Wentworth Restaurants

Wentworth restaurants currently operate four different restaurants within a three-mile radius of the city centre, open daily they each offering a different food service style under different brand names. These are:

1. The Wentworth a fine dining restaurant of 50 covers that is open for both lunch and dinner. It provides both a fixed and la carte menu for both meal services. Opening hours 1130 2300.
2. The Wentworth Pizza and Pasta an informal pizza and pasta restaurant of 120 covers, open for both lunch and dinner with a limited range offer of pizzas and six pasta dishes with appropriate salad accompaniments. Opening hours 1100 2300
3. The Wentworth Burger Company an up-market burger restaurant offering limited range of burger offers, all hand made on the premises with a range of suitable accompaniments. The restaurant offers a takeaway as well as a dining service and has 40 seats. Opening hours 1100 2300
4. The Wentworth International an all-you-can-eat restaurant offer based on self-service of 40 international dishes. The restaurant has 100 seats. Opening hours 1100 2300. Fixed price 22 per head.

Table 1 shows the average number of covers for each restaurant by time periods.

Table 1- Average Daily Restaurant Covers by Time Periods
Average Covers by time period	The Wentworth	PIzza & Pasta	Burger Company inc Takeaway	International
Max Seats	50	120	40	100
1100-1200	5	25	25	18
1200-1300	35	85	45	47
1300-1400	35	95	85	86
1400-1500	25	80	59	72
1500-1600	0	20	40	26
1600-1700	0	10	18	15
1700-1800	0	15	48	29
1800-1900	15	47	73	78
1900-2000	45	90	52	95
2000-2100	45	85	72	82
2100-2200	30	80	45	72
2200-2300	30	50	35	42
Average Daily Totals	265	682	597	662

Table 2 indicates the average food & beverage spends per head for each restaurant as well as the average percentage of food & beverage costs for each.

Table 2 - Average Customer Spends per Head
Average Spends	Wentworth	Pizza & Pasta	Burger Company	International
Average Spend/Head	72.00	22.00	14.00	26.00
Food & Beverage Costs %	36%	18%	21%	28%

Staffing

The food service staff including managers and supervisors are contracted to work for a maximum of 45 hours per week. The numbers of staff shown in the staffing tables are the number of people currently employed in each restaurant. All staff are on permanent contracts. Three members of staff overall are on part-time or fractional contracts. Although the staff are centrally recruited, they are allocated to specific restaurants according to their skills and experience. The pay scales are related to the skills required and are shown in the staffing table (Table 2-1). The management teams are salaried staff, supervisors and food service staff are hourly paid. Staff on full contracts have an annual entitlement to 4 weeks holiday and are required to work for 10 days out of every 14.

Problem

The owners have become increasingly concerned that not all of the restaurants are performing as well as they could be. Whilst they recruit staff centrally, they leave specific staffing decisions to the management of the different restaurants and they are not convinced that staff are properly and efficiently utilised.

You have been asked to:

1. Identify where changes to existing staff contracts and terms and conditions may be required and the steps that would need to be taken to implement these