Scenario

Improving Bistecca's Sales

You are the general manager of an upscale casual restaurant in Fort Myers called Bistecca Grill. Bistecca specializes in affordable but high$-$quality steaks, innovative cocktails, and trendy appetizers. During the pandemic, you adjusted your operations to add family meals for takeout and delivery. There are three Bistecca restaurants in Southwest Florida, all owned by restauranteur Jim Santorini, and they're all doing fairly well.

However, over the past two months, profits have been down in your location, and Jim decides to come down and watch the dining room on a busy Friday night to see what's happening.

Throughout the night, Jim observes patrons and delivery drivers waiting a long time for orders to come out. He notices a few customers complaining that their food is cold or not cooked to their liking. Finally, he notices that the wait staff seem to congregate at the POS $($point of sale$)$ computer and chitchat while they wait to put their orders in$.$

Because Jim has to leave for the Bonita Springs location early the next morning, he can't sit down for a formal meeting with you, but he quickly shares what he observed. Since you're the one who really knows what's happening in the day$-$to$-$day operations, he asks you to write up an informal report. In the report, he wants to know what's causing sales to dip and what you think should be done to correct the problem$($s$).$ He makes it clear he wants two specific and effective long$-$term solutions based on solid information.

Needless to say, you're embarrassed that your restaurant isn't performing better. It's important that you quickly identify the problems, come up with good solutions, and convince Jim that your recommendations will work. You begin by collecting customer reviews posted online in the last two months and analyzing them for patterns. Also, you have a morning meeting with the front of house $(FOH)$ and kitchen staff to get their take on what's causing the delays and mistakes.

Assignment

Review the data and findings on the following pages carefully $--$ the findings, on the last page of these instructions, may be most helpful. Then form your conclusions and recommendations. Think carefully about how you can justify your recommendations based on the findings and what you know about the scenario. The video should be a great help to you in doing so$.$ Also, think about the specific outcomes Jim can expect if he approves your recommendations.

Write a $1-2$ page e$-$mail$/$memo to Jim $($

jsantorini@bistecca.com$)$ that functions as a recommendation report outlining and justifying your two specific recommendations.

Your letter will be graded on correct use of language and overall professionalism as well as the Red, Orange, and Yellow Level Strategies listed on the next page. Please review them before writing and then use them as a checklist for revision.