Case Study: When the customer walks in the door they are greeted by the Head MC, who is responsible for all table bookings. The MC enquires if the customer has a reservation. If they do, then the reserved table is looked up in the reservations book. If the reserved table is empty, then the customers are walked to the table and seated. If the reserved table is currently occupied then the customers are asked to take a seat at the bar. The MC will attempt to estimate the waiting time, based on personal experience. Customers with a reservation are given priority over customers without one. The restaurant is busy most nights, the average wait time for a table is 25 minutes.

Reservations can be made up to a month in advance, and 20% of reservations dont show up, which takes up valuable tables. The MC waits 30 minutes before giving away a reserved table that the customers did not show up for. There is no penalty for customers that fail to show up for their reserved tables.

For customers without a reservation, the MC will attempt to locate a suitable table that is currently available and not reserved. If such a table is found the customers will be seated at it, if not, they will be asked to sit at the bar. The MC will attempt to estimate the waiting time, based on personal experience. If the wait time is too long, the customers might leave. 15 minutes appears to be the maximum time most customers will wait. If the wait time exceeds 15 minutes, approximately 30% of customers choose not to wait and leave instead.

As soon as a table is available the customers are seated. The MC provides each of them with a menu, and introduces them to their server. On any given night there are three different servers working in the restaurant, each covering a different section (left, middle and right).

The server immediately takes drinks orders. These are verbally passed to the single team member working behind the bar, who makes up the drinks. The server then retrieves the drinks from the bar and brings them over to the table, and asks if the customers are ready to order.

If the customers are ready to order, the server writes down their orders on a ticket, which is then passed across to the kitchen. If the customers are not ready to place their order, the server leaves for 5 more minutes, before returning.

The kitchen has a line of tickets, in the order in which they came in. They cook each ticket one by one, trying to time the dishes to finish at approximately the same time. 10% of the time the wrong food item is produced, based on the illegibility of the tickets.

As soon as the food is ready a bell is rang and the servers all come to see if it is their order. Once they determine who the order is for, they retrieve the food and take it over to the customers tables. The error rate varies from server to server, ranging for 5-10%, but it is quickly corrected if the customer points out it isnt their food. Each server uses a different system to remember which food goes with which table, meaning the servers cant support each other during busy times.

Once the customers have finished the food the server takes them to a dessert menu and captures their dessert orders (if any). This is written on a separate handwritten ticket, which is placed in the queue in the kitchen. If the customer doesnt request dessert, then the server creates the bill.

To create the bill, the server must enter in the order item numbers into the billing system (it does not show product descriptions on the screen). Once all the items are captured, the billing system generates an itemized bill.

The server returns the bill to the customer, who decides what tip to leave (if any) and then selects a payment method. If credit card, the server goes to fetch the credit card machine (which is next to the billing computer). If cash, the server goes back to the billing computer to calculate the necessary change, and then returns to the customer with that change.

5% of the time the customer notices that their bill is incorrect, and then the server must identify the error and generate a new bill.

Question 1: What does the end to end Happy Path ordering process look like as a process map? Remember, the happy path assumes everything goes well.

Question 2: Suggest at least two improvements to the ordering process