized cost. With the visibility dimension, the customers are able to follow their experience through the process. In Subway restaurant, the sandwich and salads are prepared in the presence of the customer to assure freshness and quality of the product. The visibility is among the most valued aspects of the operation of Subway customers. It assures them of the freshness of the sandwich and salad they are consuming. The variety is also a plus for Subway. Through its customized services, the restaurant is able to attend to the needs of various customers for example subs for the diabetic. This ensures that the diabetes are able to get a sandwich, which suits their health conditions, thus enjoying their favourite sandwich without affecting their health. The healthy living initiative, which has been embraced by Subway restaurant is in line with the current market demand for Subway products. Part Three: Process design The process I would be involved with as an operations manager is the managing of customers’ orders to ensure they are delivered on time and as required. In line with the 24 hour economy, Subway operates round the clock, thus there is a need for employees to be working throughout the day and night. As an operations manager, I have to prepare shifts for employees so that there are employees to attend to the customers at any time. With the shift register in place, I have to ensure that the customers’ needs are met as desired for example for the steak and cheese sandwich, I will ensure that the stick and cheese are available so that when the customer orders they can be able to get their orders without delay. In the actual preparation of the sandwich, division of labour will be of the essence to the restaurant as this will make the process to be faster and easier to manage. The various tasks to be performed can be allocated to the various employees to enable specialization and lower operational cost. From the bakery, there will be an employee specializing in mixing the ingredients for the sandwich bread and another to be involved in baking the breads. Through this, there will be maximum attention awarded to each of these process thus reducing chances of preparing sandwich bread with excess or shortage of any ingredient as well as ensure the bread does not get burnt due to divided attention of the chef. With the sandwich bread in place, the preparation of the actual sandwich has to be undertaken in a professional manner. With all the ingredients required for the sandwich available, as the operations manager, I have to ensure that the most suited employee in terms of skills prepares the sandwich. Supervision of the chopping and arranging of the ingredients may be necessary on a random basis to ensure the best product is prepared for the customers. Moreover, the orders are received by a waiter and passed over to the kitchen for preparation. Proper hygiene is of essence and that is among the main area I will undertake supervision to comply with the health requirements of the country. The vegetables and other ingredients for the sandwich are chopped and neatly arranged in the sandwich bread before being topped by a source of the customer choice then presented in a plate before being served. For takeaway orders, packaging is a very important factor to consider ensuring that the sandwich reaches its destination in good and presentable condition. Flow of information will be from the customers making their orders to the waiters waiting to serve them. The order specification will have to be passed to the chefs in the kitchen for them to prepare the order as preferred by the customer. With the flow of customer increasing over lunch hour at around noon, there is a need to increase speed of operation and quantity of output while maintaining the same quality. The sandwich bread and other ingredients for the sandwich need to be prepared before this time to ensure maximum output during this rush hour. Bibliography Maze J, 2014, are competitors biting into Subway? Available from: http://www.restfinance.com/Restaurant-Finance-Across-America/September-2013/Are-Competitors-Biting-Into-Subway/ [15 November 2014] Subway 2014, history of Subway. Available from: http://www.Subway.com/Subwayroot/about_us/history.aspx [15 November 2014] Subway, 2014, nutrition information. Available from: http://www.Subway.com/nutrition/nutritionlist.aspx [15 November 2014] Read More