Sunshine Restaurants Case Study
Introduction
Sunshine Restaurants is a chain of restaurants operating seven days a week from 11. a.m to 10. pm. Although the company has been performing well due to its reputation for offering high-quality food, there are various operational issues that could affect its productivity and profitability. The key operational issue is poor customer service. Currently, one of the customers has raised a complaint about being charged an extra $25 tip on his Sunshine Café bill after he received and signed his credit card receipt. Upon raising the complaint, the customer was asked to send a copy of the receipt to the restaurant manager, but he lost it, making it hard for the restaurant manager to address the issue. Abby, the restaurant owner, has to ensure that the issue is resolved efficiently to avoid creating a bad reputation and attracting more customers for the new restaurants she intends to open.
Draw a cause-and-effect diagram for the possible causes of the $25 tip service upset. Select one possible root cause from your diagram, and explain how you would investigate and fix it.
The main root cause that I would investigate is the typing error. The problem may have resulted from typing the wrong amount, intentionally or unintentionally. My investigation would therefore focus on whether the employee confirmed that he was issuing the right bill or not. I would also focus on the employee’s schedule to determine whether he or she may have been too busy that he issued the wrong bill unwillingly.
Critique the current “informal” quality control system. What changes and improvements do you recommend if Sunshine expands to 20 restaurants?
The current quality control system can only be effective if Abby operates a few restaurants. This is mainly because the system requires her to regularly visit the restaurants and observe the clients’ behaviour to determine whether they are happy with the services they are receiving or not. She also spends a lot of time in the restaurants during her visits because she has to audit the food sold and the quality of service offered. She also has to set aside time to interview her employees to determine whether they encountered any problems while she was away. The informal quality control system is, therefore, time-consuming and demanding hence making it strenuous when operating many restaurants. The control system is also vulnerable to bias because the quality assessment depends on what Abby observes. She may, therefore, misread a customer’s mood and behaviour, hence concluding that the customer is either satisfied or dissatisfied with the quality of food and service offered. I would, therefore, recommend using a Balance Score Card if Sunshine expands to 20 restaurants. This strategy focuses on measuring performance based on internal processes, the company’s financial position, customers, and learning and growth (Asad, 2010). I would also recommend conducting market research to determine customers’ needs in the new markets it intends to venture into. Detailed market research will also help identify where there is a high population of clients to avoid expanding to unprofitable markets and using resources that could have been used for other business functions.
What are your short- and long-term recommendations? Explain your rationale for these recommendations.
One of my long-term recommendations is to conduct a survey to get customer feedback on the quality of food and services offered in the restaurants. The surveys could be in the form of questionnaires that customers can fill out when leaving the restaurants. The surveys should also include a section where customers offer their recommendations on food quality and service improvement (Mittal, 2017; Ograjenšek & Gal, 2011). The second short-term recommendation is training staff on proper customer service to equip them with the skills required to efficiently handle customer complaints without upsetting the customer or showing less concern for the customer’s issue. The training should include reviewing various complaints that customers may raise and how to respond to them effectively.
One of the main long-term recommendations that Abby should consider is creating a Standard Operating Procedure for all the processes in the restaurant and standardizing processes throughout the business. For instance, the Standard Operating Procedure should provide guidelines for accepting customer payments and handling customer complaints. Another recommendation is creating a database where all payments are recorded to make it easier to track a payment even after a client loses their receipt.
References
Asad, M. (2010). Performance management system: In depth analysis using balance score card model. SSRN Electronic Journal. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2011632
Mittal, V. (2017). The voice of the customer: A user’s guide to customer surveys. SSRN Electronic Journal. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2909989
Ograjenšek, I., & Gal, I. (2011). The concept and assessment of customer satisfaction. Modern Analysis of Customer Surveys, 107-127. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119961154.ch7
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Question 
Assignment Guidelines
- Develop an introductory summary paragraph identifying the key operational issues in the case.
- Answer each of the case questions fully, applying correct concepts and terminology.
- Provide cited support from the case and chapter readings as appropriate
- Conclude with a brief paragraph stating what you learned from the case and how it helped you understand specific concepts from the reading. Support your conclusion with specific examples and use appropriate course terminology.
Sunshine Restaurants Case Study
Mechanics
- The case study must be word-processed in 12-point font, double-spaced with one-inch margins.
- Include a title page with your name, course number, case study title and date.
- Use headings to indicate the case questions and conclusion
- Cite and reference using APA 6th Ed format
Sunshine Enterprises
“I think the waiter wrote in an extra $25 tip on my Sunshine Café bill after I received and signed my credit card receipt,” Mark Otter said to the restaurant manager, Brad Gladiolus. “Mr. Otter, mail me a copy of the restaurant receipt and I’ll investigate,” responded Mr. Gladiolus. “I don’t have the receipt – I lost it – but I have my monthly credit card statement,” replied Mr. Otter. Mr. Gladiolus hesitated, then said: “Mr. Otter, I don’t see any way to investigate your claim, so there’s nothing I can do.”
Mr. Gladiolus sat down at his desk and sketched out possible causes of this service upset as follows:
- The customer is responsible for adding the bill and tipping properly, writing legibly, retaining the second receipt, and drinking alcohol responsibly.
- The employee is responsible for typing the bill in the register/computer correctly, going back to the customer if the tip is unreadable, verifying the correct amount, and being honest.
- The restaurant manager is responsible for investigating the store’s receipt history and finding this transaction; auditing the source of the error, if possible, such as a mistyped decimal or extra zero; and contacting the credit card company and customer to resolve the issue.
- The credit card company, a third-party provider in this value chain, is responsible for providing records of the electronic transaction, helping resolve the issue, and issuing a debit or credit to the customer and/or restaurant if needed.
Required textbook:
9780357531792
Operations and Supply Chain Management
Collier and Evans
/ Cengage