We, as consumers, have become quite spoiled by the food service industry catering to our desire to get our meals exactly the way we want them. Many counter service or "fast casual" restaurant chains like Subway, Chipotle, Five Guys, Yogurtland, Shake Shack, and Zoe's Kitchen are making our meals to order (or allowing us to do so in the case of some of the yogurt restaurants) while we wait. In this type of business model, food is generally less processed and sometimes locally sourced. Because the food is fresher, fast casuals charge more for mealsaveraging $7-15 per meal. What these restaurants do save money on is laborthey have no wait staff or hosts/hostesses. As a result, from an accounting perspective, the costs incurred for the raw materials inventory could likely be among the higher expenditures the restaurant would have every month.

Using what you know about how these types of restaurants operate (menu offerings and add-ons, service model, etc.) and what you have learned about job-order costing and process order costing, please identify which costing system you would implement if you owned one of these types of "made to order" restaurants. What would be some of the considerations you would use to make your decision? Include at least one challenge you would need to overcome from implementing the system you chose.