Good Case Study About Observing Procedures

Management

Introduction
As a part of this study, Mc Donald’s fast food restaurant located in downtown area of California was chosen as it is a convenient location and it is easier to identify and assess the restaurant service procedures. The time of the visit was between 6 pm and 8 pm which is the peak time for the customer orders for fast food orders at the restaurant. The restaurant processes a large number of orders at this time as most people find it a convenient location for meeting friends in the evening for a quick burger, soft drink or coffee after a long day at work. The restaurant is often visited by students and working executives for a break. The restaurant is a preferred family outing point on weekends especially Sundays when parents bring their kids to the restaurant for Happy Meals.

Service Procedures at Restaurant

On the basis of a visit to Mc Donald’s restaurant in California Downtown Area, the following procedures were observed in the restaurant that are conducted in order to serve and process customers in the most efficient manner:

Service Blueprint

A service blue print is the pictorial representation of the various components of service delivery to the customers both at the front end and the back end . The service blue print for Mc Donald’s restaurant is quite similar to the one shown in the figure 1.
The physical evidence includes the physical surroundings of the restaurant that are experienced by the customers in the form of parking facilities, location, presentation of menu items and billing.
Figure 1 Service Blueprint for Restaurant
When a customer enters the restaurant, he goes to the cash counter to have a look at the menu displayed at the restaurant and accordingly places the order with the restaurant service executive. The service executive at the restaurant greets the customer in a friendly manner and also solves any queries that the customers have about the menu items and combo meals that can be ordered together to save money. The restaurant is a self-service restaurant and therefore the customers themselves go to the cash counter to place an order and also collect the menu items to consume at their table. On confirmation of the order, the customer service executive generates an invoice for the customer and collects cash and also instructs the kitchen team to kindly process the food items.
The customers that have successfully placed the order are requested to move aside and leave way for the other customers in the queue so that others can place the order. The service executive serves the hot and freshly prepared fast food to the customer in a tray with the necessary arrangement. The customer now takes the food tray at a suitable table for consumption.
The restaurant does not have any booked seating arrangement and customers are allotted tables and seats on a random basis in the order of availability. During peak hours, it is a struggle for some to find a suitable chair or table to have food. However, the restaurant staff keeps checking customers that have already finished the food and requests them to vacate the table for others.
The billing and invoice is done by the payment processing systems at the restaurant. Each bill has a unique invoice id with the details on food ordered and the taxes applied. The kitchen supplies are maintained by the food processing department that works inside the kitchen to produce a good quality and fresh fast food. The restaurant staff keeps on cleaning the restaurant including floor tiles from time to time.

Measurement of the efficiency of the process

The service efficiency of the restaurant largely depends on the allocation efficiency of the responsibilities and work processes at the restaurant . At Mc Donald’s customer service is given the highest priority and the restaurant strives for serving the customers in the shortest possible time and in the best possible manner. The efficiency of the service process is measured on the basis of parameters such as time taken to serve the customer that includes creation of invoice, processing payments and serving the customer with the order. The accuracy of the order is also a parameter to assess the efficiency of the restaurant.

Key design principles that govern the effectiveness of this process

The key design principles that dictate the effectiveness of the service process include the service reusability or replication for various customers, the quality of service and the standardization of the procedure .

Lag times in the process

The lag times in the process or the service bottlenecks may be seen in the case of order processing when the items order take some time to be served or due to the non-processing of order by the billing system.

Part of the process that was the slowest

The part of the service process that is the slowest includes the delivery of deep fried items such as French Fries and rarely ordered items that take long time for preparation.

Part of the process that was the fastest

The billing process and the generation of invoice is the fastest process as it is computerized and requires minimum assistance.
Recommended Changes to the process
In accordance with the observations, Mc Donald’s can offer menu items that require least time for preparation that can allow the customers to be served faster and also reduce the waiting time for the customers.

References

Daly, H. E., & Townsend, K. N. (1993). Valuing the Earth: Economics, Ecology, Ethics. MIT Press.
Erl, T. (2008). SOA Principles of Service Design. New Delhi: Pearson Education India.
Fisk, R., Grove, S., & John, J. (2007). Interactive Services Marketing. MA: Cengage Learning.
Hotelmule.com. (2010, January 7). Managing marketing service processes. Retrieved from Hotelmule.com: http://www.hotelmule.com/html/86/n-2186-6.html