Principles of the lean management as an appropriate way of optimization in a café

Using of principles of the lean management in optimization of the work of a café or a restaurant can be a useful strategy of business development. Optimization of business processes concerning preparation of food and serving of customers can make your business more profitable.

Typical problems which require optimization of personnel work

Optimization of business processes of a café should be started from weak points of the business. These points can be cooperation of employees of the kitchen and the hall, the speed of dishes preparation and dish washing.

Problem: cooperation of employees of the kitchen and the hall of a café

Very often waiters complain that cooks make orders slowly and customers have to wait for them. But cooks also complain that waiters disturb them. The reason of the problem is the following: waiters don’t know when a dish will be ready.

Solution

In order to fix the problem, some restaurants or cafes use special electronic wi-fi pagers and buttons for cooks who send a signal to a waiter if a dish is ready.

After such way of business process optimization, complaints end up from both sides.  The number of negative feedbacks concerning slow service lowers.

Problem: speed of dishes preparation

Random sequence of order preparation can be a reason of customers’ discontent, as some of them get a hot dish when it is actually cold, or, on the contrary, have to wait for a dish.

Solution

Business process optimization by means of automation can help in this situation. Restaurants or cafes can implement a program which provides a prioritization of dishes preparation automatically. Waiters just enter dishes and the sequence of their serving. The program processes this information and cooks get a correct sequence of dishes preparation.

Problem: dish washing

Every café or a restaurant has some rush hours when the occupancy rate is maximal. And there is not enough dishwashers to cope with the volume of work. That’s why during rush hours some cafes wash dishes manually.

Solution

This problem can be solved only by means of automation and optimization of business processes. The best way is to change a dishwasher to more effective one. Then, during rush hours waiters should collect dirty dishes from all the tables, not only from those which they serve. This speeds up the process of dishwasher loading and, consequently, you can get clean dishes quicker.

Optimization of the work of personnel: how to teach employees to work more effectively

Implementation of check lists for employees gives an opportunity to check the situation. It helps to assess effectiveness of an employee or of the whole system. Optimization of business processes concerning the work of personnel is one of the most difficult as you need to teach employees to work more effectively.

In order to optimize personnel work, you need:

1. To make instructions for employees;
2. To explain employees how to work;
3. To control their work performance.