Operation Management In Sombrero Restaurant

Assessment details: 

Assessment 1: Individual Essay 

Description: 

Students are required to write an essay on one of the following Hospitality Management topic: 

• The Food & Beverage System – Fundamentals 
• The Nature of Food & the Menu 
• Product Flow & Facility Design 
• Procurement, Preparation, and Service 

Feedback: Comments and a mark will be returned to you within two weeks of your  submission. Below is a marking guide which will be used to provide you with your grade and  summary feedback.

Assessment 2: Written Business Report (Group of 2-3 students) 

Description: 

Students are to produce a written Business report and a PowerPoint presentation for the  following case study. 

CASE STUDY  

The 'Sombrero' was originally a 45 cover Mexican restaurant in Dubai, UAE. In the first few  years of operation, business was doing well and the restaurant was featuring in the major  tourist guides and newspapers as a 'must visit' restaurant not only for the great cuisine but  also for the fantastic décor. As the business picked up the restaurant owner decided to  expand, so when the opportunity appeared to acquire the lease of the property next door he  did so and expanded the restaurant to a 130 seater. Things seem to be going well and the  owner was certain that he would get a good return on his investment. However, the original  small team could not cope with the business and the new chefs and servers did not have the  rapport that a small team had. Soon the restaurant was faced with problems of stock control  especially in the back area. Stock would go amiss quite often and wastage level both in food  and beverage had hit an all-time high. Worst of all the management could not identify that  the problem was at the bars or the cellars and had no idea as to how to resolve the issue.  Some suspected theft whilst others felt it was merely bad management. 

They are unaware of exactly how the sales revenue is made up by each component and  what margins they make. They have also not seen the need to introduce any systems for  controlling stock or purchases, relying instead on their own experience, an annual analysis  with their accountant where they look at purchases against revenues. 

A brief look at the accounts figures:  

Food sales: $250,000 Cost of sales: $170,000 

Beverage sales: $130,000 Cost of sales: $70,000 

Outdoor catering: $42,000 Cost of sales: $16,000 

The owner has decided to hire consultants to come up with an effective food and beverage  control system that will help alleviate the problem. In his briefing to you he has suggested  that money is not a problem. 

Your group is to advise the owners on what procedures they should adopt in terms of  purchasing, storage, inventory and generally improving the performance of the business. 

HAT202 – Hospitality and Tourism Management – Trimester 1, 2015 

Prepare a detailed business report of at least 2000 words outlining 

1. What do you think are the key issues or potential problem areas with the restaurant  in terms of food and beverage control? 
2. Procurement process and control systems in the restaurant. 
3. Describe the application of quality control principles.  
4. Design a food and beverage control system that ensures that the problems are  reduced or eliminated.  
5. Using the Hospitality Systems concept describe, evaluate and make  recommendations for improvement taking into consideration the menu, product flow  and facility design. 

Feedback: Comments and a mark will be returned to you within two weeks of your  submission. Below is a marking guide which will be used to provide you with your grade and  summary feedback. 

Assessment 3: Presentation of Report 

Description: Present your findings from the group report in class during tutorial time with the  use of Power point and other appropriate audio/visual support. 

Feedback: Comments and a mark will be returned to you straight after your presentation.  Below is the marking guide, which will be used to provide you with your grade and summary  feedback.

Assessment 4: Final Examination 

Description: The final examination represents 50% of the marks for the subject. The exam  will be closed book covering all material from lectures, tutorials, the textbook and group  discussions. The final examination will include essay type questions and more details will be  provided closer to the exam. 

The time and date of the exam will be advised during the semester. A revision lecture will be  conducted before the exam in Week 12.

INTRODUCTION

A smaller business is always easy to control and usually efficient to run without the need of a sophisticated system in place. But as the business starts to grow, it becomes difficult for an individual or a team to run hospitality based business like a restaurant effectively and efficiently. Even in the case of 'Sombrero- the restaurant', businesses were running exceedingly well when the restaurant was a small 45 seated Mexican food joint. However, as the restaurant was expanded to a 130 seated food destination, inefficiencies started to appear. There was lack of coordination between staff, chefs, and management. Mismanagement in stock keeping also became a serious issue and so on.

FOOD AND BEVERAGE CONTROL- POTENTIAL PROBLEMS

Now as the size of the restaurant increased the number of customers to be attended simultaneously also increased. Though the size of the hotel staff including the chefs and the servers was also increased without any proper management system in place. Now as a result of the lack of proper management system several issues may have aroused in the restaurant (Stehle, 2005). Some of the important is:

• Repeated cooking: Now as there were a number of chefs and the number of customers also increased post the expansion, there could be a lack of coordination and communication between the chefs. Now several dishes can be made from a set of cooked components. Lack of a proper system allowed inefficiency in terms of repeated cooking of the same component without proper knowledge of the availability of the same (Muller, 2012).
• Production Planning: Production planning helps the restaurant to procure stocks without allowing wastages as per the menu. As the restaurant expanded without a proper system, there might be inefficiencies in stock planning and purchases. This might have led to wastages and overproduction.
• Coordination between customers, chefs, and servers: Ineffective coordination and communication between servers, customers and chefs might have led to low service quality, poor delivery, wastages and negative branding. This may also have led to a reduction in profits and overproduction and thus inefficiency (Ford & Heaton, 2001).

Improper Storage: Sudden expansion without an effective management system in place could also have led to improper storage, documentation, and housekeeping. Improper store management could lead to wastage and inefficiency in the day to day operations.