Speed, Convenience and Accuracy of Service: A Case Study of a Restaurant in Northeast Thailand

Authors

  • Chanchai Laoha, Thanapon Napan, Ratthaphak Prommakun

Abstract

The objectives of this research were to reduce weaknesses of service in a case study restaurant for local food in northeast Thailand. The research methodology was divided into 10 steps, with each step following the framework of 5 Lean Principles applied to reduce 7 wastes in the service process. The operation steps were as follows: 1. Understand Value 2. Product family 3. Go to Gamba 4. Identify the proper communication methods between kitchen and customers about food item needs. 5. Define the Value Stream Mapping 6. Fill in Queue Times: Cycle Time, Efficiency, FTQ -First Time Quality, Set up Time. The majority of waste are associated with the order transfer between customers and the kitchen, and with the billing process. This potential source of error frequently occurs in situations when many customers come together. 7. Fill in Process Data: Manpower, Workplace, Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE), Production Control. 8. Flow: Multi skill One Piece Flow, Takt time. The average takt time was found to be 6 minutes, but the cooking time was 22 minutes per bill which is more than the takt time. 9. Pulling 10. Continuous Improvement: The authors brainstorm session with the business owners has already concluded that to improve the taking of the order and presentation of an accurate food bill, three types of methodological   conducted studies were required: 1. Input the data to the computer by the waiter. 2. By portable two-way radio. 3. By smartphones. The evaluation of the study was implemented after this. The evaluation form was the speed time in part 1 using the watch as a tool, then comparing three modes from the minimum to maximum and getting 5, 3, and 1 score, respectively.  Part 2 is about Ease to perform level, part 3 is Accuracy in service and part 4 is ease of maintenance. This evaluation was undertaken by the chefs. If the respondents agreed, they scored the item five or four points. If they were not sure they gave a mark of three points and if they did not agree, a score of 2 or 1 was given.  Part 5 was an assessment of the capital recovery period conducted by the business owners, if they thought it was a cost-recovery method. Five points were awarded for the fastest anticipated cost recovery, then based on the rate of return in 3 and 1. Part 6 is OEE that evaluates the same areas as part 1. The study found that the highest score was achieved by adopting the Type 3 methodology with a score of 23.34 points, which was ordering via smartphone.

Published

2020-02-29

Issue

Section

Articles