Case study

Pierre Alexander has just completed culinary school and is ready to open his own restaurant. After

examining both the external environment and his prospective strengths and weaknesses, he makes a

decision on the mission for his restaurant, which he defines as "To provide outstanding French fine

dining for the people of Calgary."

APPROACH

Alexander's supporting operations strategy is to ignore the options of cost leadership

and quick response and focus on differentiation . Consequently, his operations strategy requires him

to evaluate product designs (menus and meals) and selection of process, layout, and location. He must

also evaluate the human resources, suppliers, inventory, scheduling, and maintenance that will support

his mission and a differentiation strategy

The first option is to operate in the lower right corner of the preceding figure, where he could produce

high volumes of food with a limited variety, much as in an institutional kitchen. Such a process could

produce large volumes of standard items such as baked goods and mashed potatoes prepared with state-

of-the-art automated equipment. Alexander concludes that this is not an acceptable process option.

Alternatively, he can move to the middle of the figure, where he could produce more variety and

lower volumes. Here he would have less automation and use prepared modular components for meals,

much as a fast-food restaurant does. Again, he deems such process designs inappropriate for his mission.

Another option is to move to the upper right corner and produce a high volume of customized

meals, but neither Alexander nor anyone else knows how to do this with gourmet meals.

Finally, Alexander can design a process that operates in the upper left corner of the figure, which

requires little automation but lends itself to high variety. This process option suggests that he build an

extremely flexible kitchen suitable for a wide variety of custom meals catering to the whims of each

customer. With little automation, such a process would be suitable for a huge variety. This process

strategy will support his mission and desired product differentiation. Only with a process such as this

can he provide the fine French-style gourmet dining that he has in mind.

Question

Tell owner how to ensure his company grows for future continuity

How much volume or variety should be considered at each step, what strategy should be use at what point? Also explain about the other strategies that can be used for company growth for future continuity?