Restaurant With a Difference - Essay Example

Restaurant With a Difference: Case Study Introduction The innovative idea regarding a new age restaurant put forth by Mark before Jenny needs some strategic corrections pointed out by the latter. However, the idea is not impossible to implement even after considering Jenny's concerns about the customers asking for old or removed items in menu. The afore-mentioned aspect needs correction from service-oriented perspective. Jenny is talking about service the restaurant can offer to all types of customers and Mark is particular about being innovative in serving customers. However, it is impossible, though difficult to compile the thoughts of Mark and Jenny. The presence of combination of thoughts of both is necessary in the strategies they adopt for implementing in their restaurant business. Restaurant Business and Aspects Necessary for Business Strategies Any business including restaurant depends on finding the fact that customer really wants. In that sense, Mark is correct and he devised a way to know what most of the customers like to have. Gross. T. Scott cites Tom Peters' MBWA (management by walking) that helps in finding out what customers want. Mark's proposal is a combination of both technology and walking to the customers that is followed by a system that finds out the most favored dish by the customer. (Gross, T. Scott, 2004) Food Service However, a strategy is necessary with the proposal of Mark as Restaurant business involves innumerous number of food service operations. There is still market for a new comer with innovative ideas in food-service business. The strategies regarding Restaurant business of Mark and Jenny will help in keeping in view the changing lifestyles and driving the surge in food service business. However, the strategy regarding serving the fresh food is absent in the idea of Mark and they have to include that aspect into the strategy of their restaurant business. In addition to serving on cite, the restaurant has to find more methods to sell the food that needs no dishes to wash if used at home. This needs new packaging techniques for the food that is sold as a parcel. This is keeping view the fact that the singles, working parents and elderly demand a greater convenience in buying their meals and are turning to operations that provide that convenience. Therefore, the operations of restaurant business of Mark and Jenny should include innovative food service and packaging procedures. One more aspect that needs attention in the strategy is planning as lack of planning may result in losses in I year of the initiation of the business. The important aspects in the strategy of the restaurant business are quality food, good service and great people to serve. The strategies should keep in view the diners you can satisfy. In this aspect, Mark is right and Jenny is little bit pessimistic. As no body can please everybody, the important aspect in the strategy of a new restaurant business is to find out the real percentage of the customers you can attract and the percentage of the market you can capture. When you are targeting on casual food customers, you may not be perfect in attracting formal customers. So, one has to keep in view the type of customers and percentage of market they are going to target. (Lynn, Jacquelyn, 2001) Human Resources Any successful entrepreneurs in Hotel/Restaurant Business have to embrace key principles to determine the customer's expectation and in that sense, Mark's approach and idea is up to the mark. The Human Resources should maintain quality initiative. The strategies depend on initiatives. The appropriate management, business balance, performance challenges are the aspects that need consideration while framing Human Resource strategies. The HR strategies should include the employee encouragement techniques that can increase the quality that employees offer (D'Annunzio-Green, Norma (Editor), 2002). Technology Necessary for Restaurant The foremost technology that is necessary for every business is Information Technology. It involves strategic alignment in operations of any business including Restaurant. The important aspect in this model is to integrate the business strategies with information technology strategies (Papp, Raymond (Editor), 2001). In addition to above model, the accounting and operational software is part of the technology for a restaurant with a difference. The technology needs the maintenance of an internet platform to control food costs, schedule employees, view sales reports and make interface with customers customizable. (Restaurant Technology Incorporation, 2008) The operations that need technology include bidding, ordering and product procurement electronically. This helps in restaurant operators to gain competitive advantage in their respective market place (Restaurantowner.com, 2008). Strategies Food Service In developing a restaurant with difference, Mark and Jenny should take care about kitchen and dining area. The design and equipment of these areas affect the implementation of the ideas of management. The important strategy of Mark regarding food is to find out the customers' likes and act accordingly serving as well as preparing food to avoid the serving of out of date food. The restaurant along with the process suggested by Mark has to implement the basic menu and most asked menu as per the advice of Jenny. Then the restaurant can serve to all types of customers according to the likes of Jenny (Lynn, Jacquelyn, 2001). The next step of the food service is to develop popularity of the food available in restaurant. The strategy regarding food service should concentrate on single-parent families, dual-income couples and individuals working more than one job. The afore-mentioned people contribute for the popularity of the restaurant. As the above-mentioned people do not cook for themselves, they depend on restaurants for food. Some people eat on site and others carry. Hence, restaurant must be able to cater for both types of people. The restaurant's key to popularity is to supply multiple types of food items that all types of customers demand. As a result, Mark's idea of sorting out the food items demanded by most of the customers is a good idea. However, the food items that are removed from the menu may find demand rarely and inability in supplying them may result in loss of few customers. Management can announce that the order of the dishes that are not asked by most of the customers should be done in prior to get it in fresh state. In addition to above-mentioned concepts, Restaurant has to provide private rooms, large tables and banquet facilities according to customers of different likes. In addition to these, restaurant should maintain competitive prices to attract customers who consider the price as well as the quality of the food available. However, the management can compensate the loss of profit by charging extra for special facilities offered. A restaurant can offer Ethnic restaurants, specialty-themed restaurants and many more. As the customers visiting the afore-mentioned places pay more, the loss of profit in general restaurant needs compensation with the extra charges collected in special facilities (Lynn, Jacquelyn, 2001). The strategic aspects mentioned in food service need information technology and other technologies implemented in the operations of the restaurant. Technology The foremost important model regarding technological strategy is Strategic Alignment Model that is foundation for implementation of Information Technology in Restaurant operations. In this regard, Mark has thought that is confined to contacts between chef and dining staff to avoid dishes that are not ordered by customers frequently. However, the restaurant must use IT to other operations like marketing, supply chain management, pricing strategy and HR management. In first step, the management has to implement traditional business strategy domain like business scope, distinctive competencies and business governance. In case of restaurant, business scope is market scope and the estimated number and types of customers the restaurant can attract. The specialty of the restaurant should be in attracting all types of customers for dining. This needs analysis of food and services the restaurant offers. The IT should identify the distinctive competencies. The speed and perfection in service in addition to taste and quality of food regarding serving the onsite diners, supplying the parcels for carry out customers and arranging parties can be a distinctive competence in case of a restaurant as number of competitors can offer taste and quality. The speed and perfection in service is possible by coordination between different departments and that is possible by effective implementation of IT and by maintenance of good HR (Papp, Raymond(Editor), 2001). In addition to above-mentioned aspects, point of sales systems, table management software to wireless headsets and silent pagers are part of the technology implementation in restaurant operations. The restaurant planned by Mark and Jenny should be multi storied as they have to cater to all types of customers. The technology can reduce man power by guiding the guests through voice enabled kiosks in the entrance. The restaurant should use information technology by connecting tables to computers of the waiters to enable them to know about the first timers and regulars. If the customer is a regular, the important days and occasions of the customer like birthday and marriage day should be present in database of the restaurant to greet them accordingly. The order placed by the customer to the waiter is transmitted electronically to the kitchen thus saving time and maintaining decency in the operations. The afore-mentioned service needs wireless headsets, palm tops and laptops. A restaurant that wants to be a different one and likes to capture majority of market cannot deny the implementation of new technology. The important thing Mark and Jenny need to spend on technology is time to do research for the technology necessary for the restaurant and the capital required to purchase the equipment. However, the time necessary for the research on the technology can met with this paper. The first strategic step in implementing technology in restaurant is to use computers for table service. This is part of strategic alignment model. According to Peter J.Rogers Jr., vice president of Business Development and Investor Relations for Beltsville, the installation of POS systems is beneficial as it improves efficiency, can cut costs and is capable of affecting the bottom line. David Belman cites the importance of labor and food cost related with technology implementation in Restaurant. According to him, the technology reduces the paper work of the managers and gives them ample time to work creatively in managing HR in the business. Moreover, management can do more work with less people and small businesses can cut cost on HR by reducing the labor. In addition to this, the service speed can be increased by 20 to 30 percent. The increase in speed is due to clarity in orders, faster transmission and reduction in movement of wait staff. In addition to the POS system, the automated operation technology can track the guest from the reservation through the entire meal and even back home. Once the customer dines or throws a party in the restaurant, the details of him will be stored in database and when he returns, the database answers him according to his likes and tastes. This increases the returning customers for the restaurant. Thus, technology combined with HR expertise will enhance the experience of guests. To enhance the performance in the kitchen regarding timing, a timing system is necessary for monitoring the progress of meal. There should be a system to alert the floor manager, if the appetizers are not served within prescribed time to the table of the customer. The provision of silent pagers on the table enables the guests to contact the waiter for items they need. If there is no response, the system alerts the floor manager. If the management is keen on offering discounts and coupons for returning customers, they too can be fed into the system. When the name repeats while billing the computer will automatically gives discount or coupon as per the qualification. However, the technology works well if the staff is sincere and alert to the signals of the computerization. The computerized technology that is necessary for restaurant should schedule production, expedite the product and process transactions, track information, automate online and cut down on paper work. Though the system is expensive for small restaurants, it is advisable for further expansion of the business and growth. This is possible by enhancement in customer experience in the restaurant. However, the cost of the technology should not exceed three to five percent of the total cost of the restaurant. This requires around $7, 50,000 to Mark and Jenny to establish a restaurant with a difference and with a up to date technology. The important weakness in the technology proposed is its cost, when small restaurant entrepreneurs consider it. The enhancement of the guest experience is possible only with the correct combination of technology and HR and the afore-mentioned aspects needs timely implementation of HR strategies (National Restaurant Association, 2008). HR Strategies The strategic HR initiatives start with the relationship the restaurant provides for individual guests. The relationship of HR with customers should create a brand image for the restaurant. Gillian Maxwell (2002) cites Hilton group's HR strategy Esprit that embraces key principles of management, which is capable to serve the diverse range of customers. The fundamental objective central to the business plan is the definition of the brand of the restaurant that drive the business forward. The strategic objectives demand tactical actions to deliver by demanding good people practices in recruitment and assessment, reward and remuneration. The management can provide relaxation rooms for employees to enable them to recover from a shift's hectic work pressure (Gillian Maxwell, 2002). The success in HR strategies lies in identifying the concept and practice of linking customer offering to staff delivery. The afore-mentioned strategic aspect needs training and development. However, this needs initial costs and an extra capital but assures long-term returns. In bringing good service to customers, the line managers or floor managers have a huge role. This role should include rewarding staff for their excellence in service. As a restaurant with a difference needs to serve the international clients also, training is necessary for the staff to deal with international clients from different backgrounds. The mutual response of staff of the restaurant and the customer should result in increase of profits. The increase of profits is possible if the customer returns to the restaurant and this is possible with treatment of customer by the staff (Gillian Maxwell, 2002). As a strategic aspect in maintaining Human Resources, the management should play role in meeting the expectations of the customers and training employees accordingly. The important aspect that training should inculcate in employees is positive attitude, enthusiasm and involvement. The training of employees in a restaurant to treat customers in a pleasing manner involves management and leadership development as a priority for floor managers and positive attitude for lower level staff. The afore-mentioned type of training assures the business to remain competitive in the market. After completing all the strategic steps regarding maintaining a good staff in the restaurant, assurance inspection is necessary in the form of shadow shopping. The management sends the shadow shoppers who come to dine in the restaurant and they dine with the money supplied by management to inform the treatment and quality of the restaurant. (Sandra Watson, Denise Drummond, 2002) Strengths and Weaknesses of the Strategies mentioned in the Analysis Food Service The important aspect in Food Service strategy is to eliminate the food items that customers do not prefer. However, this strategy seems to be good, but no food item can be preferred or rejected by all the customers. For the afore-mentioned reason, the management can sort frequently asked menu and rarely asked menu and can give that list to kitchen and dining managers. Using this list, the managers or chefs can prepare the food items accordingly so that it can develop an optimized inventory of food items. Human Resources The important strategic aspect about human resources in the above discussion is about the relation of the staff or the restaurant with the customers. Prior training and investment on it is necessary for this and this may be expensive initially. If this initial expensiveness is a weakness, the long-term returns from the returning customers and the chance of increasing the price for the quality and service the restaurant provides is strength of the strategy. However, another weakness of this strategy is the difficulty in retaining qualified and well-trained employees. Technology The important weakness of technology strategy is the initial capital that will be around 3 to 6 percent of the total capital for restaurant. However, the strength of the technological strategy is that it enhances the performance of the human resources and decreases even on inventory when the technology is working with coordination with food service department. Even then, the management needs to focus on accurate breakeven point to generate extra profits from the extra capital invested. References: 1. Gross, T. Scott, 2004, Positively Outrageous Service: How to Delight and Astound Your Customers and Win Them for Life. Chicago, IL, USA: Dearborn Trade, A Kaplan Professional Company 2. Lynn, Jacquelyn, 2001, Restaurant and Five Other Food Businesses. Irvine, CA, USA: Entrepreneur Press Restaurant Technology Incorporation, 2008, RTI connect: An In-Store Food Cost, Labor Scheduling, Cash Control and Sales Reporting System, Retrieved on 5th June 2008 from < http://www.internetrti.com/software/rticonnect/> 3. Restaurantowner.com, 2008, Technology, Retrieved on 5th June 2008 from http://www.restaurantowner.com/public/department27.cfm 4. Lynn, Jacquelyn, 2001, Restaurant and Five Other Food Businesses. Irvine, CA, USA: Entrepreneur Press 5. Papp, Raymond (Editor), 2001, Strategic Information Technology: Opportunities for Competitive Advantage. Hershey, PA, USA: Idea Group Publishing 6. National Restaurant Association, 2008, Tools of the Trade: Technology in the Restaurant, Retrieved on 6th June 2008 from http://www.restaurant.org/business/magarticle.cfmArticleID=430 7. Gillian Maxwell, 2002, Strategic HRM and business performance in the Hilton Group in Book, The Impact of Strategic Human Resource Management on Organizational Performance (Volume 14, pages 251-252) Bradford, UK: Emerald Group Publishing Limited 8. Sandra Watson, Denise Drummond, 2002, A strategic perspective to human resource Development in Scottish tourism (Volume 14, Pages 253-254), Bradford, UK: Emerald Group Publishing Limited Read More