...Abstract The fast food industry mostly known as a quick service industry, is constantly growing at a rapid pace in hopes of keeping up with the demands of the market. As the routines of families and single family households have become more and more chaotic, they are looking for quick meals as a substitute for dining out and cooking at home. Due to such craze, fast food restaurants such as Taco Bell, have gained a top position in the industry where customers can have a hot quick meal in a flash or we may say less than five minutes. A case study is done by a reporter who became a Taco Bell employee for a few hours so that he could analyze the queueing model on how customer order processing was done at Taco Bell. The process will review the drive-thru process as well as the process when a customer places an order inside. The purpose of this paper is to analyze, discuss and make suggestions on how Taco Bell can improve its present and future position in the Quick Service restaurant industry. Not only today has Taco Bell been focusing on quick service but ever since “1988, Taco Bell introduced six core-menu items for the reduced price of 59 cents and offered free drink refills. Taco Bell has since continued to change and innovate. Its new strategy meant restructuring the business to become more efficient and cost-effective. To do this, the company relied on an integrated set of operations, research models, including forecasting to predict customer arrivals, simulation...
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...wanted it by speaking directly to the employees that prepared the food and were assembling the order behind the counter. The Commitment to” Food With Integrity”-Use organically grown local produce, organic beans, organic dairy products, and meats from the animal that were raised in accordance with animal welfare standards and were never given feeds containing antibiotics and growth hormones to speed weight gain. Supply Chain Management Practices-the company developed long term relationship with a number of reputable food industry suppliers that could provide high quality, fresh ingredients, and other products that meet Chipotle expectations. Chipotle utilized the services of 22 independently owned and operated regional distribution centers to purchase and deliver ingredients and other supplies to Chipotle restaurants. Chipotle personnel diligently monitored industry news, trade issues, weather, exchange rates, foreign demand, crises, and other world events so as to better anticipate potential impacts on ingredient prices. Quality Assurance & Food Safety-Chipotle had a quality assurance department that established and monitored quality and food safety throughout the company supply chain and all the way through the serving line at...
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...Paris in 1765, the first was restaurant started by Boulanger. In the beginning, in his tavern, he served the soups which called restorante and later he opened the restaurant named Le Champ d’Oiseau. After the French revolution, in 1794, the French refugee, Jean-Baptiste Gilbert Paypalt, brought the word restaurant to the United States. Paypalt set up the first French restaurant in Boston where served the truffles, cheese fondues and soups. However, this French restaurant was influenced to Delmonico. He decided to open his family-operated restaurants where later counted as American restaurant. Delmonico also is the originator of menu in both French and English with a variety of food and soups. The pattern of eating outside in the restaurant is being more and more attract to the city people especially in rich and famous groups of people. In 1919, there is the public restaurant around 42,600 in the United States. Beside of the food, those restaurants also serve the wine, liquor, cake and ice cream as well. In 1925, the first ice cream franchise was established by Howard Johnson. He opened the first store of ice cream parlor and later persuaded his friend to sell the ice cream called Howard Johnson’s ice cream. However, the first colorful franchise story is the famous Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC). Colonel Harland Sanders, at his age 65 years old, founded the small restaurant or motel and provided the cooking chicken to his guests. This restaurant can call as the first generation...
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...in the world and is currently the second largest economy in the world measured by the Purchasing Power Parity Scale. This scale shows that a product in two different countries should have the same price when expressed at the same currency. With China’s size and increasing economy they have really worked to open their economy to international trade. This opens up the market for companies to try and enter and become successful. (Economy, 2010). Companies like KFC and McDonalds saw they opportunity and began to enter the Chinese market. These bolds moves paid off for some and not so much for others. Throughout the analysis we will see who the real winner is and what the future holds for these industries. QUICK-SERVICE INDUSTRY Both KFC and McDonalds are part of the quick-service industry. Many people know this industry as fast food but this is the correct name for it. This industry has been around for years and is currently a mature industry. That means that the means of the industry is understood by everyone and there is no new technology entering the industry. The rate of innovation in new products and technology is low meaning that you have to set yourself apart other ways. Over the years these companies have done many things to try and differentiate themselves but whatever they do can only last for...
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...of fast food restaurants because of cardiovascular, and cholesterol issue and obesity among young children. Governments have also controlled the number of licenses issued to new fast food restaurants which creates a barrier of entry to potential entrants to the business. Furthermore, a good relationship with the government allows Mcdonalds to function better in the industry. It also gives both sides mutual benefits such as employment and tax which is necessary to serve in any foreign market. According...
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...Strategy Report for Yum! Brands Deirdre Chew Karen Bonner Mitchell Amsler April 14, 2010 Yum! Brands Table of Contents Executive Summary ...................................................................................................... 3 Company Overview ....................................................................................................... 4 History ......................................................................................................................... 4 Business Model ........................................................................................................... 5 Competitive Analysis .................................................................................................... 6 Supplier Power ............................................................................................................ 9 Buyer Power ................................................................................................................ 9 Entry and Exit ............................................................................................................ 10 Substitutes and Complements ................................................................................... 11 SWOT ........................................................................................................................... 12 Strengths .............................................................................................................
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...Which Elements are Important to Customers in Fast Food Restaurants: Food quality, Time, and Price. Introduction A phenomenon anyone can easily observe is that people eat more meals outside their home than before(Kara, Kaynak, & Kucukemiroglu, 1997), and fast-food has increasingly become popular over the past decades (Pereira et al., 2005). When people are short of time, sick and tired of preparing for meals at home, or hatred to waiting, they willingly go out and eat meals. According to some authors (French, Story, Neumark-Sztainer, Fulkerson, & Hannan, 2001), between 1977 and 1995 the fast-food industry had experienced 200% rapid growth whereas other restaurant industry had been grown only by 150%. Adolescents visit a fast food restaurant more than twice every week on average, indicating that out of at least two-and-a-half of the away-from-home meals are eaten by them, and this trend is expected to continue in the future (French, et al., 2001). According to Namkung and Jang (2007), the very first objective of business is to satisfy customers, and in turn, have them repurchase. Food quality is one of the most important reasons that we repeatedly patronize a certain restaurant because after all is said and done, the fundamental reason of going to restaurants is to have meals. Therefore, food quality has received by far more attention from researchers than any other elements of restaurants (Jang, Ha, & Silkes, 2009), and their efforts have been continued on...
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...regarded as the leading publicly traded restaurant chain in Canada. Not only is it Canada's leading quick-service restaurant brand but also the fourth largest publicly traded restaurant chain in North America based on market capitalization. They have the number one market share in breakfast and snacking day parts and a solid number two share in the lunch day part in Canada (1). However, Tim Hortons needs to pay more attention towards their growth and development into U.S. and other markets worldwide in order to become a true spearhead in their industry. Moreover, they can lessen the risks related with expansion by engaging in partnerships with other successful firms. Analysis/Rationale Although, as mentioned above, Tim Hortons is possibly the leading publicly traded restaurant chain in Canada, it enjoys its success due to its inhabitation of a much smaller market in comparison to markets in U.S., India, and China. To be the best of the lot, Tim Hortons cannot exclusively depend on a single market. In this day and age, there are solid opportunities for them to become the world’s best, through new emerging markets with high probability for huge profits. There are increasing trends of coffee drinkers in China and India, two countries with enormous fondness for Western style drinks and meals and Tim Horton's expansion in those countries will play to their advantage. That is the main reason why McDonalds, the equivalent quick service restaurant industry to Tim Hortons, is earning massive...
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...marks for food, value and speed of service. When founder and Chief Executive Officer, S. Truett Cathy, founded his first restaurant in 1946 oddly named Dwarf Grill, in Hapeville Georgia, he never thought that he will be involved with constructing the second largest quick-service chicken restaurant chain in the United States, with over 1,700 locations in 39 states and Washington, D.C. In 2012, annual sales were well over $4.6 billion. Not too shabby for a company that since its inception in 1946 closes its doors each and every Sunday faithfully . The key players of this restaurant chain or the executive committee consist of S. Truett Cathy, the Chairman, Founder, and Chief Executive Officer. Cathy built his life and business based on hard work, humility and biblical principles. In his 2002 book, “Eat Mor Chikin: Inspire More People”, he said, “Nearly every moment of every day we have the opportunity to give something to some else-our time, our love, our resources.” With these Truett Cathy has built Chik-fil-A as the second-largest quick-service chicken restaurant chain in the United States based on annual sales. Dan T. Cathy, (son of founder) President and Chief Operative Officer simply describes his position as, “working in customer service.” Rather than leading from the corporate headquarters in Atlanta, Dan chooses to spend the majority of his time traveling to the chain’s growing restaurants and interacting with restaurant operators and team members. Several...
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...coffee beans and etc. by themselves, most restaurants within the industry get their food from various farmers, butchers, packaging companies and partners. There are thousands of suppliers for restaurants to choose from and they can select their suppliers through the competitive bidding market. It will determine the cost of their products. Restaurants also tend to build long-term and trusty relationships with its suppliers, which makes bargaining power of suppliers weak to some extent. For example, McDonald’s has cooperated with some suppliers for more than 25 years. As a result, this force is typically weak in the fast food industry. Bargaining Power of Customers—low Although customer switching costs to regular restaurants are almost zero, the fast food industry in the U.S.A. does not worry too much about its customer volume, frequency and loyalty. First, the nature of the fast food industry attracts customers for its fast service, standardized taste and quality of food and low price. Second, the United States has the largest fast food industry in the world. Over 25 percent of Americans consume fast food every day. This volume of customers keeps customer bargaining power low. Threat of Substitutes—high Consumers are almost free to choose where to eat, so switching costs are nearly zero when they choose either to dine in some substitutes or even eat at home. In the quick service food industry, there are so many firms and restaurants with similar products, more options and...
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...Industry Conditions While a difficult economy has caused most consumers to spend less, the market for quick-service restaurants, has experienced slow growth recently (Standard and Poor’s, 2012). The increase in traffic from those switching from higher priced restaurants to quick-service restaurants has been balanced by the number of individuals who opt to eat at home to decrease their costs of eating out. Further, costs for quick-service restaurants have increased. According to Standard and Poor’s (2012), increases in food and paper costs this past year, have resulted in lower operating margins as restaurants are assuming the costs rather than increasing the cost of food for consumers. According to Jim Yin (n.d.), CFA, “Year to date through February 17, the S&P Restaurants Index was up 4.4% versus an 8.7% increase for the S&P 1500 Index. In 2011, the sub-industry index outperformed the 1500, with a gain of 27.9% versus a 0.3% decline.” Financial Position of McDonald’s Corporation (MCD) McDonald’s Corporation (MCD) is the leader in global foodservice retail with more than 33,000 restaurants worldwide and 1.7 million employees in 119 countries (“McDonald’s Corporation”, 2012). Approximately 68 million people eat at McDonald’s each day (“McDonald’s Corporation”, 2012). With international growth and globalization on the rise for many quick service restaurants, such as Starbucks and Yum!, McDonald’s Corporation has also taken advantage of worldwide global growth. McDonald’s...
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...Service Quality in a Chain-operated Steakhouse Allan Yen-Lun Su, Ph.D. E-mail: allansu@cc.nkhc.edu.tw Department of Baking Technlogy and Management, Kaohsiung Hospitality College Abstract This study attempts to measure customers’ perceptions of service quality in a chain-operated steakhouse using a modified version of the DINESERV instrument (Stevens, Knuston, and Patton, 1995). All five dimensions of service quality, being tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy, will be used. The questionnaire survey will be conducted on a two-week period during lunch and dinnertime at all 14 steakhouse restaurants. All customers who come to restaurants for lunch and dinner during the two-week research period will be asked to complete the questionnaires. The Cronboch Coefficient Alpha will be used to test the construct reliability. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) will be used to determine the differences of customers’ perceived service quality for five dimensions between two meals and different groups of loyalty. In addition, correlation analysis will be used to determine the relationship between customers’ perceived service quality and customers’ characteristics such as gender, marital status, age, and reasons for dining. The results of this study will asssist restaurant management to assess the service quality provided to its patrons. Results of this study will also help restaurant management establish a total quality management (TQM) program to improve overall...
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...Service Quality in a Chain-operated Steakhouse Allan Yen-Lun Su, Ph.D. E-mail: allansu@cc.nkhc.edu.tw Department of Baking Technlogy and Management, Kaohsiung Hospitality College Abstract This study attempts to measure customers’ perceptions of service quality in a chain-operated steakhouse using a modified version of the DINESERV instrument (Stevens, Knuston, and Patton, 1995). All five dimensions of service quality, being tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy, will be used. The questionnaire survey will be conducted on a two-week period during lunch and dinnertime at all 14 steakhouse restaurants. All customers who come to restaurants for lunch and dinner during the two-week research period will be asked to complete the questionnaires. The Cronboch Coefficient Alpha will be used to test the construct reliability. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) will be used to determine the differences of customers’ perceived service quality for five dimensions between two meals and different groups of loyalty. In addition, correlation analysis will be used to determine the relationship between customers’ perceived service quality and customers’ characteristics such as gender, marital status, age, and reasons for dining. The results of this study will asssist restaurant management to assess the service quality provided to its patrons. Results of this study will also help restaurant management establish a total quality management (TQM) program to improve...
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...1. All of YUM! Brands, Inc. restaurant chains are positioned within the Quick Service segment of the restaurant industry. Do they compete with each other? Why? Why not? In my opinion, I don’t think restaurants chains of Yum! Brands, Inc. Compete with one another. This is because after watching the video, I noticed that even though Yum! Brands, Inc offers many restaurants but each restaurant is different and has its own uniqueness in type of products they offer. Just like at KFC, you often see they serve chickens, and wings. While at Taco Bell or Pizza Hut restaurants that Yum! Brands owns, they don’t offer products like KFC, because you can’t see chickens or wings on Taco Bell’s menu since they sell Mexican food, such as burritos, tacos, nachos, and so on. The same goes with Pizza Hut, they mainly serve pizza, and pasta on their menu, and as well as Long John Silver’s. 2. What are the advantages of YUM’s multibranding strategy? Disadvantages? The advantages are these restaurants will not be competing with each other. Thus, with different type of products Yum offers will likely to attract more and a wider range of customer. Furthermore, the brand strategy also involves in good global growth and targeting demographic groups. This is due to nowadays people live at a faster pace, and they always in need of something fast, but also has to be cheap as well. While there are advantages of Yum’s multibranding strategy, it can also have disadvantages such as the use and accessibility...
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...being sought? Porcini’s “new” approach is unique both to Porcini’s and the restaurant business. Facing a saturated restaurant industry, Porcini’s is striving to differentiate their business by providing excellent quality food at moderate prices to customer’s looking for a quick eating experience. Great service is also expressed as being an essential item for success. Porcini’s feels that restaurants have been unable to accomplish these four functions into one experience. This strategy attempts to make the competition irrelevant. Porcini’s Porto creates a new segment outside of the three major segments: fast food, single location full-service restaurants and full-service chain restaurants. Porcini’s “new” approach creates a new uncontested market space (Blue Ocean Strategy, W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne). Any alternative means for a person to eat is Porcini’s competition. Porcini’s experience differentiates in an advantageous way from the three major segments. Porcini’s wireless technology creates a quicker eating experience for the customer that is not available at competitors in full-service restaurant chains. It’s also important that this innovative strategy does not decrease the value of the product/service offered. The project team identified fast food to be the primary competition. Porcini’s quick service is complimented by high quality food, providing a competitive advantage over restaurants in the fast food segment. Porcini’s strategic focus on the employee hiring...
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