Part 1 – Review of Systems, Processes, and Opportunities for Improvement
Executive Summary
The report presents the results and suggestion related systems and processes of Pesto’s. Pesto’s is a restaurant in Brisbane that serves plant-based menus and has grown popularity as a result of this. As customers increase, however, the restaurant experiences some operational difficulties. The reports, thus, identifies the areas of Pesto’s that require monitoring and improvement, suggests excellence framework for monitoring and improving the areas, and suggests an effective continuous monitoring model. Additional sections cover the wait staff process to review and improve, issues that have negative impact on Pesto’s performance, assessment tools for measuring performance of the business, and the core values (strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities) that affect its sustainability.
Findings and Recommendations
1. Areas where Performance needs to be monitored and improved
a) High operation costs – high food costs as Pesto’s depends on imported ingredients and rental costs are also high
b) Employee dissatisfaction – kitchen and wait staff experience work pressure, lack of management support, and there is increased turnover for wait staff
c) Communication with customers – due to the absence of an effective social media presence.
2. An Excellence Framework for monitoring and reviewing Pesto’s Performance in the areas that require attention
The recommended excellence framework is the Malcolm Baldridge model, a total quality management (TQM) framework. It explains how leadership, customer focus, information and analysis, strategic management, human resources, and operations help to achieve an organisation’s desired results (Setiawan & Purbia, 2021). All these seven criteria are essential for Pesto’s. Currently, the company has to work on building and maintaining strong relationships with customers and will achieve this goal by designing, managing, and improving operations processes. Leadership should, therefore, establish the strategy and implement the necessary changes with the help and cooperation of its workforce or human resources. Information and analysis should as well be considered to support the business processes and manage the performance of the company.
3. A Model of Continuous Improvement that could be used to improve Pesto’s performance
Six Sigma is one of the popularly applied methodologies for business process improvement. Lean Six Sigma promotes efficiency with a focus on delivering goods and services at the fastest speed and lowest cost (Anthony, Snee & Hoerl, 2017). The adoption of lean thinking enables a company to increase efficiency and flow of processes by minimising lead times, equipment downtime, and all the hidden wastes.
4. Steps of the Wait Service Process that need to be reviewed and improved to maintain Customer Service Standards and Reduce the Pressure on Staff
1. Two Steps of the Wait Staff Service Process Map (Appendix C), where Quality Control is breaking down
It relates to two out of the three steps marked “NO”
a) The first step is (NOT) checking the waitlist to offer guest advice on wait time, and not asking if guests would like to be included in the waitlist. This is poor customer service quality which may result from inadequate work training. Training equips employees with experience and practices needed to complete the assigned tasks effectively and efficiently (Hosny & Abdelhamied, 2019).
b) The second is (NOT) giving guests some minutes to check the menus before they order food and drinks. Quality control encourages personalised customer service, where a guest should be made to feel that he or she is the most important at that given time (Zhang, 2018). Allowing guests a few minutes to check the menu and then place an order could give them a sense of pride and make them see the customer service as more satisfactory.
2. One Problem in Purchasing Process from Pesto’s Business Plan, which could be contributing to food wastage
Misjudging customer demand. As revealed in Pesto’s Business Plan, the company expects rapid growth in demand for its creative vegetarian, plant-based, and vegan diet in Brisbane
5. Four (4) ways in which the issues identified above can negatively affect the performance and sustainability of Pesto’s business
· The issues can increase financial costs: Incorrect prediction of demand and over-ordering leads to increased spending on purchase, transportation, handling, preparation, and disposing costs (Pearce & Berkenkamp, 2017). These financial risks could reduce the profit margin or even lead to losses.
· The issues may also interfere with the resilience of the supply chain of Pesto’s. If the restaurant adopts increasingly tight fruit and vegetable specifications to minimise food wastage, current suppliers will experience more wastage (Pearce & Berkenkamp, 2017). Suppliers will, thus, incur costs and even the associated growers could be destabilised.
· Disposing large amounts of food waste could also damage the company’s reputation and damage its brand image. Some customers’ purchasing decisions are determined by the social and environmental image of a company, meaning that they will not buy from a company that sends wholesome food into landfills at a time when other people suffer from hunger (Chawla, Lugosi & Hawkins, 2021).
· Regulatory risks also rise with increased food wastage. Governments oppose food wastage and encourage the big organic waste generators (like restaurants) to reduce the amount of food they dispose of in landfills by encouraging them to use anaerobic digesters and composting.
6. Performance Measures and Assessment Tools/Techniques, their Effectiveness:
1. More Specific/Reliable KPI for Customer Service: An alternate KPI
The existing KPI could be more specific and reliable if it included exact figures or data on employee satisfaction, average daily customer rates, average spending per customer, and online reviews. An alternative KPI is presented below:
Key performance areas | Target | KPI |
Customer satisfaction | Increase satisfaction by 10% | Reduce complaints by 10% |
Employee satisfaction | Address complaints (100%) from kitchen and wait staff | 15% annual wait staff retention |
Profit | Grow profits year on year (by 9.6% from $88,705.55 in 2019) | Get $97,221.28 in 2020 and $105,737.02 in 2021 |
Sustainability | Buy ingredients from local suppliers | Purchase 50% of previously imported ingredients (cured meat, preserved vegetables, and relevant cheese and sauces) locally by the first quarter of FY2020 |
Control food wastage | Use FIFO and waste management principles to reduce landfills by 50% (currently, two 660-litre bins once a week) | |
Average customer spending per dinner | $15.20 on average | $15.20 average dinner spending |
Online reviews | Increase Zomato star rating | Move Zomato star rating from 3.8 to 4.7 by the second quarter of FY2020 |
Improve Google Maps review | Increase star rating from 4.1 to 4.95 by the second quarter of FY2020 |
2. Three key result areas affected by Pesto’s expansion
· Sustainability (reduction of landfills): Pesto’s targets in the business plan reveal an intention to cut the food wastage by half but in this scenario, the amount of waste has doubled (from one 660 litres bin a week to two bins).
· Customer satisfaction: The business plan shows the company’s intention to reduce customer complaints to 0%-1%. However, customers have shown growing displeasure through negative reviews which have dropped Pesto’s star ratings on both Zomato and Google Maps.
· Employee retention: Pesto’s aims for 15% retention of staff but the kitchen and wait staff show growing dissatisfaction. In fact, turnover rates have risen among the wait staff.
7. From research and analysis of Pesto’s Business Documents and the Readings:
a. two strengths, weaknesses and opportunities
Strengths:
· Pesto’s management is aware of current market trends. Plant-based menus are the most demanded in the present market, and the introduction of such options has given Pesto’s its popularity.
· Pesto’s has a ready market for its plant-based menus. The company has recorded increase in footfall, which is so much that any walk-in dinner must wait for a minimum of 30 minutes to get the services.
Weaknesses:
· Shortage of resources: Pesto’s lacks adequate seats for walk-in dinners, hence they must wait for those that came first to finish eating. Also, there is a shortage of wait staff as guests that choose to dine in the new courtyard cannot get the attention of the servers when they need to. Again, the restaurant’s floor space cannot accommodate more wait staff as this may interfere with customers’ dining experience.
· Poor planning: The inability to correctly predict customer demand leads to over-ordering and cooking excess food, which contributes to food wastage.
Opportunities:
· Pesto’s can explore more plant-based dishes to add to its menu and place more emphasis on food waste reduction to maintain its popularity among customers, regulators, and the local community.
· Pesto’s can invest in e-commerce to avoid the costs associated with starting a new restaurant or relocating to a larger venue. With e-commerce, customers will still enjoy their favourite dishes without coming to a crowded restaurant.
b. Trends relevant to Pesto’s, with the opportunities for achieving sustainability
· Waste reduction, particularly food waste. Measures for controlling the creation and discarding of food wastes can help Pesto’s to build and maintain its good reputation.
· Sourcing foods and associated products locally. This initiative creates a chance for the restaurant guests to support the local suppliers while also trying a unique dish.
Part 2: Role play – Seek advice from a specialist about technology solutions
A brief overview of Pesto’s needs
Pesto’s needs a cost-friendly innovative solution that is environmentally and operationally suitable. The technology should enable the restaurant to satisfy customer needs by reducing the waiting time, especially for the walk-in dinners and the guests that sit in the new courtyard. Pesto’s would benefit more from the technology if it can support and reduce pressure felt by the kitchen and wait staff. The restaurant also needs technology with the ability to predict the daily guest numbers to help the head chef order the appropriate amount of food and correctly measure the amount of food to be cooked. This should solve the problem of food wastage. Lastly, the solution should facilitate the arrangement of the restaurant’s floor in such a way that it accommodates more wait staff, prevents the occurrence of hazards, and improves customers’ dining experience.
obtain information about the benefits of the system in the quote, and how it will meet your needs
a) Now, is HosPOS financially and operationally friendly?
b) How can HosPOS solve these problems?
· Reduce the overall time taken before a guest’s order is served
· Support kitchen and wait staff and minimise work pressure
· Address food wastage issue
make detailed notes of the consultant’s inputs (for use in the next assessment task)
One, HosPOS is relatively financially reliable because of the $480.0 discount offered on purchase. Secondly, Tableside Ordering feature can help to solve waiting time by allowing the seated customers to check menus and inform the kitchen and main terminal directly. HosPOS can, thus, reduce the work pressure felt by your wait staff. Pesto’s may not even hire more wait staff with this technology. Moreover, dinners in the new courtyard can use the Tableside tablet to call wait staff so they place orders quickly. Even better, HosPOS is operationally suitable as it is developed with first-timers and non-tech savvy persons in mind. Again, the Restaurant Inventory Management feature will assist the head cook to track sales trends, food costs, and stock level and use these during menu engineering. If properly applied, the feature should enable the head chef to solve the problem of over-ordering and cooking bulk food, which ends in bins. The restaurant Table Management feature is as well beneficial for time management as it will improve organisation of the restaurant floor, tracking of orders per table, and management of several restaurant sections. An additional advantage comes with the integrated payments feature that will enable customers to complete transactions using the most convenient and fastest methods.
Part 3: Develop a staff engagement strategy for continuous improvement
Staff Engagement Strategy for Continuous Improvement
System to obtain staff input, including:
Mechanism to collect staff ideas and feedback
Employee engagement surveys will be used to collect large amounts of employee ideas and feedback. These surveys are the best as they focus on both the general and specific factors that affect staff satisfaction, engagement, and retention.
Frequency of ideas and feedback colection
Employee engagement surveys will be administered on a quarterly basis (or every 3 months).
System for implementation of ideas
Factors to consider when assessing the relevance of an idea
· Feasibility of the idea, especially the costs of implementing it and the associated return on investment
· Uniqueness of the idea or its ability to transcend previous ones and fulfil the intended purpose in a better way
· Market analytics to assess the performance of that particular idea
A method of rewarding successful ideas
Pesto’s will use monetary reward systems, particularly the semi-annual bonus. This method is most preferable as it promotes healthy competition among employees so that their productivity and performance rises.
Roles and responsibilities:
managing communication with staff
Marketing Manager – Jamie Mason
evaluating ideas for trial
Restaurant Manager – Amber Lee
approving ideas for trial and implementation
CEO and head chef (Rose Rossi) and Director-Operations & Finance (Lily Rossi)
monitoring and reporting on implementation of ideas
Restaurant Manager – Amber Lee
Part 4: Role-play – Seek input from staff in a brainstorming session
Good afternoon, wait staff and kitchen staff. Welcome to today’s meeting.
The purpose of this meeting is to brief you on our new continuous development strategy and seek your input. I will explain the importance of the continuous development strategy in attaining the goals of the restaurant and retaining its competitive advantage. Another reason for meeting today is to establish a climate that facilitates sharing ideas so we can solve problems and boost the restaurant’s performance.
This meeting is divided into two parts:
· In the first part, you will get a briefing on the benefits of continuous improvement and the need for innovative thinking. The challenges that Pesto’s is currently addressing will also be explained.
· In the second part, we will engage in a brainstorming session whose aim is to find solutions to the problems identified in the first part of the meeting.
PART 1
Importance of continuous improvement to business sustainability
Even though Pesto’s has achieved popularity in serving plant-based menus, it is not the only restaurant that offers these products and services. In fact, the competition is getting stiffer and entrants of new participants is a major threat to Pesto’s. Only continuous improvement will enable this restaurant to maintain its competitive advantage. Continuous improvement will also encourage the restaurant management to examine the activities in other markets, which could affect its business, and prepare to address them. Actually, marketing plans are no longer intended for longevity because many shifts happen to market trends. Flexibility is, thus, a key requirement for companies that want to reap business rewards in today’s markets that are characterized by dynamic changes. Continuous improvement leads to improved quality, decreased operation costs, a decline in waste generation, and increased employee and customer satisfaction.
Role of staff participation in the success of the continuous improvement process
Employees are responsible for the implementation of all quality improvements hence their commitment is essential for the attainment of the established goals. Therefore, employees should take part in the assessment of business problems and determining root causes. Employees should also participate in the setting of objectives and the development of action plans.
Background of the problems that need to be solved and the constraints
Pesto’s is currently struggling with customer and employee satisfaction. Customers complain over long waiting hours before service while kitchen and wait staff complain over work pressure and inadequate support from management. Due to customer dissatisfaction, the restaurant’s star rating on Zomato and Google Maps has declined. Again, Pesto’s head chef has been unable to correctly predict customer demand. This causes over-ordering of food and cooking of excess food, which end up in bins and landfills. Currently, the amount of food waste has doubled from that of previous year. Pesto’s can solve customer’s long waiting time problem and staff complaints by hiring more employee, but the restaurant’s floor space cannot hold additional wait staff.
Now to you team members:
Your role is to suggest creative solutions. You can get collect information on this through interactions with your workgroups or other groups.
We welcome all ideas.
Failure to organisational learning and continuous improvement
Organisational learning becomes a failure if a company relies heavily on external experts. To avoid this, we would like to involve internal staff in addressing the needs of this restaurant. Even continuous improvement may not be achieved if stakeholder engagement is lacking.
PART 2
Brainstorming Session
Now, take this opportunity to discuss the appropriate solutions with your selected groups
Each team should share its ideas and opinions with others. Teams with the best ideas or perspectives will receive proper recognition.
Ensure to collaborate in the identification of the benefits and limitations of every idea that you raise. Evaluation of the pros and cons will help with the identification of the most suitable ideas.
Finalising an idea
Many groups say that Pesto’s should hire additional kitchen staff and then find a technology that can help with serving customers and inventory management. How many agree with these perspectives?
Conclusion
We have reached the end of this meeting. Thank you all for the ideas you have brought forward. I want to encourage you to keeping bringing your inputs.
Next step:
As for the selected idea, we have to get the approval of the CEO and head chef (Rose Rossi) and Director-Operations & Finance (Lily Rossi) before it is implemented.
Verbal Questioning
How to ensure effective group interactions and contribution of ideas in brainstorming
The effectiveness of brainstorming depends on allowing people to prepare adequately for the session. Preparation involves the selection of a facilitator and the setting of clear goals for the brainstorming session. Inviting new people in the session also helps with the generation of new ideas and perspectives. Follow-ups should also be considered.
Reasons for telling staff what you intend to do with their ideas
It encourages the engagement of employees whose ideas are selected for use. The authority that comes with such recognition by management causes employees to raise better ideas in the future.
How to prevent disruption during brainstorming
The group should be small and the session should only last a short while. Clarification of the problem at hand is also vital and the agenda of the session needs to be clear. A facilitator must also be present to prevent disruptions.
What if time runs out before discussing ideas collaboratively?
The best solution is to organise another session in order to continue with the discussion
Part 5: Conduct cost-benefit and risk analyses and seek approval for the idea
a. Cost-benefit analysis of the server call system implementation in 2020 and 2021
| COSTS |
Setup costs Purchase (1 month) Installation and staff training Total |
$3,520.00 $1,500.00 $4,146.00 |
Ongoing costs Monthly licensing fee (X23 months) Annual software and hardware update Total in 24 months |
$80,960.00 $150.00
$81,110.00 |
TOTAL COSTS | $85,256.00 |
BENEFITS
Financial Benefits | An increase in profit margin as the inventory management feature in HosPOS helps the head chef to track stock and order supplies based on the market trends, so there is no overstocking and food wastage Higher chances of exceeding the 10% profit margin by the end of 2020 |
Non-financial Benefits | Customer satisfaction, as the bells help customers to reduce wait time by calling servers whenever they need to Lower work pressure for wait staff as Tableside ordering enables customers to place orders directly with the kitchen and communicate with the main terminal for processing of payments. Employee satisfaction rises so that the 15% staff retention goal is attained. |
b. Risk Analysis
Risk | Likelihood | Impact | Contingency Measure |
Cyber threats | 4 | 3 | Train employees and business partners on ways of detecting threats. Also, develop plans for managing patches, purchasing security software, and addressing physical vulnerability. |
Operational culture | 3 | 2 | Include risk executives in advanced level strategizing of innovation. They should work together with the business leaders and the board to ensure the effective adoption of the new technology. |
Regulatory compliance | 3 | 2 | Conduct risk assessment at inception to identify and resolve (if possible) the regulatory risks |
c. Business Innovation Proposal the CEO’s approval
[See the Business Innovation proposal template]
PESTO‘S Pesto’s Fine Foods Pty Ltd 123 Main Street, Brisbane, QLD, 4000 ABN: 123 456 789 Business / New equipment Proposal | ||
Initiative |
| |
Submitted to | Rose Rossi, CEO | |
Submitted by | Amber Lee, Restaurant Manager | |
Date
| 5/15/2022 | |
Describe the problem, condition or observation that inspired this proposal. | ||
Customers complained about the long waits before they are served, especially the walk-in dinners that needed to wait for a minimum of 30 minutes and the guests using the new courtyard who hardly got the attention of servers.
Wait staff and kitchen staff also complained of poor management support and work pressure. An increase in wait staff turnover was also observed.
Again, the food that chefs prepare is often more than customers demand, and the unpurchased food ends up in bins as food waste.
| ||
Provide an overview of the initiative you are proposing. | ||
To solve the above, Pesto’s should purchase HosPOS Tableside | ||
Who benefits from this initiative and how? | ||
Tableside ordering procedure will allow customers to place orders directly with the kitchen staff and also communicate with the main terminal to process payment. This will reduce the work pressure that the wait staff experience. It will also solve the problem of long wait customers do not have to wait for wait staff to bring menus and take orders anymore. The restaurant inventory management tool in HosPOS Tableside technology will also guide the head to check sales trends, food costs, and manage stock level to avoid over-ordering of food and manage food waste generation. | ||
What could be the risks in implementing this initiative?
| ||
All the risks related to technology adoption affect this initiative. The most likely risks include: · Regulatory compliance risk · Cyber risks · Operational culture risk | ||
What could be some alternatives to this initiative? | ||
Exploring e-commerce, where customers can buy their preferred dishes (online) without going to the restaurant | ||
When should this initiative be attempted? | ||
If footfalls are too much for the restaurant to serve within its physical space, even after the installation of HosPOS | ||
How much do you expect this initiative will cost? | ||
The initiative will cost $85,256 for the first two years (2020 and 2021) | ||
What strategy do you propose to complete this initiative? | ||
Continuous improvement | ||
Which stakeholders will be impacted by this initiative, and how? | ||
Customers through reduced wait time Wait staff and kitchen staff through reduced work pressure | ||
What staff / resources will be required for the initiative? | ||
Staff The CEO, Director-Operations & Finance, restaurant manager, kitchen staff, and wait staff all have a role to play during the implementation of the initiative
Resources: Tableside bundle -24-month contract Restaurant’s floor space and tables | ||
Approved: | ¨ Yes ¨ No
Comments:
| |
Signature |
| |
Date: |
| |
Part 6: Develop an implementation plan
a. An impact statement providing a brief explanation of how you plan to reduce the negative impacts of this change on staff and customers.
Customers: Some clients may find the technology difficulty to operate. In this regard, the restaurant manager and relevant executives will check if the manufacturer’s claim over the technology’s user friendliness is true. If true, then even the non-tech savvy guests will have no challenge operating the system. Again, wait staff will be available to assist any customers that have any concerns.
Staff: A potential negative impact is loss of jobs due to the use of technology. Pesto’s will ensure that existing employees are retained but may not hire others.
b. Performance measures to assess the effectiveness of the call system
Key Result Areas | Targets to be achieved | Key performance indicators | Timeline for achieving targets |
Customer satisfaction | Achieve 100% customer satisfaction | 0%-5% complaints over wait time | 8 months |
Wait staff retention | 100% employee satisfaction | 0%-1% wait staff turnover | 6 months |
Sustainability (reduce food wastage) | Reduce food waste by half | 50% reduction in food waste | 12 months |
c. A transition action plan
TRANSITION ACTIVITY | ACTIONS | PERSON RESPONSIBLE | DUE DATE |
Installation | Making HosPOS Tableside ready for use. Configuration of the technology’s software and hardware components | Restaurant Manager, and Director-Operations & Finance | 1 week |
Training | Teach kitchen staff and wait staff on how to use the new innovation. Also guide the staff on how to detect cyber risk | Restaurant Manager | 2 weeks |
Testing | To find out how well the HosPOS Tableside works and if it can achieve the established goals. To test the level of knowledge and skills acquired by staff during training | Director - Operations & Finance Restaurant Manager Wait staff Kitchen staff | 1 week |
Implementation | Begins with inception of the development strategy plan, and later to the execution of the related tasks | CEO, Director - Operations & Finance Restaurant Manager Wait staff, Kitchen staff, cooks | 1 week |
d. A communication plan
TRANSITION ACTIVITY | STAKEHOLDER AFFECTED | COMMUNICATION OBJECTIVE | MESSAGE | COOMUNICATION METHOD | TIMING & FREQUENCY |
Installation | Restaurant manager Director – Operations & Finance | To share installation guide details, and progress | From Restaurant manager: “Technical team understands the installation instruction but they need to buy more equipment” Director – Operations & Finance: “Great! Let me know the equipment cost” | Email Phone call Meeting | Daily, for 7 days |
Training | Wait staff Kitchen staff | To provide instructions on training venue, time, and trainer | Restaurant Manager: “Here are the training details, venue, and duration” | Staff meeting | Thrice in 2 weeks |
Testing | Customers Staff Management | To confirm appropriateness of the technology, as well as customers and staff readiness | To customers, staff, and management: “Avail yourselves for the scheduled testing of HosPOS Tableside” | Text message Email Phone calls | Twice in 1 week |
Implementation | Management Staff Customers | To report on progress and challenges encountered or observed | To management and staff: “Here is the progress report, which identifies the accomplishments facilitated by HosPOS and the associated challenges” | Meeting Email | Once a week |
Part 7: Analyse failure and implement contingency measures
To: CEO and Director of Operations
From: Restaurant Manager
Date: 06/17/2022
Dear Madam,
Re: Weekly Report on Progress of HosPOS Tableside Solution
After using the innovation for four weeks, several benefits were observed. First, the issue with customer wait time got resolved. With HosPOS, guests only waited 5 minutes to get served. Besides, customers managed to get a server in a minute after using the Tableside console to call the wait staff. These positive changed improved customer satisfaction, thereby reducing complaints by 50% (from 20 complaints last month to only 10). Customer satisfaction also improved Pesto’s star rating on Zomato to 4.5 plus. Sales also increased during the time as sales rose by 1.5%.
Based on the implementation of HosPOS allows Pesto’s to achieve its customer satisfaction goals and can enable the attainment of KIPs associated with profit margin. The increased sales also means purchase of more cooked food, hence a decline in food waste. However, employee retention is not yet attained as 2 more wait staff resigned over the long weekend after complaining of feeling overworked. Moreover, workers lack a proper way of responding to calls.
Although resigning of trained staff started the problem, the real cause of the issue is inadequate training because the new/temporary workers did not get enough time to understand the use of HosPOS. Poor training also resulted from inability to find an expert HosPOS trainer on short notice.
To prevent this issue from recurring, Pesto’s must first solve wait staff confusion. An additional system should be installed to enable the servers receive alerts one at a time. The staff should also be grouped into service zones. Next, Pesto’s should have its own HosPOS trainer who can provide the training services when need arises.
Sincerely,
Restaurant Manager.
Part 8: Evaluate costs and benefits of implementation, and lessons learned
Project Completion Report for the CEO
1. Comparison of Project Implementation versus Plan
Some of the project outcomes match the plan while others do not. Customer satisfaction is the KRA that has recorded the most positive outcomes. The technology has reduced wait time and efficiency of servers so that there is an average of 4 complaints (out of 20) a month, and very few are about delayed service or wait times. Customer complaints have, thus, reduced to 20% in 6 months, and there is a possibility that it will meet the 5% target by the 8th month. The 8% reduction in food costs (from 50% in previous 6 months to 42% now) is also a positive move towards sustainability. Together with the 50% decline in food waste (from 2 to one 660 litre bin a week), the company has higher chances of attaining the goal of exceeding the 10% profit margin. Moreover, there is already 2% increase in sales.
However, implementation of the call system has not resolved the employee retention goal as wait/bar staff still resign (6 out of 8 on average) and are replaced every 6 months. 60% (3 out of 5) of the staff are not satisfied with HosPOS Tableside solution. One said that the technology is not easy to understand and considerable amount of time is required, another thought the training was insufficient, and the other reported work pressure felt when some staff resign as training of the new members takes time. Similarly, another 60% (3 out of 5) of the staff did not like contributing ideas for continuous improvement. The reasons included that they got more work after contributing an idea, believed generating ide was manager’s job, and did not like being forced to create an idea on a monthly basis. Again, overall cost of HosPOS Tableside implementation has increased by $5,874. The planned costs were $85,256 for 24 months but now the projected costs amount to $91,130.
2. Impact of the Initiative on Business Performance in KRAs:
KRAs | Impact of the Initiative |
Customer satisfaction | Reduced service delays, wait time, and increased overall satisfaction. |
Customer retention | Has not decreased wait/bar staff turnover rate, has increased dissatisfaction as it take long to understand, and has increased work pressure through inclusion of continuous improvement process (where staff should contribute a new idea each month) |
Sustainability | Increased sales by 2%, reduced food costs by 8%, and caused 50% decline in food waste generation |
3. Overall Project Success
The HosPOS Tableside implementation project is 66.67% successful. Out of the three KRAs (sustainability, customer satisfaction, and employee retention) only employee retention has not been fully met. 40% of staff (2 out of 5) are satisfied with the initiative but 60% have certain areas of concern.
4. Lessons learned
1. What worked well
Customers successfully learned to use Tableside console to place orders, complete payments, and call servers. They find the technology easy to operative, effective, and efficient. This resulted in decreased complaints and better star rating of Pesto’s on both Zomato and Google Maps reviews.
Restaurant Inventory Management feature also enabled head chef to balance food prices with sales trend and stock level. The result is reduced spending on food ordering, increased sales, and decrease in food wastage.
2. What could be improved
Effectiveness of the training process to enable staff understand the technology and its use immediately the training is over.
Find an executive member that solely specialises in training new staff on HosPOS application to minimise the time taken to offer these services. This should also solve the issue with extra work that other employees deal with when some staff quit and before newly hired ones get trained.
3. Recommendations for future projects
The key result areas of any project are customer satisfaction, staff satisfaction, and sustainability. Each of these areas should be fully covered and the established goals be met because failure to fulfil the objects of any of the KRAs may cause the project to fail.
5. Evaluating the Success of the Continuous Improvement System
1. Strength of the System
It encourages employee creativity and involvement in the development process. Employees’ creative ideas can help a business to grow its competitive advantage through product replacements, proper time allocation, and utilisation of resources in ways that save money.
2. Area for Improvement
Management should explain to the staff the importance of involving them in the continuous development system so they stop seeing this as the manager’s role. Again, the management should invest in promoting creativity without putting pressure on employee to create new ideas. The responsibilities that come with adoption of an idea should as well be distributed evenly to reduce the amount of work assigned to the person whose idea wins.
