Skyline Chili Restaurant Read the case and answer the questions that follow. Opening any kind of business requires a great deal of patience, dedication, and perseverance. Lynn Leach jumped into the world of restaurants with both feet when she decided to open her own quick service restaurant. Truthfully, the industry is filled with stories of people who dove in, got knocked down, but pulled themselves back up (Dempsey 2011). In the small town of Wilmington, Ohio, Lynn opened a Skyline Chili franchise. The town of 12,000 people has embraced the location and Lynn's friendly business practices built upon strong customer service and delicious offerings. Recently, Lynn celebrated the restaurant's one-year anniversary. But getting started was no easy task. "I hadn't worked in a restaurant since high school and here I was, opening a restaurant," she said (Leach 2012). Skyline Chili is a Southern Ohio-based restaurant chain that serves "Cincinnati style" chili. This rather unique blend of chili and seasonings is typically served over spaghetti and hot dogs and is a favorite in the Midwest. With over 100 stores, Lynn's franchise is somewhat typical of their small town locations. Lynn calls her foray into the restaurant business as a "great learning experience." Fortunately, she had a lot of support from Skyline's corporate office. But, much of what needed to be done was driven by her. "My ultimate goal," she said, "is to help people and make them feel good-people's careers, our customers, and the community." First, she had to determine just how many employees she would need before ever opening the doors. "We did scores of interviews," she said, "and hired some really good people." However, she discovered during her first year of business that some who may have interviewed well were not necessarily the best employees. After turning over about half the staff, she now feels she has the right people in place, but every employee must be properly trained. They have to learn the menu, how to properly greet and serve the guest, handle their transaction at the cash register, and keep the entire restaurant fastidiously clean. In addition to hiring, she had to plan the marketing for the grand opening and order the initial inventory for the restaurant. "All this took a great deal of planning," she said. "From a to z, we thought things through and how best to get them done." Once the operation was up and running, Lynn had to pay attention to her costs as well as her staff. From a cost standpoint, she discovered that there were some very efficient steps the restaurant could take to contain expenses. One idea implemented was to stop serving half-pint cartons of milk to children. It was found that more than half the carton would be wasted and thrown away. However, by serving a small amount in a glass, the restaurant wasted very little. To keep tabs on all the raw ingredients, Lynn conducts an inventory every Monday-literally counting every hot dog bun, cheese, chili, onions, etc. "It's painstaking work, but highly necessary so we know what we have and what we don't," she said. "The Monday inventory is how we know what we need to order and when we need it." Lynn is not alone in her approach. Successful restaurateurs understand that counting food costs down to the penny is critical. Restaurants should look at every shift of operation with a before, during, and after approach to not only monitor inventory costs, but also identify important best practices throughout the facility (Sullivan 2011). For her team of servers, cooks, and cleaners, Lynn believes in creating a fun, yet productive atmosphere. "Positive feedback is important," she said. "I'm not going to yell at an employee in front of everyone." Instead, she counsels employees when performance is not up to par or the quality of work is suffering. "We do role-plays," she said, "where we ask each other how you would like to be treated if you were the customer." These role-plays demonstrate the proper way to engage with customers and provide a safe training ground to fine-tune the servers skills. For those employees who go above and beyond with their service-whether to customers or to coworkers Lynn provides a gift card. "When an employee goes out of her way to serve the customer," she said, "they should be rewarded." Everyone at Skyline Chili chips in where needed. There are always tasks that need to be done, and assigning those tasks are handled a number of different ways. Sometimes workers are scheduled to take on certain assignments, but in some cases, there might be an opportunity to trade tasks. "We sometimes have a lottery," Lynn stated, "where some of the least popular tasks like cleaning the bathroom are drawn in lottery fashion." Occasionally, the team will play a game where servers can assign tasks to each other-realizing that if one employee gives a difficult task to another, that employee may also get a least favorite job to do, too. Now that Lynn's first year of business is behind her, she can say with certainty that it has indeed been a learning experience. I have to touch every facet of this business," she said, "and you know what, I love it! Question 1: (1.5 Marks) (52) How Lynn managed to establisher and initiate her business making it a successful organization using key managerial functions? Note: Explain your answer in detail in not less than 300 words and support it with examples from the case Question 2: (1.5 Marks) (52) Determine which of Katz's managerial skills does Lynn seem to use most often? What implications does this have from a management point of view? How could she further expand on her managerial roles to cope with the demands of being a manger for a franchise organization? Note: Your answer should be provided in detail in not less than 300 words and support it with examples from the case Question 3: (2 Marks) - C1 Reflect on the use of organizational resources in the franchised restaurant industry. What challenges would a restaurant manager or owner face with each one? What might be the biggest challenge that is facing Lyne as a manager? What ways could you suggest to overcome the challenge? Note: Your answer should be provided in detail in not less than 300 words