Lance Novak recently acquired Chiefs Loft, a restaurant in an inner-city suburb of Brisbane. Past records show the restaurant has generally experienced quite good customer numbers. While conducting his due diligence and from the first few weeks in the restaurant, a number of issues/concerns have emerged which Lance believes warrant swift action. These concerns include the following.

• While the customer numbers have been as expected, other than by observation there is little data maintained on repeat customers.

• The process for taking orders is still completed manually and there appears to be duplication and double-handling of paper and documentation.

• A number of different suppliers are used, even for similar products. It seems the previous owners would play one supplier off against the other to get better prices.

• The ‘production’ process in the kitchen from taking the order to delivering the meal to the customer seems cumbersome with unnecessary delays.

• The accounting data seems too late to be of much use in managing the restaurant from day to day.

Lance’s brother works in the strategic consulting area and has offered to have a look at the restaurant and make recommendations to improve operations and performance at Chiefs Loft.

Required

Drawing on your understanding of lean accounting and TQM, prepare a report on the recommendations you think Lance’s brother is likely to make.