1. How should process outcomes and quality be defined at this restaurant?
2. What are the restaurant's costs of process failures?
3. Use some of the tools for process analysis to assess the situation at Jos's.
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please." Ivan Karetski calied his table's order into the kitchen as he prepared their main meal, the waiter abproaches, asks if he can ciear away anyy dishes, the beverage orders. Business was brisk. Karetski liked it that way. Lots of completed, the waiter presents the bill and shorly the entire meal has been customersmeartlotsoftipsand,asastrugglinggraduatestudent,theextraincomewasgreatlyappreciated.Lately,however,histipshadbeendeclining.completed,thewaiterpresentsthebillandshortlythereaftercollectspayment.Josesacceptscashormaiorcreditcardsbutnochecks. of Mexican food prepared and presented in a traditional Mexican style. It is : terms with him. He treats the cook with respect, tries to onlace the on good off-street parking. The restaurant's interior decoration promotes the Mexican theme: The walls appear to be made of adobe and are draped with serapes, the clearly so that the orders are easy to read. Although it is not his job, he helps out by fetching food stocks from the refrigerator or the stome furniture is Spanisi-Mexican siyle, and flamenco guitar and mariachi altemate when the cook is busy and by doing some of the food preparation himself. - the ingredients that have been delivered. Last weck, for examplitis of some of Patrons enter the restaurant through a small vestibule that opens directly intothediningarea;thereisnoseparatewaitingarea.Uponarrival,patronsaregreetedbyahostessandeitherseateddirectlyorapprisedoftheexpectedmeat.Duringpeaktimes,itcantakemorethanmosminutestogetonodmeaslettucethatappearedwiltedandchickenthatwastoughandmorebonethan wait. Seating at Jos's is usually immediate except for Friday and Saturday delivered to the to nights when walts of as long as 45 minutes can be encountered. Because space inside for waiting is very limited, patrons must remain outside untii their ment con party is called. Jos's does niot take reservations. After seating patrons, the hostess distributes menus and fills glasses with water. If standards are being met, the waiter assigned to the table greets the patrons within 1 minute of their being seated. (Being a traditional Mexican restaurant, its entire wait staff is male.) The waiter introduces himself, announces the daily specials, and takes the beverage orders. After delivering the beverages, the waiter takes the meal orders. The menu consists of 23 main entrees assembled from eight basic stocks (chicken, beef, beans, rice, com tortillas, flour torttllas, tomatoes, and lettuce) and a variety of other ingredients (fruits, vegetables, sauces, herbs, and spices). Before the dining hours begin, the cook prepares the basic stocks so thiat they can be quickly combined and finished off to complete the requested meals. The typical amount of time needed to complete a meal once it has accompanying table shows a summary of the responses. As Karetski carried the tray of drinks to the table, he wordered whether several meals may be in preparation at the same time. As can be imagined, one of the skills a good cook needs is to be able to schedule production of the various meals ordered at a table so that they are ready at approximately the same time. Once all the meals and any side dishes have been completed by the cook, the waiter checks to see that ali meals are correct and pleasing to the the recent falloff in tips was due to anything that he could control. eve, corrects any mistakes, and adds any finishing touches. When everything is in order, he assembles them on a tray and delivers them to the tabie. From QUESTIONS 1. How should process outcomes and quality be defined at this restaurant? 2. What are the restaurant's costs of process failures? 3. Use some of the tools for process analysis to assess the situation at service or assistance is needed. Soume: This case was prepared by Larry Meile, Boston College, as a basis for ciassroom discussion. Reprinted by permission
