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How can one buffet turn its tables in 40 minutes, while another needs 90? A computer model can show where the holdups are and evaluate potential changes.
Every restaurant seeks profitably to achieve a high level of customer satisfaction. Managers frequently come across problems in service procedures or restaurant design, however, that interfere with this goal. Rather than use trial and error in actual operations, managers might better use simulation to detect the source of such difficulties and evaluate possible solutions.
In this paper we demonstrate the usefulness and ease of computer simulation for identifying problem areas in the operation of buffet restaurants and to test various scenarios to rectify those situations. To do so, we have studied, modeled, and compared the results of two distinctive approaches to buffet food service. Since both are high-volume restaurants, small changes in service or design can lead to significant changes in productivity, profitability, and customer satisfaction. Using a simulation, a manager can model and evaluate proposed changes prior to implementation without as much risk of potentially alienating customers or accidentally increasing costs.
Examining Buffet Operations
Buffet restaurants have become popular in the United States, despite the operational challenges that they present.1 Chains and independent operators have jumped into this segment, which is particularly common in the southeastern United States. (Examples of such chains are Pizza Inn, Quincy's, Ryan's Family Restaurants, and Southern Suppers.)
The essential characteristic of a buffet is that customers pay a single price and eat as much food as they wish. From this point, buffet operations diverge into two distinctive approaches based on when the guests pay the bill. "Front-loaded" buffets, a category that comprises most chains, require the guest to pay before being seated. Many independent restaurants on the other hand, use the opposite, "back-loaded" approach. Other variations in buffet operations seem to flow from this division.
In front-loaded operations the customer queues to receive a beverage, place an order for the buffet or a la carte menu items, and pay the cashier before being seated. Servers act primarily as expediters. In the back-loaded operations, guests are seated first, and then servers generally take drink and menu orders, deliver those requested items, and deliver and settle the check.
We surmise that back-loaded...