McDonalds wishes to rework on its restaurant interiors Essay Example for Free

McDonalds wishes to rework on its restaurant interiors Essay McDonalds is the worlds leading global foodservice retailer with more than 33,000 locations in 118 countries. McDonald’s has several company owned stores, but uses Franchising for both domestic and international expansion. McDonalds India was set up as a 50:50 joint-venture between McDonalds at a global level and regional Indian partners such as Hardcastle Restaurants Private Limited in western India, and Connaught Plaza Restaurants Private Limited in northern India. McDonald’s currently has over 220 restaurants in the country. McDonalds doesn’t provide any financial assistance and absentee ownership of finance is not allowed. Also, the financial requirements are quite steep. MFY- for implementing the MFY (Made for You) option for customers, the franchises are required to upgrade their equipment at their own expense. This caused some problem with maintaining standard service across all outlets. Pricing and menu may also be a point of difficulty for the franchiser and franchisee as prices vary between companies owned and franchised stores. Inconsistent standards- There are several instances of poor service or disgruntled customers complaining about the quality of food served. This is because it is difficult to enforce the exact same standards in all franchised stores. McDonald’s aims to provide 100 percent total customer satisfaction. In order to achieve this goal , McDonald’s relies on its operating philosophy based on QSC V – Quality, Service, Cleanliness and Value. McDonald’s believes that customer satisfaction is crucial to the success of the brand and all Restaurants must perform to the standards. These standards are used in both company owned and franchised restaurants. QUALITY Best ingredients: This is achieved by its commitment to sourcing all its requirements from local farmers and suppliers. Before entering India, the company spent six years and Rs. 450 crore toset up its supply chain. In India McDonalds pioneered the cold chain management which helpskeep vegetables and processed products safe for a longer time. Preparation Standards: Best quality standardized ingredients ensure standardized preparation standards can be followed. Every product has a fixed procedure of preparation. However, newer McDonald’s stores offer MFY (Made for You) where the product is made only after the order is placed. Other standards: * FIFO: (First in first out) for all inventories. * Reverse osmosis water treatment plant: Best technology for water purification at every outlet to provide water. Strict standards for vegetarian products including eggless mayonnaise and eggless ice-cream. SERVICE * Soft standards: * Welcome every customer with a smile and are genuinely friendly at all times * Deliver consistent standards of hospitality Seize opportunities to interact with customers in a personal and positive way * Be well informed about product contents and nutritional information * Always appear clean and well groomed. * Hard standards: * Serve fresh and hot * Serve within one minute of receiving order or give a free coke. This is implemented in a few outlets and is not applicable during peak hours. * Cleanliness and Hygiene * The counters, tables, floor area are to be kept clean at all times. * All staff required to cover their heads and wear gloves when within preparation area. * All these standards are evaluated by mystery shoppers and rated. This is called a RVR Restaurant Visitation Report) which provides a snapshot of the stores performance over a period of a few hours. The stores are graded either A, B, C or F. Facility Exterior: Exterior Design: McDonalds design exhibits a sense of â€Å"Forever Young† look with bright red and yellow colours appealing to the children and establishing its family restaurant positioning. The building provides a practical, contemporary design that aligns with the McDonalds brand essence while accommodating the latest operational and consumer experience standards. Their mascot Ronald Mcdonald is also present outside each of their restaurants. McDonalds always have all glass restaurants. McDonalds has always clearly identified and managed the various clues that customers use to form the impressions and feeling about their company. In addition to this, McDonalds has separate take away counters in order to save time of their patrons. Signage: All of McDonalds external signage reads as, â€Å"McDonalds-Family restaurant. Also keeping in mind with the local language, all McDonalds restaurant have their name boards in Hindi. McDonalds strongly believes in adhering to the local sentiments and hence none of the outlets in India sell Beef products and every restaurant has this mentioned. Also McDonalds, strongly believes in glass branding for any new products or services they offer. Most of the communication is designed to cater to local tastes and preferences. Parking/Landscape/Surrounding Environment: All McDonald outlets are located are accessible and present everywhere thus capitalizing on brand recognition. Most of the McDonalds have their own restaurants and hence the seating space available is exclusive to McDonald’s patrons. Also McDonalds offers proper parking facilities for its highway restaurants. Facility Interior All McDonalds outlet are standardized in terms of layout and have proper in-store branding. The â€Å"Young and Cheerful† design concept is a progressive, youthful, and energetic environment with open views for social interaction. All McDonald outlets are huge with proper aisles and passages with appropriate signage for seating arena, lavatories, wet floor and food counters. McDonalds has a Made for You food preparation platform.MFY is a unique concept (cooking method) where the food is prepared as the customer places its order. This cooking method has helped McDonald’s further strengthen its food safety, hygiene and quality standards. McDonalds also has illuminated Menu boards that offer a mix of both vegetarian and non vegetarian burgers along with other savories and drinks. McDonalds also has proper queues for placing order and often there is a executive who assists you in order placing. Also McDonalds gives toys for children thus making them wanting to come back. The other visible cues are color, lighting, in-store music, employee uniforms and trays with literary. McDonalds has ample in store lighting and directly inï ¬â€šuences an individual’s perception of the deï ¬ nition and quality of the space, inï ¬â€šuencing his or her awareness of physical, emotional, psychological, and spiritual aspects of the space. The bright McDonald stores ensure prompt handling and evaluation of products. In all McDonald stores the lighting is perceived as more pleasant than other fast food environments. The color scheme that McDonalds uses exhumes cheerfulness and warmth. Red depicts vibrance, cheerfulness while yellow depicts friendliness and brightness. At McDonalds, music is a positive auditory cue stimulating specific consumer behaviour and emotions. Music appears to influence buyer-seller interaction. There is audio played about the latest offers and products. Also a balance and constant sound creates a pleasant sound environment. All employees at McDonald are provided with uniforms and name badges along with caps with McDonald signature â€Å"M† arch. Employees are also trained with appropriate soft skills to address customers. Every employee or front line executive greets the customer and exchanges pleasantries, which makes them happy. Service quality gap: The five gaps that organizations should measure manage and minimize: Gap 1 (Listening gap) is the distance between what customers expect and what managers think they expect Clearly survey research is a key way to narrow this gap. Gap 2 (standard and specification gap) is between management perception and the actual specification of the customer experience Managers need to make sure the organization is defining the level of service they believe is needed. 29 Gap 3 (performance gap)is from the experience specification to the delivery of the experience -Managers need to audit the customer experience that their organization currently delivers in order to make sure it lives up to the specification Gap 4 (communication gap) is the gap between the delivery of the customer experience and what is communicated to customers All too often organizations exaggerate what will be provided to customers, or discuss the best case rather than the likely case, raising customer expectations and harming customer perceptions Gap 5 is the gap between a customers perception of the experience and the customers expectation of the service Customers expectations have been shaped by word of mouth, their personal needs and their own past experiences. Routine transactional surveys after delivering the customer experience are important for an organization to measure customer perceptions of service Service Quality dimensions Tangibles : Physical evidence of service Reliability : Consistency of performance and dependability Responsiveness : Willingness/readiness of employees to provide service in timely manner Credibility : Trustworthiness, believability, honesty Security : Freedom from danger, risk, doubt, assurance guarantee, Certification Competence : Possession of required skills to perform service Access : Approachability and ease of contact Empathy Courtesy : Politeness, respect, consideration, friendliness Values: They place customer experience at the core of all they do: They believe customers are the reason for their existence. They demonstrate their appreciation by providing them with high quality food and superior service in a clean, welcoming environment, at a great value. Their goal is quality, service, cleanliness and value (QSCV) for each and every customer, each and every time. They are committed to their people. They provide opportunity, nurture talent, develop leaders and reward achievement. They believe that a team of well-trained individuals with diverse backgrounds and experiences, working together in an environment that fosters respect and drives high levels of engagement, is essential to their continued success. They believe in the McDonald’s System. McDonald’s business model, depicted by their â€Å"three-legged stool† of owner/operators, suppliers, and company employees, is their foundation, and balancing the interests of all three groups is the key. They operate their business ethically. Sound ethics is good business. At McDonald’s, they hold themselves and conduct their business to high standards of fairness, honesty, and integrity. They are individually accountable and collectively responsible. They give back to their communities. They take seriously the responsibilities that come with being a leader. They help their customers in building better communities, support Ronald McDonald House Charities, and leverage their size, scope and resources to help make the world a better place. They grow their business profitably. McDonald’s is a publicly traded company. As such, they work to provide sustained profitable growth for their shareholders. This requires continuous focus on their customers and the health of their system. They strive continually to improve. They are a learning organization that aims to anticipate and respond to changing customer, employee and system needs through constant evolution and innovation. McDonald’s is committed to providing the highest quality food and superior service, at a great value, in a clean and welcoming environment. That’s why we work with their employees, franchisees, and suppliers to serve a balanced array of food choices and provide the nutrition informa tion needed for customers to make sound decisions. At the restaurant level, McDonald’s is focused on energy conservation, sustainable packaging, and waste management. They are dedicated to innovate and improve their operations in order to build an even more sustainable, environment friendly and profitable business. And will continue to re optimize their menu, modernize the customer experience, and broaden accessibility to their brand, so that consumers will always enjoy the maximum McDonald’s experience. Service Blueprint: Loopholes in service operations: A research report released Thursday by Dunnhumby, highlighted by The Wall Street Journal, elucidates that in reality the customer eating experience is becoming more and more important to consumers. With so many fast-food options available, they make their decisions based on loyalty — and a significant portion of this support is garnered through a chain’s friendly customer service and good eating experience. It is without doubt that McDonald’s is still winning over Americans with its cheap Dollar Menu offerings and convenient drive thru service. But its poor customer-service scores are ultimately hurting its sales– a certainty supported by the Dunnhumby report that demonstrates that restaurants with higher customer-service scores tend to show higher comparable sales growth over a two-year period. Thus, if the world’s largest restaurant chain wants to maintain its edge over competitors, it must not only focus on price and promotions, but also the expe rience it offers to customers every day. And McDonald’s executives agree. The Wall Street Journal explains that in a webcast these executives held with franchise owners in March, they called its service â€Å"broken.† The number of customer complaints related to friendliness issues have only increased, and complaints about speed of service also â€Å"have increased significantly over the past six months.† Is it then perhaps possible that customers are becoming more accustomed to the friendly service and loyalty rewards they receive at other growing chains like and then less tolerating of the subpar services they encounter at other fast food chains? With respect to the services provided by McDonalds, the following management issues were observed McDonalds wishes to rework on its restaurant interiors and match up to those of its self owned restaurants, However the problem that they have encountered is that franchisee owners are unwilling to invest in interior design. McDonald’s has introduced MFY (Made for You) whereby the burgers are made after the order is placed. However, the franchises are required to upgrade their equipment in order to follow this. The franchisees are not willing to incur such expenditure which poses a problem to McDonald’s. We normally observe the customary trend of people queuing outside McDonalds especially during the weekends. This is due to the limited capacity space in the restaurants. This has been a persistent management problem for McDonalds. Even though the management at McDonalds has been trying to search for a solution for the same, it fears doing so pertaining to cost issues.

Capital Punishment Must Be Abolished Essay -- Capital Punishment, Deat

The death penalty is not the most effective form of punishment for criminals. The death penalty is hypocritical; it condemns killing by killing people. Many supporters of capital punishment cite retribution as being a justification for the death penalty; however, no matter what the circumstance, murder is never justified. Ghandi once said â€Å"An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.† Two wrongs can never make a right. Capital punishment should be abolished because while even though many supporters of the death penalty claim that it prevents crime, there is no evidence that it has been proven to do so. Also, many people support the death penalty because it prevents criminals from ever being allowed back on the streets to commit further crimes. The death penalty is a preferred method of punishment because it is permanent; however, it should be avoided because it is permanent. There is too much of a possibility that an innocent person could be executed for a crime that th ey did not commit. An execution cannot be undone. Studies have also shown that the death penalty is a biased method of punishment because disadvantaged people, such as minorities and people of lower social status are more likely to be executed. This is unfair because all people have the same rights and should receive equal and fair punishment for their crimes. An alternative punishment to the death penalty is life without parole; it is just as effective a way to prevent someone committing more crimes as executing them. Supporters of the death penalty also argue that it is cheaper to execute a criminal than it is to keep them in prison for life. However, statistics have shown that the cost of putting a criminal to death, including all of the time and money spent in... ....deathpenaltyinfo.org/facts-about-deterrence-and-death-penalty>. Lowe, Wesley. â€Å"Pro Capital Punishment Page.† Pro Capital Punishment Page. 22 July 2009. Web. 02 Jan. 2015. . Ornellas, Lori. â€Å"Death Penalty Arguments.† Pro-death penalty.com. 03 May 2001. Web. 09 Jan. 2015. . Reggio, Michael H. â€Å"History of the death penalty.† PBS. Web. 5 Jan. 2015. . â€Å"Should the death penalty be used for retribution?† Death Penalty - ProCon.org. 06 Jan. 2009. Web. 09 Jan. 2015. . Worsnop, Richard L. â€Å"Death Penalty Debate.† CQ Researcher 5.9 (1995): 193-216. CQ Researcher. Web. 2 Jan. 2015. .

F&B Revenue Management

INSTITUTE OF HOTEL MANAGEMENT, AURANGABAD Synopsis – Food and Beverage Revenue Management: Implementation at „The Westin Hyderabad Mindspace? Kussh Raathi (H – 16045) â€Å"Submitted in Fulfilment of the Requirement for B. A. (Hons) in Hotel Management† THE UNIVERSITY OF HUDDERSFIELD, UNITED KINGDOM July 2010 food & beverage revenue management: implementation at ‘the westin hyderabad mindspace’ july 2010 DISCLAIMER This is an academic endeavour does not necessarily reflect the view of IHM – A and/or hotel chains discussed herein and are not binding on the Institute and/or the companies in any manner.This report is the intellectual property of the author and/or IHM – A and the same or any part thereof may not be used in any manner whatsoever, without express permission of the author in writing. The assignment does not aim to reveal any information confidential to the hotel companies discussed. No one provided significant profession al or personal review assistance to the person signing this disclaimer and report. This is all authors‘ work and does not necessarily represent the views of either IHM – A, India, or University of Huddersfield, United Kingdom, or any other party.Kussh Raathi (Year 3, H – 16045, Hotel Management, Institute of Hotel Management – Aurangabad) July 31, 2010 raathi, k. (h – 16045) page 2 of 16 understudy project food & beverage revenue management: implementation at ‘the westin hyderabad mindspace’ july 2010 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT As the author sums up the draft of this assignment, he reminisces appreciatively the contribution and extends his heartfelt gratitude to the following persons lacking whose support and help, this report could not have taken its present form: Mr.Anand Iyengar, Understudy Project Mentor and Academic Registrar, Institute of Hotel Management, Aurangabad (IHM–A), for providing me with the opportunity to work on an interes ting project like this, for his continuous support, feedback and guidance. A special thanks to Mr. Rahul Upmanyu, Revenue Manager, The Westin Hyderabad Mindspace, who is the most responsible for helping me in the compilation of this project report as well as the challenging research that lies behind it. Without his encouragement and constant guidance, I could not have finished this report.He was always there to meet and talk about my ideas, to proofread and mark up my papers and chapters, and to ask me good questions to help me think through my problems (whether philosophical, analytical or computational). Sincere thanks to the entire executive committee at The Westin Hyderabad Mindspace for their unconditional support, encouragement and guidance. Kussh Raathi July 31, 2010 raathi, k. (h – 16045) page 3 of 16 understudy project food & beverage revenue management: implementation at ‘the westin hyderabad mindspace’ uly 2010 ABSTRACT / EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Purpose â₠¬â€œ This paper aims to suggest the efficacy of revenue-management levers to improve a restaurants‘ revenue through process control for customer profitability through literature review and Seasonal Tastes as an excellent study site in south-India‘s largest luxury hotel. Design / methodology / approach – The research finds its basing upon a popular/busy coffee shop called Seasonal Tastes at The Westin Hyderabad Mindspace, Andhra Pradesh, India.The study presents the state-of-the-art of the literature review related to restaurant revenue management and a case study of a restaurant with high operational complexity and an extensive customer product and commercial service line. The literature review demonstrates the few empirical studies that have actually addressed the application of revenue management systems in the food and beverage industry. Much of this section comes from the article by Kimes, S. (2004). Findings – Seeking to augment revenue and also to imp rove customer service, the restaurant analyzed its operations and customers‘ characteristics.It found that its table-mix (mostly 6tops) was inappropriate for its customer base (mostly singletons, couples and groups of three/four). It also found that it could tighten up its post-meal procedures, particularly those involving settlement. The findings of the study show that the measurement of cost-to-serve provides specific and detailed customer information that enables a more comprehensive customer profitability analysis than the classical paradigm. Research limitations/implications – The result would lead to an increase in revenue (from higher occupancy) that paid for the increased capital costs in one year.The revenue improvement in this instance was to guests‘ advantage, since menu prices were not changed as part of this revenue management implementation. Originality/value – The paper includes a comprehensive review of literature and the empirical case stud ies by Kimes (2004), Thompson (2009, 2003, 2002), Kimes et al (2007), offers additional insights in food and beverage revenue management and analysis. Paper type – Research Project raathi, k. (h – 16045) page 4 of 16 understudy project food & beverage revenue management: implementation at ‘the westin hyderabad mindspace’ uly 2010 1. Introduction C efficiency. ross (1997), defines the concept as, ? the art and science of predicting real-time customer demand at the micro-market level and optimizing the price and availability of products‘. Conceptually, revenue management is a micro-economic concept about how to manage the relationship between supply and demand to maximize revenue potential. Simplified it means – selling the right product to the right customer at the right time for the right price on the right distribution channel with the best commission Revenue Management ReviewThe era has ended when revenue management can stand alone as a tact ical approach to rooms management, with technological and management support, revenue management must be and is being integrated into all aspects of hotel management marketing and operating strategies. Going beyond its role of managing room inventory, revenue management will consider total revenue contributions, including group business and its ancillary revenues. Because prices are essentially transparent, hotels will need to consider customer price elasticity and not simply match competitors‘ prices, with a goal of ptimizing prices. Beyond that, revenue management can be used to manage all of the hotel‘s revenue streams, in part by considering the interaction of room sales and food and beverage sales. While revenue per available room (RevPAR) has been a good measure of performance, a revenue generation index, which compares competitors‘ RevPARs, is even more useful. Even more sophisticated is a revenue opportunity model, which monitors the effectiveness of invent ory controls and analyzes the effects of revenue management decisions.Perhaps most promising is a customer-focused approach that tracks customers‘ purchases and targets promotions based on an understanding of customers‘ responses to prior offers. Hotels can benefit by increasing revenues and profitability through revenue management by optimally matching demand to available supply (rooms) to accommodate the most profitable mix of customers at each property. In the lodging industry, revenue management is the process of selectively accepting and rejecting customers by rate, length of stay and arrival date to maximise revenues.The process of revenue management generates incremental revenues (Kimes 1999; Cross 1997). raathi, k. (h – 16045) page 5 of 16 understudy project food & beverage revenue management: implementation at ‘the westin hyderabad mindspace’ july 2010 2. Theoretical Framework / Literature Review From its origin in the airline industry nearly sixty years ago, revenue management has expanded to other hospitality industries, notably lodging and rental cars. More recently, ? nontraditional? ervice industries, such as restaurants, golf courses, and casinos, have begun to adapt and apply revenue management principles. Need for a holistic approach towards RM Revenue management of hotel inventory has long been the practice for hoteliers worldwide, both large and small, chain and independent. Hotel operators understand and accept the need to forecast customer demand at some level of detail and recommend product availability conditions that will deliver the maximum revenue based on that demand.However, for the most part, traditional hotel revenue management is focused purely on maximizing sleeping room revenue with no regard for any other revenue associated with the hotel guest. Many companies are now realizing that there is a strong need to adopt a more holistic approach to revenue management across the enterprise. This involve s two distinct components. First, there is a need to capture and track all revenue associated with hotel guests in order to segment customers more discretely based on their value—this can come from food and beverage, spa, event venues or, in the case of a casino/hotel, gaming.Second, and equally important, operators need to begin to apply the same principles of revenue management employed at the hotel to each discrete revenue source—there has been a strong push for revenue management in restaurants, spas, event venues and even on the casino floor. (HSMAI Article, published on March 10, 2010) While many hotel companies have implemented loyalty programs, the real opportunity lies in the ability to capture data about the customer beyond the hotel in order to truly capture the guest‘s profitability, not the room revenue generated.There has been a lot of altercation lately about the move from REVPAR to GOPPAR, TOTALPAR or some other such acronym; this is where those c ompanies who practice Total Hotel Revenue Management will win, in realizing it is not about the room, it is all about the guest. raathi, k. (h – 16045) page 6 of 16 understudy project food & beverage revenue management: implementation at ‘the westin hyderabad mindspace’ july 2010 Restaurant Revenue Management (RRM) Revenue-management tools can be used by restaurant managers to analyze the ffects of process-control changes. A dinner house seeking to shift demand and to achieve greater facility utilization during busy times analyzed the factors that caused delays in the service process—and thus increased the guest queue. Although the restaurant was able to hasten the actual dining time, much of the slack was found in the processes that occurred before and after the actual dining period. Moreover, the restaurant managers were able to analyze customer-arrival and market-mix data in relation to the restaurant‘s table mix.Seat occupancy was improved by mat ching the table arrangement to the customer mix, and table turns were increased by improving the kitchen operations so that front-of-the-house functions could be tightened up. In particular, end-of-meal steps were speeded up. As a result of its process improvements, the restaurant enjoyed revenue growth greater than that of comparable restaurants. (Bertsimas and Shioda, 2003) The challenge of a floor manager is to decide when and where to seat each arriving customer.If there are only tables of four available and a party of two enters, does he seat the party at the larger table or reserve it for a larger, more revenue-producing party? In addition, if the restaurant takes reservations, he needs to further decide how to seat walk-in customers so that they would not take tables away from the reservation customers while considering the possibility of no-shows. These are important practical issues for restaurant managers, where in some cases a good floor manager can make the difference of couple of hundred dollars per night (Kimes, 1999).Thus, a tool that can help floor managers better make these decisions would be of significant value to a restaurant. Genesis / Background Nestled amidst the emerging central business district of Cyberabad-Madhapur, the fastest growing commercial destination of Hyderabad, also known as the ? new Silicon Valley of India? , The Westin Hyderabad Mindspace (TWHM) identifies myriad possible aspects that can offer a sense of wellness to business travellers when they stay at the hotel. The author captures the unique ? wellness‘ service approach that the hotel has on offer. The 428-room property is the largest one in Hyderabad.Opened in December 2009, the property managed an average occupancy of 50 per cent until March end. The revenue share raathi, k. (h – 16045) page 7 of 16 understudy project food & beverage revenue management: implementation at ‘the westin hyderabad mindspace’ july 2010 of the hotel is 70:30 for room/F&B and banquet/conferences, respectively. Effectively, it is being positioned as the benchmark that the brand wants to set in India and that it is known for internationally. Nancy London, Vice President – Global Brand Leader, Westin, explains, â€Å"The idea is to preserve wellness in travel.Customers from various facets could derive this wellness factor where they interact in our hotel as our guest. So, each and every aspect has to offer that very essence of wellness that Westin stands for. † 3. Approach / Methodology: A Case Restaurant operators can manipulate two main strategic levers to manage revenue: price and meal duration. Price is a fairly obvious target for manipulation, and many operators already offer price-related promotions to augment or shift peak-period demand (e. g. , early bird specials, special menu promotions).More-sophisticated manipulations of price include daypart pricing, day-of-week pricing, and price premiums or discounts based on party or table size. Managing meal duration (i. e. , speeding table turns) is a bit more complicated, as discussed ahead. For example, meal duration depends in part on the efficiency of the restaurant‘s service cycle, as well as on the foible of customer arrival patterns and diners‘ deciding to linger (or not) after the meal. However, as explained further, duration control has great potential in a revenue-management strategy.To develop an RRM program, managers should (1) establish the baseline of performance, (2) understand the drivers of that performance, (3) develop a revenue management strategy, (4) implement that strategy, and (5) monitor the strategy‘s outcomes. This paper discusses and illustrates how to establish the baseline and understand its drivers, and how to develop a revenue-management strategy. The article starts off with a brief introduction to revenue management, followed by a description of the restaurant that provided data for this study. In so oing, the author analyzes the restaurant‘s baseline performance, including seat occupancy, revenue per available seat hour (RevPASH), party size/mix, and dining duration. The author also analyzes/examines the possible causes of performance. After reviewing the revenue management strategies for duration control the author talks about how managers could implement those strategies. The article concludes with an evaluation of the said restaurant‘s revenue-management strategy and recommendations for how other restaurateurs can implement revenue management. raathi, k. (h – 16045) page 8 of 16 understudy project ood & beverage revenue management: implementation at ‘the westin hyderabad mindspace’ july 2010 With all the data that are collected by the POS software, a revenue-maximizing seating policy can be utilized. The present paper stems from the belief that restaurants can increase their revenue by optimizing their nesting decisions, i. e. , when to save tables in anticipation for larger parties, even when there are smaller parties currently in queue. To control duration, managers can use either internal means (i. e. , those that do not involve customers) or external means (that do involve customers).The chief internal duration-control methods involve regulating and redesigning service processes (including speeding up service to promote customer turnover and providing an optimal table mix), forecasting customer arrivals (i. e. , forecasting the timing and party-size mix of arriving customers), and implementing inventory controls (usually through overbooking, if a restaurant takes reservations). External methods include booking fees or guarantees (e. g. , having guests guarantee reservations on a credit card) and such behavioural approaches as restricting the length of time that customers can use the table.Not surprisingly, most firms have chosen to manage duration internally, so as not to risk dissatisfied customers. The Study Site As part of the research the author developed an RRM system for an extensive, casual coffee shop in Mindspace, Hyderabad. Seasonal Tastes, a 208-seat restaurant, serves regional Indian and international favourites, and also features a live show kitchen concept that has Chefs actually interacting with guests while serving. The oriental theme show kitchen here takes authenticity to new heights while the centre piece bread oven bakes freshness into every slice. Its average check is approximately $18 (INR 840/-).The Japanese Sushi counter, the cold plate dessert counter, the SuperFoodsTM offering for breakfast and the Spa cuisine make the a-la-carte options here as appetizing, the roasted beef and goat cheese gateaux, the fishand-chips, the roasted lamb chops and the mango cheese cake are signature dishes. The restaurant is open 24 x 7 and has a manager always on duty. The next section describes the type of data and analysis necessary to establish a baseline, the tools that can be used to under stand actual service-cycle performance and operational tactics that are part of a revenue-management strategy.The researcher uses his experience at Seasonal Tastes to illustrate the discussion. raathi, k. (h – 16045) page 9 of 16 understudy project food & beverage revenue management: implementation at ‘the westin hyderabad mindspace’ july 2010 4. The Five-step Revenue Management Approach The managers and the author used the five-step process explained here to develop a revenue management strategy for the restaurant. Rather than attempt price-related promotions, the focus was on internal revenue management, specifically related to the duration of the dining experience.Although the data presented here are specific to Seasonal Tastes, the process and analyses described can be applied to any restaurant. Step 1: Establish a Baseline The first step in the process was to establish the restaurant‘s baseline performance. Baseline statistics were drawn from five sets of four-week periods of point-of-sale (POS) data and detailed time studies over the same time-frame. Using these data, an analysis of average check per person, RevPASH, seat occupancy, meal duration (from both the POS data and the time studies), and the party-size mix by day of week and hour of day was done.The POS data showed that the average check per person for the 208-seat main dining room was approximately near about INR 840/- (refer Exhibit D). Calculated by day of week and hour of day, average check ranged from INR 505/- at breakfast to INR 1,324/- at brunches on Sundays (Considering only the main meal periods, viz. Breakfast, lunch and dinner). The highest check averages occurred on Friday and Sunday afternoons, while the lowest checks occurred for lunch on Wednesdays. (Since breakfast is a part of the room plan its APC generally remains the lowest) RevPASH provides a good estimate of seat occupancy combined with the average check.This statistic is useful in two ways, the f irst being the important matter of how much revenue the restaurant is realizing in each time period. RevPASH was calculated by first determining the total hourly revenue from the main dining room for each day of the week and then dividing the hourly revenue by the 208 covers, as shown in Exhibit E. RevPASH ranged from INR 207/- on Mondays at Breakfast to INR 3,208/- on Fridays at Lunch. The highest RevPASH of INR 5,959/- was recorded on Sundays between 11:00 to 16:00 hours and on Fridays from noon to 15:00 hours.The lowest RevPASH was experienced mid-week postbreakfast, before noon and late-night. raathi, k. (h – 16045) page 10 of 16 understudy project food & beverage revenue management: implementation at ‘the westin hyderabad mindspace’ july 2010 SEASONAL TASTES? BASELINE The first thing done to determine the baseline at ? Seasonal Tastes‘ was collection of data from the POS system. The resulting data were analyzed to develop hourly arrival rates, meal tim es, and RevPASH. All results presented in this paper are from January 2010 – May 2010.The data was extracted on the date, the check number, the transaction time, the party size, and the transaction amount. Each party at the restaurant usually had multiple transactions for their meal-including when the check was opened, when orders were entered, and when the check was closed. (In a few cases there were just two transactions: when the check was opened with the entire order and when it was closed at the end of the meal. Any voided checks were excluded from the study. ) The usable data was then transferred to Microsoft Excel, where the multiple transactions were condensed into a single record for each party.Each record contained information on the date, the check number, the starting time, the closing time, the party size, and the check amount for each party. Data analysis to find the number of hourly arrivals, the mean and standard deviation of meal duration, and the hourly RevP ASH was performed using Microsoft Excel. SUMMARY OF FINDINGS It was not at all surprising to find that Sunday brunches and Wednesday – Thursday nights were busy and profitable, but the low RevPASH and head counts that we recorded for the other nights and all lunch periods were unexpected.The average meal time of almost an hour and a quarter seemed right, but we were alarmed at the high standard deviation of the meal time. Armed with this knowledge and the results of the time study, the author decided to proceed to the next step and study the possible causes of the aforesaid findings. Step 2: Understand the Causes A variety of tools can be used to help managers understand the underlying causes behind operational problems, including service blueprints, process analysis, and fishbone diagrams. Those techniques are fairly simple to implement and have been widely used in total-qualitymanagement programs.Service blueprints can be used to graphically illustrate a service process. Th e steps in the process are mapped and the connections between steps are identified. One of the key strengths of the service blueprint is the identification of potential delays and failure points. raathi, k. (h – 16045) page 11 of 16 understudy project food & beverage revenue management: implementation at ‘the westin hyderabad mindspace’ july 2010 THE CAUSES AT SEASONAL TASTES A blueprint for Seasonal Tastes was developed so as to identify potential sources of failure.It was noticed that the biggest problem at Seasonal Tastes was the length and variability of dining time. Reducing the mean dining time would be difficult without first reducing the standard deviation of the meal time. The consensus reached upon was that if variation could be reduced, the average meal time could also be reduced. Possible Causes Low seat occupancy Equipment Table mix Methods Personnel Customers Hard to find Reneging Materials Wait list Meal duration and variation Point-of-sale termina ls Credit-card authorization Service stations Restaurant layoutBussing Training Hosting Number Communication Commitment Compensation Management Hosting Training Seating Greeting Food and beverage delivery Cooking Check processing Pre-bussing Check drop Check pick-up Check processing Folder drop Management Pre-bussing Communication Hosting Number Commitment Compensation Management Choose to linger Unsure how to behave Party size Trays Payment and Credit-card folders departure authorization Point of sale terminal Training Number Commitment Compensation Training Number Commitment Compensation ManagementChoose to linger Unsure how to behave Uncomfortable Check folders Bussing Folder pick-up Stacking space Service Stations Bucket, trays Cleaning supplies New place settings The Problem: High standard deviation of meal duration Figure K: Possible Causes of Poor Performance at Seasonal Tastes raathi, k. (h – 16045) page 12 of 16 understudy project food & beverage revenue management: implementation at ‘the westin hyderabad mindspace’ july 2010 Step 3: Developing a Revenue-management Strategy The busy (hot) and slow (cold) periods by day of week and meal-period were first identified.Hot periods were defined as times when guests were waiting to be seated, and the remaining periods were cold. The restaurant had ten hot hours per week, which became the focus of the revenue management program. The two major goals were to reduce dining duration by ten minutes and to increase seat occupancy by 10 percent during the hot periods. An ancillary goal was to reduce the standard deviation of total dining time by 30 percent. It was expected by these changes to increase revenue by at least 5 percent during the ten hot hours, as explained further.The goal of increased seat occupancy could be achieved by attracting more customers, providing a better table mix so more customers could be accommodated, and reducing the dining duration so more customers could be served. The restaurant already had excess demand on Sunday Brunches and Friday Lunches (as indicated by the waiting lines). More worrisome, because the restaurant‘s current table mix and dining duration would not allow the restaurant to serve additional customers, the manager‘s focus was on improving the table mix and reducing dining duration.THE FIVE PERCENT (5 %) SOLUTION To assess the revenue effects of increased occupancy and decreased dining duration, we first calculated the annual revenue for the hot periods. To review, during the ten hot hours each week, the main dining room had an average seat occupancy of 63 percent, an average check of $18 (INR 840/- approx. ), and an average dining time of seventy-five minutes. Annual sales for the restaurant in January – May 2010 totalled (INR 20,699,517/-). The restaurant took in about one-fourth (INR 5,000,000/- approx. ) of its monthly revenue during its ten hot hours.If hot seat occupancy increased from 50 percent to 60 pe rcent, even if dining duration remained the same, monthly revenue would potentially increase by 7. 3 percent (INR 1,511,065/-). Beyond that, if dining duration could be decreased from seventy-five minutes to sixty-five minutes, even if seat occupancy remained the same, the annual revenue potential would increase by 3. 8 percent (INR 786,582/-). If both factors could be changed (i. e. , seat occupancy increased and dining duration decreased at the same time), the annual revenue potential would increase by 11. 9 percent (INR 2,463,243/-).Even if only half of the revenue raathi, k. (h – 16045) page 13 of 16 understudy project food & beverage revenue management: implementation at ‘the westin hyderabad mindspace’ july 2010 potential could be achieved, the restaurant could nevertheless achieve better than a 5 percent increase in annual revenue. Step 4: Possible / Probable Implementation Once the strategy was developed, the hard work of implementation begins. In keeping with the strategy, implementation should focus on training staff, convalescing table mix and on improving the efficiency of service delivery.TABLE MIX An optimal table mix, one that matches party-size mix as closely as possible, would allow this restaurant to serve an increased number of customers with no increase in the number of seats, thereby boosting seat occupancy during busy periods. UNCERTAINTY OF DURATION A restaurant who has dealt with the arrival-time issue must be able to predict meal-length, because this controls the number of tables available. With this information, restaurants can decide which reservation requests to accept, and restaurants with a large walk-in trade will be better able to provide accurate estimates of waiting time for guests in the queue.In addition, a reduction in meal duration during busy periods can increase seat occupancy and table turnover and thus can lead to increased revenue. As stated at the outset, one of the difficulties of implementing re venue management in restaurants is the fact that their explicit unit of sale is a meal (or an event) rather than an amount of time, although one can also argue that the true measure of the restaurant‘s product is time. While the likely length of a meal can be estimated, its actual duration is not firmly set. Reduced dining times can have considerable revenue potential during high-demand periods.Here, Seasonal Tastes, a restaurant with 208 covers, an approx. $20 average check, an average one-hour twenty minutes dining time, and a busy period of three hours per day. During busy periods, defined as those when customers are waiting for a table, a decrease in dining time can increase the number of customers served and the associated revenue. Under the example, the restaurant could theoretically serve approximately 400 covers during its three-hour busy time, assuming all 208 covers were occupied two times for exactly eighty minutes each time.That would result in revenue of $8000. If the average dining time could be raathi, k. (h – 16045) page 14 of 16 understudy project food & beverage revenue management: implementation at ‘the westin hyderabad mindspace’ july 2010 reduced to 50 minutes, the potential number of customers served would increase to 750, and the potential revenue would increase to $15,000, an increase of 18%. The question of how customers would react to such changes, however, causes restaurant operators to approach time decreases with caution. Step 5: Monitor OutcomesAs with much business practice, the success of revenue management cannot be assessed without measuring changes. After establishing the baseline and implementing revenue management, operators must develop a system to measure financial, operational, and customer-satisfaction performance. 5. Summary and Conclusion By implementing revenue management tactics, Seasonal Tastes, would be able to increase revenue by approximately 5 percent. The improved table-mix, the chang es in the service delivery, and the improved training led to the improvement in the restaurant‘s performance.Seat occupancy and RevPASH would increase, at the same time leading to a decrease in dining duration and variability, and thus an increase in revenue. Other restaurant could realize similar results by carefully analyzing their current performance, determining the causes of that performance, and developing appropriate strategies to improve it. Changes in table-mix and problematic service-delivery processes hold particular promise, but only with proper implementation that emphasizes training, employee buy-in, and enhanced management. 6. References o o o Anderson, C. and Xie, X. (2010), ?Improving hospitality industry sales: twenty-five years of revenue management? , Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, Vol. : 51, No. : 1, pg. : 53 – 69 Bertsimas, D. and Shioda, R. (2003), ? Restaurant revenue management? , Operations Research, Vo. : 51, No. : 3, pp. : 472 – 486 Bh ar, S. (2010), ? Creating a culture of wellness? , Express Hospitality, June 15 – 30, 2010 Issue, Section: Spotlight, Management Article, online available at: raathi, k. (h – 16045) page 15 of 16 understudy project food & beverage revenue management: implementation at ‘the westin hyderabad mindspace’ july 2010 etrieved on June 16, 2010 at 11:15 hours o o Cross, R. (1997), ? Revenue Management? , London: Broadway Books HSMAI Online article, Anon. (2010), ? The need for a more holistic approach to revenue management? , published on March 10, 2010, available at retrieved on June 12, 2010 at 11:01 hours o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o Hwang, J. (2008) ? Restaurant table management to reduce customer waiting times? , Journal of Foodservice Business Research, Vol. : 11, No. : 4, pp. : 334 — 351 Kimes, S. and McGuire, K. , (2001), ? Function-space revenue management? , Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly, Vol. 42, No. : 33, pg. : 33  œ 47 Kimes, S. and Robson, S. (2004), ? The impact of restaurant table characteristics on meal duration and spending? , Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly, Vol. : 45, No. : 4, pg. : 333 – 348 Kimes, S. and Thompson G. (2004), ? Restaurant revenue management at Chevys: determining the best table mix? , Decision Sciences, Vol. : 35, No. : 3, pg. : 371 – 392 Kimes, S. Barrash, D. and Alexander, J. , (1999), ? Developing a restaurant revenue-management strategy? , Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly, Vol. : 40, No. : 5, pg. 18 – 31 Kimes, S. , (1999), ? Implementing restaurant revenue management: a five-step approach? , Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly, Vol. : 40, No. : 3, pg. : 1 – 7 Kimes, S. , (2003), ? Revenue management: a retrospective? , Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly, Vol. : 44, pg. : 131 – 139 Kimes, S. , (2004), ? Restaurant revenue management: implementation at Chevys Arrowhead? , Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly, Vol. : 45, No. : 1, pg. : 52 – 69 Kimes, S. , (2004), ? Restaurant revenue management? , CHR Reports, Vol. : 4, No. 2, pg. : 1 – 36 Noone, B. Kimes, S. Mattila, A. and Wirtz, J. , (2007), ? The effect of meal pace on customer satisfaction? , Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly, Vol. : 48, No. : 3, pg. : 231 – 246 Sill, B. and Decker, R. (1999), ? Applying capacity-management science: the case of Browns restaurant? , Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly, Vol. : 40, No. : 3, pg. : 22 – 32 Thompson, G. (2002), ? Optimizing a restaurant‘s seating capacity: use dedicated or combinable tables Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly, Vol. : 43, pg. 48 – 59 Thompson, G. (2003), ? Optimizing restaurant-table configurations: specifying combinable tables? , Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly, Vol. : 44, pg. : 53 – 61 Thompson, G. and Kwortnik, R. Jr. (2008), ? Pooling restaurant reservations to increase service efficiency? , Journal of Service Research, Vol. : 10, No. : 04, pg. : 335 – 348 Thompson, G. and Sohn, H. (2009), ? Time-and capacity-based measurement of restaurant revenue? , Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, Vol. : 50, No. : 04, pg. : 520 – 539 raathi, k. (h – 16045) page 16 of 16 understudy project

George Orwell Novelist, Essayist and Critic

George Orwell is a novelist, essayist and critic. Hes famous as the author of Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four. List of Novels 1934 - Burmese Days1935 - A Clergymans Daughter1936 - Keep the Aspidistra Flying1939 - Coming Up for Air1945 - Animal Farm1949 - Nineteen Eighty-Four Nonfiction Books 1933 - Down and Out in Paris and London1937 - The Road to Wigan Pier1938 - Homage to Catalonia1947 - The English People Animal Farm In late 1939, Orwell wrote for his first collection of essays,  Inside the Whale. For the next year, he was busy writing reviews for plays, films and books. In March 1940 his long association with  Tribune  began with a review of a sergeants account of  Napoleons  retreat from Moscow. Throughout this period Orwell kept a wartime diary. In August 1941, Orwell obtained war work when he was taken on full-time by the BBCs Eastern Service. In October, David Astor invited Orwell to write for him at The Observer  Ã¢â‚¬â€ Orwells first article appeared in March 1942.   In March 1943 Orwells mother died and around the same time he was starting work on a new book, which turned out to be  Animal Farm. In September 1943, Orwell resigned from his BBC position. He was set on writing  Animal Farm. Just six days before his last day of service, in November 1943, his adaptation of the  fairy tale,  Hans Christian Andersens  The Emperors New Clothes  was broadcast. It was a genre in which he was greatly interested and which appeared on  Animal Farms title-page. In November 1943, Orwell was appointed literary editor at  Tribune, where he was on staff until early 1945, writing more than 80 book reviews. In March 1945, Orwells wife Eileen went into the  hospital for a  hysterectomy  and died. Orwell returned to London to cover the 1945 general election  at the beginning of July.  Animal Farm: A Fairy Story  was published in Britain on August 17, 1945, and a year later in the U.S., on August 26, 1946. Nineteen Eighty-Four Animal Farm  struck a particular resonance in the post-war climate and its worldwide success made Orwell a sought-after figure. For the next four years, Orwell mixed journalistic work – mainly for  Tribune,  The Observer  and the  Manchester Evening News, though he also contributed to many smaller political and  literary magazines  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ with writing his best-known work,  Nineteen Eighty-Four, which was published in 1949. In June 1949,  Nineteen Eighty-Four  was published to immediate critical and popular acclaim. Legacy During most of his career, Orwell was best known for his journalism, in essays, reviews, columns in newspapers and magazines and in his books  Down and Out in Paris and London  (describing a time of poverty in these cities),  The Road to Wigan Pier  (describing the living conditions of the poor in northern England) and  Homage to Catalonia.   Modern readers are more often introduced to Orwell as a novelist, particularly through his enormously successful titles  Animal Farm  and  Nineteen Eighty-Four. Both are powerful novels warning of a future world where the state machine exerts complete control over social life. In 1984,  Nineteen Eighty-Four  and  Ray Bradburys  Fahrenheit 451  were honored with the  Prometheus Award  for their contributions to dystopian literature. In 2011, he received the award again for  Animal Farm.