"How many dozen should I put in the proofer?" asked Elizabeth, the new baker at the Sands Cafeteria. Rami El-Hussieny was the day shift operations manager, and, unfortunately, he did not know how to answer Elizabeth's question. What she wanted to know was simple enough: How many dozen rolls should be placed in the proofer in anticipation of the night's dinner business? The problem was that the frozen dinner roll dough used at the Sands Cafeteria needed to proof for at least 2 hours prior to being baked for 15 minutes. If too many rolls were proofed, they would never be needed, but they would still have to be baked and made into bread dressing or even tossed out. If too few dozen were proofed and the night was busier than anticipated, they would run out of "Fresh Baked Rolls" (one of the restaurant's signature items), and Rami knew that the night manager would be really upset. It was a daily guess, and sometimes Rami missed the guess! He wondered if a prebaked roll with a shelf life of 3 or 4 days would, despite not having been baked on site, be the best solution to this problem.

1. What do you think is the main cause of Rami's difficulty?

2. Most foodservice managers would agree that fresh baked goods are very high quality and greatly enjoyed by their guests, yet many of these bake few, if any, products on-site. What are two specific reasons why higher-quality, made-on-site items are often not produced? What is the relationship between product quality and product availability in this case study?

3. Which product characteristic do you think is more important from the guest's point of view?