Good Food. Long Wait.

Does it have to be?

WRD 204

October 29, 2013

Cory Decker | Peter Guth | Aymee Knight | Timothy Luken | Melissa Shelley | Andrew Witt

Table of Contents

Executive Summary 2

Introduction 3

Methods 5

Findings 8

Application 10

Conclusion 12

References 13

Appendix 14

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Executive SummaryThe University of Kentucky has many options when it comes to eating on campus. Our primary goal for this project was to select one of these locations and study it. We were tasked with looking for patterns and trying to understand what makes a specific restaurant appealing (or unappealing) to prospective customers. University Dining Services provides a wide spectrum of food choices in many different areas on campus but one restaurant in particular caught our eye.

Ovid’s Cafe was intriguing because of its popularity among students despite an inefficient flow of customers in and out of its service area. We had several questions going into this project. Why are the wait times so long? Why are students willing to wait? If food is the reason, which foods are the most popular? Based on the answers from our surveys we were able to gain a better understanding of how this restaurant operates.

It was easy to infer, and backed up by our primary research, that the food at Ovid’s was what kept people coming back despite having to wait. In addition, food prepared on the grill was the most popular. This was the reason why students were willing to wait but the flow-rate could still be faster, right? From our open-ended questions we were able to see that students had many opinions on what would help lower the time spent waiting.

Convenience is key in society today and here at University of Kentucky it is not any different. Most restaurants understand this and if Ovid’s wants to compete, they need to do whatever they can to speed up their service without sacrificing food quality.

From our surveys and outside research we came up with three simple solutions that would help increase Ovids’ flow rate. Our first solution was to organize the waiting area by adding barriers and labels to eliminate confusion when waiting for food. The second solution we came up with was to reorganize the food preparation area. This would allow for more employees to be preparing the more popular foods from the grill which would decrease overall wait time. Lastly, we proposed that employees be better trained and well-rounded in their skill set. By improving training, employees would be able to used the new skills to jump to other food preparation stations when they became busier.

Ovid’s is a great place to eat but unappealing when considering the time spent waiting in line. By implementing our proposed solutions we believe that Ovid’s would benefit greatly. The food quality would remain high and the efficiency would increase drastically, attracting more students more often.

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IntroductionIf there was a one-word definition on the expectation of people in today’s society it would be convenience. Everyone is always busy doing something that they can not take a break from. There is an entire genre of food service called Fast Food. And if going inside to order is not fast enough for you they will hand it to you through the window as you drive by.

While convenience is almost an obvious expectation in most restaurants, we can sometimes compromise if there are other factors that draw us in. A unique ambiance, great food, or attentive employees are just a few examples of reasons we might eat somewhere despite a long wait. With this in mind though there is a threshold that will be reached at which the opportunity cost of waiting in a long line will exceed the benefit of the experience. When this happens, customers will begin to lose interest. Not only do businesses want to keep their customers but the main goal in any business is to work towards expanding their customer base. It is hard enough for businesses to keep what they have, let alone adding to it.

Ovid’s is one of the restaurants that the University of Kentucky has to offer its students and faculty, it is located on the main floor behind William T. Young Library. Ovid’s is good option for college students because of it high quality menu items and its early hours and for those students who pull all-nighters and need a snack. Ovid’s offers a variety of food options including a deli/sandwich area, a fiesta bar, salad area, and a grill area for Panini's, wraps and grilled sandwiches. Ovid’s is also convenient because it offers many payment options for the people who dine there.

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Despite the many offerings of Ovid’s, they suffer from a very inefficient flow-rate. This flow issue is what needs to be addressed for Ovid’s to improve their customer satisfaction as well as functionality of their eatery. According to Andaleeb, Saad, and Caskey (2007) there are significant variables that include atmosphere, responsiveness, as well as cleanliness that go hand and hand with staff behavior, food quality and price that increase customer satisfaction in Cafeterias. Attention to these variables could assist in the flow of students in Ovid’s as well as increased satisfaction of the students who go there.

It is almost expected in any restaurant that if the food is great, the line will be long during peak hours but there are many ways to maximize efficiency. If the restaurant is operating at maximum efficiency then even if the line is long, it will move at a brisk pace, serving customers quickly. By maximizing efficiency, restaurants are indirectly saying to customers, “we respect your time.” In today’s convenience oriented society, that is one of the most valuable phrases a customer will hear that will keep them coming back more often and will grow a customer base very quickly.

In our study of how Ovid’s operates, we discovered that Ovid’s suffers from under-allocation of resources. This means that they have the resources available to increase the flow-rate of their lines but they have not taken the steps to do so for reasons unknown. It is understandable that they are very limited by their location. Stuffed in behind Starbucks on the backside William T. Young library, far away from anything else on campus, Ovid’s has been neglected when it comes to location and real estate. On a positive note, given their popularity, this means that costumers love their food so much that they are willing to seek it out despite how hard it is to find. Knowing that, you would think that Ovid’s would want to do as much as they can to increase efficiency to get more customers coming through their doors.

It is apparent that the food choices at Ovid’s are appealing to customers but the majority of them don not come as often as they could. Ovid’s has the ability to maximize their efficiency and create a place that not only serves great food but treats customers with respect and dignity by making their wait times shorter and overall service a pleasant experience.

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MethodsCollection

Our problem statement dealt with the efficiency of the ordering lines and overall customer satisfaction with Ovid’s Café here on the University of Kentucky Campus. In order to determine these factors, our team arranged primary and secondary research on the subject matter.

Secondary ResearchThe secondary research our team conducted focused mostly on what makes restaurants similar to Ovid’s Café efficient vs. inefficient. There are many resources online that talk about restaurant efficiency seeing as it is a hot topic in our impatient society. Information was also gained from journals that primarily focused on satisfaction of food service in college cafeterias.

A study was done on cafeterias in 2012 to help determine factors that could increase the flow rate and speed of getting people in and out. “Cafeteria managers indicated they did not realize offering large and small meals were considered complex, risky or time consuming” (Vermeer-Steenhuis et al., 2012). Offering a smaller portion in size and having a protocol for the workers to follow has increased the flow rate and decreased the amount of time the customers have to wait on their food. Trying to give very large sizes is more time consuming for the worker, takes longer to cook/make, and overall taking longer for the customers to receive their food.

Another study was conducted a few years ago, allowing us to see that not only is this a problem now, but it has been an ongoing problem that has either not been addressed or has been overlooked as an issue in general. Research was done where the main objectives were to identify the things that influence customer satisfaction in cafeterias. It was determined that variables such as location, food quality and service quality are independent from each other but all work together to create a happy customer. This research included 149 participants for this sample, where service quality was the second most important thing to these customers (Abdullah and Rozario, 2009). There for, to keep a customer happy, you need a great layout as well as worker and a protocol that is time efficient to get good food out quickly.

Service quality is an important factor for cafeterias such as Ovid’s and its affect on customer satisfaction should not be underestimated. If a customer is not satisfied, they will not return. It was found that service was the second most important thing to the people dinning there; this should not be taken lightly and seems to be an ongoing problem in cafeterias today. There are many ways to decrease the waiting time and increase the overall satisfaction.

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Primary ResearchIn order to determine the factors listed in the problem statement, we did primary research in this location in three categories which included:

• Wait time• Cook time• Student’s opinion

Wait Time:

To determine an approximate waiting time spent in line at Ovid’s Café, each primary researcher went through the line themselves and followed the procedure below:

1. Each researcher marked the time they walked past the register and into the main ordering lobby.

2. The researcher then went through the line and ordered a meal.

3. After the researcher had received and paid for their meal, they marked the time again.

4. The elapsed time difference was taken as their particular wait time. 5. Once this procedure was accomplished several times the wait times were averaged in order to gage an

approximate ordering wait time for Ovid’s Café.

Cook Time:

To determine an approximate cook time for the orders placed, the following procedure was carried out:

1. During the ordering process shown above, a stop watch was started at the time the order was placed.2. Once the order was received, the stop watch was stopped. 3. The elapsed time difference was taken as their particular cook time.4. Once this procedure was accomplished several times the cook times were averaged in order to gage an

approximate cook time for Ovid’s Café.

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Student’s Opinion:

In order to determine how students felt about the subject of Ovid’s efficiency and overall satisfaction, a series of 5 survey questions were randomly distributed throughout the eating population. The questions asked were as follows:

1. How often do you choose to eat Ovid’s weekly?2. What is your favorite item to order?3. How would you rate the food at Ovid’s? (scale 1-5) 5 being the best4. How you rate the flow rate of the lines in Ovid’s? (scale 1-5) 5 being the fastest5. What is one thing Ovid’s could change to improve the dining experience?

Methods AnalysisOnce the data was collected, it was then analyzed for any patterns or trends that may exist. Since most of the data our team collected was quantitative, this made the analysis of the data relatively simple. The data was then put into tables and charts for further simplification and easier comparability. The results of our primary research are displayed in the appendix.

The responses for question 5 on the survey were grouped into two categories. The first pertained to the waiting lines and the second pertained to overall quality of service. These were the two major trends we found through our analysis.

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FindingsAccording to the research we did, most people who choose to eat during the lunch rush at Ovid’s generally think the quality of the food was good, with no one rating the food badly.  However, the main issue people would have with Ovid’s is the flow rate or the amount of time waiting in line.  All the customers were adamant to express that the line was generally too slow when asked in the survey.

To better understand the problem most people had with the flow rate we also did our own personal research by seeing how long it took us to get through the entire ordering and paying process. The information we received was quite staggering as the times recorded by all participants averaged out to 18 minutes per experience.

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0

7.5

15

1 2 3 4 5

Food Quality

0

10

20

1 2 3 4 5

Flow Rate

Most people surveyed expressed that they ate at Ovid’s somewhat often and enjoyed the food, but when it came to the idea on how Ovid’s could better improve the dining experience for their patrons they had more than enough ideas.  The majority of customers surveyed expressed the idea of better organization to ensure a better flow of the lines and also to have more people working on more popular items from the grill (as shown by the graph) such as the Spicy Beef Wrap or the Chipotle Chicken Wrap, which coincidentally takes the most time to prepare.  Also people felt that if the workstations were larger they would cut down on the wait time, as one student said to me during a survey, “if they had more room, more people could work and more customers would get out faster and happier.”  Others expressed that the problems with the wait time and flow rate fell on the shoulders of the employees as well, claiming that the employees were not trained properly to prepare orders in a timely manner.

Overall, it can be concluded that most people who eat at Ovid’s generally enjoy the quality of food they are receiving. However, as shown by the chart above, the majority of customers are coming in less than three times per week. The wait time during the peak hours around lunch time restricts customers’ patience and enjoyment of their experience at Ovid’s which deters them from returning more often and consequently generates negative reviews of the establishment.

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Non-Grilled 33%

Grilled67%

Menu Items Ordered

0

4

8

< 1 day Every day

Dining Frequency (per week)

ApplicationWe concluded from our findings that the people enjoy Ovid’s overall. However, during peak hours such as lunch time, the line confusion and extremely drawn-out wait time discourages customers from enjoying their experience at Ovid’s.

Possible Solutions:

Organize Waiting Area

A suggestion for an area for Ovid’s on focus on to ensure better quality experiences during these times would be better organization of the lines.  If they can make more prominent lines it would not only help the workers differentiate between those customers who have been served and those who have not, but also help the customers find the correct line and not having to ask their peers what they are waiting for.  This could be as easy as using stanchions to clearly separate the queues and guide the customers through the line. In addition, signs or labels could be installed atop the stanchion poles to designate which line leads to each ordering station. By eliminating line confusion and giving customers a clear path to follow, wait time will decrease and customer satisfaction will increase. Using this simple solution will make for a faster and overall, better experience.

Reorganize Food Preparation Area

Another way Ovid’s could increase the flow-rate would be to have more workers and more space to work.  Considering that employees need to be able to work effectively with appropriate space given their task, the amount of space that could be added is limited. One suggestion, given this limitation is that tasks be better delegated by management and that space for food preparation is reallocated to take into account which foods are the most popular. For example, because the most popular foods are from the grill, perhaps more grill space should be installed and consequently more employees taken off of less popular food stations and tasked with grilling instead. This makes even more sense when you consider the fact that grilled foods also take the longest to prepare. While doing this will also negatively affect the wait time for other foods, the overall customer flow-rate will improve because of the popularity of the grilled foods. While there is room for expansion overall it would seem more plausible to reallocate and better manage the space they are in so that wait time will decrease.

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Employee Training

A final suggestion would be to train employees more and prepare them more for the task given to them.  If employees are not prepared or trained well enough to do the job it slows down the rate at which that employee and possibly other employees work and it also lowers the quality of product given to the customer. To increase speed of service overall it would also benefit Ovid’s to train every employee to do every task so that when one station has no customers that employee can subsequently move to a busier station. Working in a restaurant is a team effort and employees must be trained well enough to be up to any task put in front of them.

Applications AnalysisThese three solutions were easy conclusions to come to based on our observations. It is hard to understand why Ovid’s has not already taken action to accommodate customer’s demands. With any or all of these solutions, Ovid’s would be able to increase their flow-rate during peak hours and help ensure a better quality experience for the customers who choose to eat there. In addition to improving customer experience Ovid’s would receive more business and higher profits as a direct result of tending to customer’s requests.

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Conclusion The primary research on Ovid’s that was preformed covered three main areas, wait time, cook time and the opinion of the students who go there. Each researcher followed a method, which allowed each person to collect data in the same manner and achieve accurate results. To gain customer opinions, a questionnaire was developed and given to those who eat at Ovid’s.

In this research we were able to hear and observe firsthand how the student body felt about Ovids’ food quality, wait time, and overall customer satisfaction. We found that most of the students were not happy with how long they have to wait in line for their meal. They do however, like the food enough to keep coming back.

Three of our group members distributed short, five-question surveys at Ovid’s during their peak hours (between 12:30 pm and 1:30 pm) during lunch. From our qualitative questions, several ideas were presented to us that would improve the overall experience at Ovid’s. Some of these ideas included: having more employees working, creating larger food service stations to accommodate more workers, better organization, and opening more registers. Students were also asked what their favorite menu items were and these results correlated with some of their presented solutions. We found that the majority of customers order food from the grill. This supports the idea that an increase in size of the grill area would cut back on wait times.

From quantitative data collected, we see that even though the flow-rate is bad, most people rate the food very highly and still choose to eat there fairly consistently. We also see that the wait time is pretty consistent whenever you eat between 12:30 and 1:30 (16 minutes give or take four minutes). We did notice however, that most of the time spent waiting is the amount of time that it takes for the servers to take your order, not to cook your food. With this in mind though, cooking food faster would contribute to a decrease in time spent waiting to order.

From our surveys we were able to devise a few plausible solutions that would help Ovid’s with their problem. These solutions included more organization in the waiting area, reallocation of employees in the food preparation areas, and employee training. Although the customers survey also mentioned adding more registers, we concluded that this solution would not be as plausible because of the lack of overall space and the consideration that the waiting time at Ovid’s is primarily spent before receiving your food.

Overall Ovid’s a great place to go relax and eat with your friend. Those who go to Ovid’s believe the food excellent and would recommend it, if you have the patience to wait. Even with Ovid’s long wait time, we find that it is still popular among the University of Kentucky student population. With a few simple corrections to their service model, the excellent food at Ovid’s would not only be served to existing customers faster, but also appeal to an even larger body of students on campus.

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ReferencesAndaleeb, Syed Saad, and Amy Caskey. 2007. "Satisfaction with Food Services:Insights from a College Cafeteria." Journal Of Foodservice Business Research 10, no. 2: 51-65. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed October 15, 2013).

Abdullah, D., & Rozario, F. (2009). Influence of Service and Product Quality towards Customer Satisfaction: A Case Study at the Staff Cafeteria in the Hotel Industry. Proceedings Of World Academy Of Science: Engineering & Technology, 53185-190

Vermeer, W. M., Leeuwis, F. H., Koprulu, S. S., Zouitni, O. O., Seidell, J. C., & Steenhuis, I. M. (2012). The process evaluation of two interventions aimed at portion size in worksite cafeterias. Journal Of Human Nutrition & Dietetics, 25(2), 180-188. doi:10.1111/j.1365-277X.2011.01219.x

University of Kentucky: Dining Services- http://www.uky.edu/DiningServices/voids

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AppendixSurvey and Observation Results

Personal Order Analysis:

Andrew:

My choice: Philly cheese subMy wait time: 17 minutesMy cook time: 2 min. 25 sec.

Friend’s choice: Spicy Beef WrapFriend’s wait time: 19 minutesFriend’s cook: 4 min. 22 sec.

Tim:

My choice: Tuna Salad WrapWait time:   12 minutesCook time: 3 minutes 14 seconds

Friends choice:   Italian PretzelFriends wait time: 15 minutesFriends cook time:   5 minutes 35 seconds

Cory:

My choice: Boom Boom ItalianMy wait time: 10 minutesMy cook time: 4 min. 37 sec.

Friend’s choice: Chipotle Chicken WrapFriend’s wait time: 13 minutesFriend’s cook: 3 min. 32 sec.

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Survey question’s asked to 10 students at different tables:

1. How often do you eat at Ovid’s weekly?

< 1 day: 61 day: 82 days: 53 days: 34 days: 35 days: 36 days: 0Every day: 2

2. What is your favorite item to order?

Spicy Beef Wrap: 9Italian pretzel: 5Salad: 4Chipotle Chicken Wrap: 6Grilled Chicken Sandwich: 3Wraps: 2Burrito: 1

Grilled: 20 Non-Grilled: 10

3. How would you rate the food at Ovid’s? (scale 1-5, 5 being the best)

Great (5): 6Good (4): 15Mediocre (3): 7Bad (2): 2Horrible (1): 0

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4. How you rate the flow rate of the lines in Ovid’s? (scale 1-5, 5 being the fastest)

Very fast (5): 0Moderately fast (4): 0Average (3): 4Moderately slow (2): 17Very slow (1): 9

5. What is one thing Ovid’s could change to improve your dining experience?

Wait Time -• More uniformity to the lines so it isn’t a mad house during peak hours.• Better lines and faster.• Faster lines, improved quality, and more variety.• Demarcated lines.• Line speed.• Devote more space to busier lines, or help the flow of customers. Especially in the two grill lines.• More organized lines.• ave more cooks per station.• More ways to decipher through the lines so you are not confused on which is which.• Faster moving lines• More employees working• More organization• Make stations larger so more employees can work• Train employees to improve speed of cooking (wrap stations)• Line pace• Have more registers open

Quality of Service -• More variety in choices, and less greasy options.• Teach their employees how to make good wraps.• Better employees• Teach employees better skills

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