Hometown_Deli_Business_Process

Situation Hometown Deli is creating a strategic plan to grow its business in an increasingly competitive market. With many businesses offering similar dishes and similar prices, small differences can mean the difference between success and failure. After Hometown Deli evaluated its marketing plan, owners realized that they need to bolster its strengths in order to expand its customer base and remain a dominate player. Critical to the success of the business is outstanding service, quality food, skilled and personable staff, and superior business operating systems. Solution Hometown Deli will implement the Point of Sales for operating system to enhance productivity and track items and purchases. The Point of Sales system (POS) will improve the business by simplifying order management, automating of the kitchen processes, keeping inventory control, establishing customer loyalty programs -- gift cards, track sales, in-house accounts -- and keeping a current tally of accounts receivables. The POS Process Menu Ordering The POS system provides different menu categories, such as appetizers, entrees, and desserts that cater to most diners’ preferences. It allows for modifying menu items, so servers can be prompted with choices of dish sizes small, medium or large -- and with instructions on whether the diners’ preferences on how entrees are prepared, such as rare, medium and well done. These choices streamline order placement and ensures the food preparers know the customer preferences. POS also makes creating sub-menus and seasonal menus and can be configured to include different choices based on dates and times. It is operated by entering the order at any point of sale terminal on an automated device to Blackberry or similar PDA. Once orders, all customer preferences are routed to the kitchen for preparation. The system increases the efficiency of the staff by eliminating the need to carry handwritten orders back to the kitchen. A clearly printed kitchen ticket eliminates the waste of time caused by mistaken orders. Also, having no handwriting to interpret which helps ensure the meal will be prepared correctly the first time around. A side benefit is the reduction of theft. The automated system keeps up-to-the-minute accounts of all order and food preparation, severely limiting the possibility that food maybe stolen by dishonest employees. Additionally, the POS system keeps an accurate inventory, which improves the efficiency of operating and overseeing the food ordering system. The POS system sends each item to the kitchen as soon it is ordered. This real time sends increases throughput, allowing kitchen staff to start preparing orders efficiently and sequentially. The POS screen configures with different colors for different menu items and order destination such as to eat-in, to go, or delivery. An on-screen timer tells how long the order has been placed in the queue, and when the customer should get his meal. The order background color will automatically change the longer it is in the queue. Upon completion, a staff member can bump the order off the queue by pushing the box number of the order on the bump bar. The screen provides the summary button to generate a list summing up the total quantity of all items in the queue. It has the ability to manage pull-ahead orders in drive-thru operations, where the customer’s order will take longer than usual. The system has the progress information for staff in the kitchen to read orders off the same monitor. The POS system eliminates the chance of getting confused about their table or customer responsibilities, saving time and lowering waste. Finance The POS system helps ease credit cards payment. Server staffs need simply to swipe the credit card on the transaction screen, triggering the payment along with a printed receipt. The system can be configured to accept overpayment by credit card such as for tips. POS also accept on account payments. Customer records can be created at any point-of-sales terminal and allow it to create a tab for a customer to be billed later. This is used frequently for catering and deliveries for corporate clients. Customer loyalty The POS system helps to maintain the customer base and attract new ones with features like gift cards and coupons. With gift cards, a customer can prepay for future purchases for themselves or give them as gifts to friends and family Coupons are an effective way of getting customers to return. POS can add an enticing message to the bottom of the receipt saying “10% off your next purchase" or "20% off next Tuesday". These types of messages will create customer loyalty. Staffing The POS system provides extensive employee tracking, such as hours and wages with a built in time clock and with other features such as job codes. Job codes are used to set up many different types of responsibilities for any particular employee. For example, an employee may be a waiter one day and a cashier the next. Alternatively, operate the grill one day and a cold food station the next. With job codes, POS can assign different wages and jobs for each employee. Reporting POS can provide a report for sales figures, item mix, server performance, exceptions reporting, best sellers, inventory levels, most popular customers, and hourly performance statistics. It also keeps monitors recipes and ingredient tracking are useful tools to help save money. The basic form of recipes is entering what ingredients are used each time the deli sells a menu item. Shopping lists can be generated from the reporting screen that summarizes the ingredients used between a date ranges. This list will give a solid idea of what to buy in future food orders, helping reduce overbuying and costs. It can also inventory some or all of menu items and compare actual versus usage to spot theft and waste.