Operational Strategies at the Local ASK Italian Restaurant - Case Study Example

Operation Management Report on ‘ASK Italian Restaurant’ Table of Content Introduction of Report - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 03 Introduction of ASK Italian Restaurant - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 03 Performance Objective of the Hotel Managers - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 04 Quality of the Products and Services - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 04 Delivery Speed - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 05 Dependability - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 05 Flexibility - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 05 Cost Measurement - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 06 Demand Analysis - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 06 Handling the Demand Fluctuations - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 06 Quality Management at the ASK Italian Restaurant - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 06 Conclusion - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 07 Recommendations - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 07 Works Cited - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 08 Introduction of the Report: The basic aim of this report is to analyze the operational strategies and the tactics of a business. The operational strategies are the actual foundation upon which any business can run. Therefore, we can say that there is a requirement of highly efficient and effective strategies, which can make a firm more competitive and more growing in nature. For this purpose I have selected ASK Italian Restaurant. In this report, we will try to highlight the basic performance objectives of the company. The research question basically moves around particular performance objectives like quality of the products and services, these performance objectives are usually set by the mutual efforts of the employees and the management just according to the capability of the firm. Another important factor in the operational strategies is the delivering speed of the company so that customers can be satisfied. The factor of delivering speed that means the time required to drop the product to the customers, after that another important factor is dependability that means the capability of the business to carry out its functions. Some other performance objectives include flexibility that means the capacity of the company to bear any contingencies or uncertain situations, and the most important that is cost. For efficient operational management at the company, there is a need of flexibility cushion so that company can easily bear the changing situations. It is not important changes are either internal or external. The important is that a company and the management is prepared to face it. If the company does not have a proper contingency plan then it will have to suffer losses. Cost is another very important focus of the operation management. if the company can have control over their costs then can enjoy the revenues otherwise there will be the concept of break even. The break even means that the company is having a balance between costs and revenues. In third situation, the company’s costs will be higher than the revenues and this is the worst situation. Different companies focus on different performance objectives just according to their own resources and planning (Operations Management: Quality and Productivity 2002). Some of the companies are conscious about the cost efficiency and effectiveness while many other are conscious about the quality management and provision to the customers. In short, words we can say that all the described performance objectives are basically meant for increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of the company. In this report, we will try to look at the selected company i.e. ASK Italian Restaurant, from this perspective and then analyze that how well they are performing. Introduction of ASK Italian Restaurant: ASK Italian Restaurant is a nearby hospitality management business, which is operating in the town from last six years. It is actually a British chain of restaurants, serving almost at 121 locations, and our town is one of the included locations. The street, on which this restaurant is situated, is a very busy street of our town. This road is always crowded with people and that area contains more or less seven other coffee shops, snack bars and such restaurants, which are operating in the area to serve the customers. The presence of many other restaurants give a tough competition for the survival in the location for ASK Italian and other restaurants. If we talk about the location then ASK Italian restaurant is located in the best possible place because the street is crowded and full of rush people and thus they can cover a large customer base. Though these restaurants are offering different kinds of products to the customers, still they are facing a tight competition among the market players. The target customers are not age specific rather the ASK Italian restaurant focus on the market as a whole and try to satisfy those people who love Italian food. The management at the ASK Italian Restaurant aims at different set of performance objectives which will be described and assessed in the other parts of this report. All of the activities and the plans for production processes come under the head of operation management (Anastacio 2008; Rutherford 2005). We can say that operations management is actually the back bone of any company or the business. According to the managers at the ASK Italian restaurant, operational management is actually the management and the controlling of all the possible resources in order to perform efficiently. All the planning and the strategies of ASK managers is just for the efficiency over controlling of the resources (Anastacio 2008; Rutherford 2005). The manager of ASK Italian Food Restaurant is of the opinion that efficient operational management is required for the success and the growth of the firm. the manager also said that they are trying their best to work according to the planning but still there are some loopholes in the operations and thus they have to suffer some problems. Performance Objectives of the Management at ASK Italian Restaurant: The managers at the ASK Italian Restaurant aims at different set of performance objectives which they consider very important to be achieved so that their overall performance can be efficient and effective (What is Operation Management 2013). The operation manager at the ASK British restaurant chain plans all the activities and the production schedules in a way that they can help the restaurant to achieve two of its major performance objectives. However, the restaurant management focuses on many of the performance objectives like quality provision, satisfaction of customers on timely delivery, cost efficiency, resource planning, reduced dependability, and flexibility of operations, but the major focus is on cost efficiency, contingency planning and the quality management at the ASK Italian Restaurant (Iveta 2004). Quality of the Products and Services: The quality of the products and the services offered by the business is the major performance indicator. The quality plays an important role for maintain a loyal customer base (Key Performance Indicators 2012). The managers at the ASK Restaurant are of the opinion that they should be quality focused in any regard and for this quality management they can implement any of the practices in their company. The research report says that there are special training programs conducted at the ASK Restaurant so that the employees can get training from the higher professionals regarding best services and the best product quality. Total quality management is the key to achieve the required quality in the desired level or the area of production. The concept of total quality management refers towards the quality enhancement at each and every level of the product manufacturing staring from the supplies to the finished good. An important technique is to make a quality product and then promote it in the market. The brand conscious people will automatically get attracted. In the case of ASK Italian Food Restaurant, the managers are adopting the technique of total quality management. They are trying to give the best quality Italian food in the town and thus they are giving specialty products. In addition to this the management at the ASK Italian Food Restaurant, arranges regular training programs for the enhancement of professional behaviors and attitudes in the employees. As a matter of fact, the restaurant management have to focus on the quality of the product and the quality of the services as well. This is the reason that ASKS Italian food is paying attention to both sides of the aspect and thus providing quality food products and the services as well. Delivery Speed: Many of the marketing experts define the delivery speed as the time duration required by the company to provide the demanded product or the service to the customer. The experts are of the opinion that this time durations should always be in a decreasing trend just to increase the customer satisfaction level (Burrows 2012). The managers at the ASK Restaurant are of the opinion that they usually hire employees with professional skills and expertise so that they be good at time management form customer point of view. The survey from the customers depicts the results of the ASK timeliness, according to the survey, most of the time, the delivery speed at the ASK Restaurant is acceptable. They care for the customers and do not let them wait for longer time. Here it is important to note that delivery speed can be described in two terms for the ASK Italian Food Management. Before serving, there is time required for collection and the manufacturing processing of the food. For this purpose the ASK Italian Food Restaurant is working on the implementation of the Juts In Time inventory system in their operations. According to this system, there would be reduction in the costs of management of inventories. The suppliers will be intimated automatically and thus there will no extra time in the provision of raw material. On the other hand, the delivery speed is important for the serving of the prepared food items to the customers. Here more concentration and focus is required because of the direct contact with the customers. ASK Italian Food management plans special training programs for the employees to facilitate those requireds best practices about this delivery time concern. In this way, ASK Italian Food is working on the time management in their operations. Dependability: The term or we can say the performance objective of dependability refers towards the extent up to which a business is depending upon others for completion of their operations (Nagurney 2012). Usually the companies outsource some of the parts or the ingredients and therefore they are depending upon others for the completion of their product. Contrary to them, many others are implementing backward integration that means these companies are the suppliers for themselves. The companies with the backward integration do not depend upon others. The ASK Restaurant is among the list of those companies who are independent in their operations just because of the backward integration the companies who do not depend upon others for many of the things they can maintain the efficiency and the effectiveness of their operations very well. Backward integration is the best technique to handle the dependency issue in the company. Flexibility of Operations: The term flexibility refers towards the contingency planning of the company. How much they can survive in the crises or the downfalls (Understanding Root Cause Analysis 2012). The ASK Managers are majorly focusing on the contingency planning because there are times or seasons when the routine operational activities of the restaurant may be disturbed due to any of the major change in the economy. Therefore, the managers are trying their best to set some general and flexible standards, which can help them to survive in either situation. This flexibility or the standardization is also required because they are operating in more than 120 countries. The management at the ASK Italian Food requires flexibility in terms of operations and in terms of management just because of the diverse cultures which they may face in the company. There will be diversity in the customers because of the tastes and preferences and there will be diversity in the employees because of the hiring of people from different backgrounds and geographical boundaries. Cost Measurements: Being cost efficient is the biggest achievement for any company or business (Majta 2011). Similarly, the managers at the ASK Restaurant are trying their best to have such an effective resource planning which can be cost efficient and also provide best quality to the customers. According to these restaurant managers, the cost efficiency means to have lower cost and increased profits from their operational strategies. There can be different strategies, which can help any company or business to lower down the costs. The cost minimization is the best industry practice, which can give a competitive position to the company in the market. The ASK Italian Food Restaurant is facing this problem of cost efficiency. They are still unable to handle their costs and thus maximum portion of their revenues is not a profit just because of uncontrolled cost. The fixed costs are higher at the ASK Italian Restaurant. There are some suggestions for the ASK Italian Food Restaurant to become cost efficient in their operations. The first strategy should be effective resource planning. The management of ASK restaurant should go for the resource management where they can have affordability and capacity at the preference. After that there should be careful analysis of the work place and the other manufacturing areas for the loopholes or the problems that may create situation of uncontrolled costs. The careful analysis ill definitely highlight the areas where there is a need of improvement and thus at that particular area, the low cost alternative can be used just to minimize the overall operational costs. Demand Analysis at ASK Italian Restaurant: Like many other businesses, ASK Italian Restaurant also face certain fluctuations in the demand of their food items in certain situations (Tom 2010; David 2006). This demand fluctuation can be occurred due to any of the reason. There might be some macro external factors behind the fluctuations in the demand. It may happen just because of the increase in the food prices. It may also happen due to the decrease in the purchasing power of the people. There might be any reason behind this fluctuation but the important point is the flexibility at the firm to deal with that contingent situation. It is possible that there comes a situation when there is more demand and less production. The high point is to maintain the planning so that we can deal with the ups and down in the demand of the customers. The managers at the ASK Restaurant are of the opinion that they are trying to have contingency planning but not that much successful in it. Therefore, there is further need to work on this demand fluctuation issue (Williams 2009) Quality Management at ASK Italian Restaurant: The British Chain of ASK restaurant is not a new company for the people. They are operating worldwide almost in 120 countries globally. Therefore the expectation and the perceptions about the provision of quality form people or we can say customer side is very high (Porter 2009; Hashmi 2012). It is a fact that the management at the ASK restaurant do not let down people’s expectation and thus provide the best possible quality of food and services at their restaurant. They apply all the principals of total quality management at their operations and therefore the restaurants are competent enough to satisfy the customers. The only consideration from the management point of view is the controlling of costs or we can say cost efficiency against the same quality products (Duggan 2012; Drake 2011). Conclusion: In short words we can say that after the completion of this report, we can clearly draw a picture about the operational strategies and the tactics of the ASK Italian Restaurant. The main focus of the managers at the ASK Restaurant is to maximize their performance with regard to cost measurements and the quality management. We can say that quality management and the cost efficiency are the basic performance objectives. In addition to that, the restaurant managers are also conscious about the demand fluctuations and the contingency planning accordingly. The demand analysis of the restaurant managers also fluctuates due to some major factors of the external environment and therefore they must have to plan their flexibility cushion so that the operations of the restaurant may not have to suffer a lot. The provision of quality management at the ASK Restaurant is an important consideration form management perspective. Either we talk about products or the services at the restaurants, the ASK managers try their level best to fully satisfy the customers so that he may wish to increase their number of visits. Recommendations for Improvements: Based on the analysis, there can be further recommendations for the restaurant management at the ASK British Chain. These recommendations will help them to further increase their performance level. In order to improve the quality of the products and the services as well, there should be regular quality inspections from customer side. This can be possible with the help of regular customer feed backs. This customer feedback is possible if the ASK management maintains their customer relationships. In this way, customers will feel better and valued at the restaurant. Here it is important that quality inspection from customer is not the only requirement rather this inspection should be done at the every possible production level so that the gaps and the problems can be identified at the earliest. The ASK Restaurant management should go for the implementation of the best industry practices. This will require a survey analysis of the other companies’ offerings and then the customer feedback upon use of those particular services. In this way, standardization of the practices will maintain the internal environment of the restaurant. Cost efficiency can be possible with the help of effective resource planning. For this purpose, there is a need of proper capital budgeting which can help t identify the possible opportunities and then investment in any particular beneficial opportunity. All of this resource planning and the capital budgeting require specific skills and expertise. In other words, we can say that maintaining the customer relations will be a good and effective step form the company side to be interacted with the customers. 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