Todd Lindsey is convinced that there is a need for Aftos Cafe to focus on quality management in order to further enhance its competitive advantage. Examine how benchmarking can be utilized and implemented either the organization to influence quality improvements. Your response should make use of relevant examples and illustrations

With the growth of Afros Cafe-from one pub in Bloemfontein in 1988 to more than 145 restaurants in 60 countries todaycame a corporatewide demand for better forecasting. Afros Cafe uses long-range forecasting in setting a capacity plan and intermediate-term forecasting for locking in contracts for leather goods (used in jackets) and for such food items as beef, chicken, and turkey. Its short-term sales forecasts are conducted each month, by cafe, and then aggregated for a headquarters view. The heart of the sales forecasting system is the point-of-sale (POS) system, which, in effect, captures transaction data on nearly every person who walks through a cafe's door. The sale of each entre represents one customer; the entre sales data are transmitted daily to the Orlando corporate headquarters' database. There, the financial team, headed by Todd Lindsey, begins the forecast process. Lindsey forecasts monthly guest counts, retail sales, banquet sales, and concert sales (if applicable) at each cafe. The general managers of individual cafes tap into the same database to prepare a daily forecast for their sites. A cafe manager pulls up prior years' sales for that day, adding information from the local Chamber of Commerce or Tourist Board on upcoming events such as a major convention, sporting event, or concert in the city where the cafe is located. The daily forecast is further broken into hourly sales, which drives employee scheduling. An hourly forecast of R5,500 in sales translates into 19 workstations, which are further broken down into a specific number of waitstaff, hosts, bartenders, and kitchen staff. Computerized scheduling software plugs in people based on their availability. Variances between forecast and actual sales are then examined to see why errors occurred. Afros Cafe doesn't limit its use of forecasting tools to sales. To evaluate managers and set bonuses, a 3 -year weighted moving average is applied to cafe sales. If cafe general managers exceed their targets, a bonus is computed. Todd Lindsey, at corporate headquarters, applies weights of 40% to the most recent year's sales, 40% to the year before, and 20% to sales 2 years ago in reaching his moving average. An even more sophisticated application of statistics is found in Afros Caf's menu planning. Using multiple regression, managers can compute the impact on demand of other menu items if the price of one item is changed. For example, if the price of a cheeseburger increases from R 7.99 to R8.99, Afros Cafe can predict the effect this will have on sales of chicken sandwiches, vegetarian sandwiches, and salads. Managers do the same analysis on menu placement, with the center section driving higher sales volumes. When an item such as a hamburger is moved off the