Inventory Management and Operations Efficiency Essay

Background of the StudyIn recent years, buffet stickaurants be increasingly appropriateting popular among a nonher(prenominal) kinds. Buffets be effective for lot freehanded depends of people at once. Diners as well as see it as advantageous on their part because they get to encounter a vast deal of choice and the ability to closely scrutinise regimen onward selecting it. A more free form of buffet is c eached polish off altogether you potentiometer wherein guests tolerate a fixed fee and then whitethorn benefactor themselves to as a good deal provender as they wish to eliminate in a single meal. Therefore, nodes corroborate the privilege to eat to their amount of m 1ys content. However, on the part of the eatery operators and managers, it is rugged to forecast how more people would scrape up and how much one head could eat in a single meal. In case they run out of dish upes, they essential(prenominal)(prenominal) always be able to refill the bu ffet. After on the whole, no one likes to get inside a eating house that is not able to see the nodes well. It whitethorn affect customer retention, the level of customer satisfaction and may leave negative impressions on the eating houses efficiency. This means that the restaurant should have luxuriant line of merchandises to avoid running out of sustenance to serve. This is immediately where the role of s match management takes place.To manipulate availability, an instrument system is select that provides the organizational organise and the operating policies for maintaining and controlling goods to be stocked. The system is trus cardinalrthy for ordering and pass of goods timing the order placement, keeping track of what has been ordered, and how much and from whom ordered. Regardless of the type of restaurant you operate, or whether the restaurant is in the start-up assortment or has been operating for m both years, adopting an register system is inbred. The refore managing inventory is truly important in operating a restaurant.In the provinces, on that point argon quite a number of eat-all-you- stick out restaurants that one set up ascend. plainly in thatuan City, among the most popular is Roldans eat on All You Can. It is such a popular place that even locals from the nearby provinces prefer to eat lunch on that point when they happen to be in the city. Every twenty-four hour period they offer variety of provenders- from appetizers to desserts which make it irresistible for the customers. On the other hand, in their daily public presentations they face problems with inventory management such as running out-of-stock and other stock-related problems.The problem on inventory motivated the researchers to have about the inventory management and operations efficiency of Roldans Eat All You Can, Montilla Boulevard, Butuan City.Review of LiteratureThe review of related literature is an essential part of the research. This secti on consists the ideas and studies and of various authors that go out be of great help in the conceptualization of the research.harmonize to Jacobs (2008), an inventory system provides the organizational structure and the operating policies for maintaining and controlling goods to be stocked. The system is responsible for ordering and receipt of goods timing the order placement and keeping track of what has been ordered, how much and from whom. restaurants guests be looking for value when they purchase batting order items. In the same way, the restaurant manager is looking for value in the reaping purchase decisions he/she makes. Price is important yet so atomic number 18 other roles in the purchasing goal.During the growth of a new venture the management of inventory is an important task. Too much inventory can be a drain on cash flow since manufacturing, transportation, and storehouse exists must be borne by the venture. On the other hand, too slim inventory to worthy cu stomer demands can also cost the venture in lost sales, or it can create unhappy customers who may claim another business firm if their needs be not met in a magazinely manner.According to Ninemeier (2006), the typical restaurant requires several hundreds of provender fractions and, if soaker drinkings are offered, many additional point of intersections must be purchased. Numerous decisions must be made to assure that the right products are purchased and are acquirable when needed.According to David Kurtz (2005), inventory control captures a heavy(a) share of a logistics managers attention because companies need to maintain enough inventories to meet customer demand without incurring unneeded costs for binding excess inventory. round firms attempt to keep inventory levels under control by implementing full in-time (JIT) production.The goal of purchasing is to receive the right flavour of product at the right time in the right quantity from the right supplier at the ri ght expense. This goal is very easy to state and much difficult to attain.Products needed for Saturdays banquet must be available on a timely basis and for example, if they are standard on the Monday sooner the event, they volition not be sportsmanlike or, if they are received on the Monday after the event, they are of no use.The standard formula indicates products which are needed to help assure that the menu items which are served are of consistent character reference and consistent cost. The concept of the right product in our purchasing goal relate to musical note and quantity.If an lean amount of product is purchased, stock-outs are likely to happen guests forget be disappointed if their popular item is not available, and operations may not be break if substitute items must be produced. By contrast, if an excessive quantity of product is purchased, excess funds are tied up in inventory, there is an increased chance of spoilage, pilferage may occur, and there may b e insufficient retentivity space.Restaurant managers in most areas have alternative sources of submit for most products. More than a product is purchased when a purchase pact is made. Information and table service are also very important, and some(a)(prenominal) suppliers do a better job of providing this assistance than do others. A supplier offering a good price barely does not demonstrate a product on time is not providing an advantage to the restaurant.Restaurant managers must implement systems to determine what to purchase, how much to purchase and when to purchase. Still match to Ninemeier and Hayes (2006), after products are purchased, they must be received. It is ironic that some restaurants implement many of the purchasing tactics but then crack to follow through when products are received. Purchasers are likely to pay for the tint of products which they ordered and are delivered. In spite of this, however, receiving procedures are lax in some tight-lacedties an d may involve little more than counting entree packages and comparing that number to the quantity listed on the delivery invoice before it is signed. How much will the supplier charge the restaurant for its products?The answer is driven at time of receiving. Unless there is a credit memo, the restaurant will be charged for the quantity of products far-famed on the delivery invoice. Also, unless an erroneousness is noted on the invoice, the unit cost will be that noted on the voice. Effective restaurant managers, therefore, assure that proper receiving practices are consistently used. In the receiving process, beginning(a), delivery invoice from the supplier should be compared to the restaurants copy of the purchase order. This will assure that the quantity and price of products agree upon at time of purchasing were, in fact, incorporated into the delivery invoice. The number step in the receiving process involves confirming that the product attribute is in concert with that e ssential by the purchase specification.According to Feinstein (2005), the basic goal of repositing management is to stay fresh personnel casualty of merchandise due to (1) thieving, (2) pilferage, and (3) spoilage.Theft is moot burglary. It occurs when someone drives a truck up to the back brink of an operation and steals all of the expensive aliments, beverages, and equipment. Generally, storage facilities are not intentional to prevent this. Management would need a citadel to eliminate theft by keeping honest employees honest. In some parts of the United States, and the rest of the world, theft is common. Thus, hospitality operators must see to it that storage facilities are designed so as to make theft more difficult, generally by some combination of clear visibility of general access storage located elsewhere. Locking storage areas when not in use and minimizing the number of persons who have access to the keys place to be good practices.Pilferage is a dependable probl em in the hospitality industry and centers on the employee who sneaks off with a bottle of mustard or a couple of ashtrays. Eating on the job is another form of pilferage, unless the owner-manager allows it. Shoplifting also falls in this category. Pilferage is sometimes referred to as inventory shrinkage or skimming. The estimated clam losses resulting from pilferage vary considerably, but industry experts feel that approximately two to four percent of either sales buck is lost to employee and customer dishonesty. Several potential ways to control pilferage exist, some of which we discuss. Unfortunately, in some cases, the cure may be more expensive than the disease.Spoilage can be controlled a little more easily than neither theft nor pilferage. Generally, spoilage can be minimized by adhering to rigid sanitization practices, rotating the stocks so that old items are used first, and providing the proper environmental conditions for each time in storage.Rigid sanitisation is, i n fact, a must in all storage facilities. This involves two quite different kinds of steps. First, products that great power induce spoilage in others through migration of odors or chemicals must be separated properly. For example, fresh fish is not stored with butter and cleaning agents are segregated from food products. A second and more obvious sanitization activity involves keeping the storage facility clean, for instance, by mopping it daily.The proper environmental conditions for storage seem easy enough to achieve. But the outgo of providing for all the various temperature and humidity requirements for an entire spectrum of food products can be burdensome for small restaurants. Nonfood storage is a not so large problem, but a good deal of value space may be required.Freezers separate produce, dairy, and meat refrigerator and separate dry storage areas for groceries, beverages, and cleaning supplies can all add up to a large investment. This can be so large, in fact, that s mall operations frequently try make do with outdated facilities, which can get them into gravel with the local wellness department.The advantages of proper environmental conditions are definite but sometimes not readily apparent. The prevention of food-borne illness does not carry a price tag. Moreover, improper storage can cause a significant loss of nutritional value and taste. The value here is difficult to quantify. Lost nutrition does not necessarily concern restaurant customers, but school food service operations might consider this loss un take for grantedable. Fortunately, even though a hospitality operation msy maintain an old, fantastic refrigerator, proper stock rotation and a reasonably quick stock turnover can minimize tincture loss.On Issuing, according to lounge (2007), for control purposes, it is advisable that as few people as contingent have access to signing as someone in authority, and such signature is needed before food and beverage items can be released from storage. A system of inventory management helps ensure cost control. such(prenominal) forms aid in inventory control and analyzing menu costs. The objective is to ensure that only(prenominal) authorized personnel are allowed to requisition food and beverage items.establish on the study of Hayes (2006) there is a race in the midst of the quantity of food and beverage products produced and sold by the restaurant and the quantity of products retreatd from its storage areas. around restaurants use an open door approach to issuing whenever someone needs some occasion, they simply retrieve it. With this tactic, every employee is in charge of issuing.According to Dittmer (1999) anyone who has patronized restaurants and other foodservice operations can recognize that a number of different types of service are available. Some aid of very high look, some much less so. tumultuous food restaurants and cafeterias tend to provide relatively little service beyond the basic fine resta urants offer extraordinary levels of service, with some appearing to have more staff than customers. In establishments offering extensive service, it is sometimes of very high quality- swift, unobtrusive, and approximating an art form. More than commonly, however, the service is likely to be different-slow, disorganized, intrusive- with the servers seemingly untrained.Each individual diner has a personal view, consciously or unconsciously, of the standards of service that he considers appropriate for any given occasion when a meal is consumed outside the home. Whenever possible, the customer will tend to select a restaurant offering a type and level of service that he finds appropriate to the occasion. If the individuals time is strictly limited, he is likely to select a restaurant with limited service- one that allows a customer to eat within a limited time available. On the other hand, there are customers for whom time is of no concern. Sometimes they are celebrating some special occasion.Managers who research to optimize restaurant sales should be witting of the extent and quality of service that their customers want. With that in mind, they may find it comparatively easy to adjust some aspects of service in ways that will increase customer satisfaction.According to Kurtus (2008), Restaurants are in the business of table service food to their customers. In other words, they are providing a product (food) and a service (waiting on the customer). The quality of the food and service is defined as meeting or exceeding the expectations of the customer as if promised by the restaurant. The food should be properly watchful and the service should be prompt and courteous. The benefit of quality food and service is that customers will come back and will recommend the restaurant to friends (http//www.school-for-champions.com/tqm/restaurantquality.htm).According to Khan (2006), the primary function of any type of foodservice operation is to convert raw food into cooked products. Profits come from converting and serving the food as efficiently as possible. High quality dishes come from high quality ingredients. The objective is to obtain the right quality and quantity at the right and price and from the right source. aliment quality is more than just taste it includes attributes such as texture, consistency, gestate times, ledge life, and visual appeal. Restaurants need to guarantee food quality in every aspect of food preparation, from the moment the food is produce and delivered to the time it is stored, cooked and served(http//www.bukisa.com/articles/4355869how-important-is-restaurant-food-quality).According to Dittmer (1999), quality is a term that conveys different meanings to different people. Those with position refined tastes-people sometimes referred to as gourmets- are more likely to seek perfection in food and may be inclined to accept nothing less. For them, this may mean that the quality of restaurant food must meet long list criteria all ingredients must be fresh rather than canned or frozen, soups must be prepared from newly made stocks, vegetables must be cooked only just tender, and so on. Unless the food products offered in a particular restaurant meet their exacting quality standards, they will not patronize it.There are some who appear to be completely different to all the quality standards for foodservice products that the majority insists on. For them, food is food- a necessity similar to fuel for an engine. They seem perfectly prepared to accept foodservice products of very low levels of quality for patronizing restaurants do not appear to be related to product quality defined cost that the majority accepts. In any given population, various segments demand food products of various levels of quality such that they will appeal to large enough segment of the market to ensure the level of sales volume required for profitability.According to Stefanelli (2005), maintaining quality is not quite th e same as establishing the firms desired level of quality. Some buyers have comparatively little to say about the quality of products they must purchase. They do, however, have a major responsibility to make sure that, once set, the quality standards vary only within acceptable limits. For some products, such as liquor and soap, denounce names assure uniform quality. Unfortunately, the quality of fresh foods can permute drastically from day to day and from one supplier to the next. This situation can make it particularly difficult to maintain quality standards. In addition, passing(a) overbuying or a sudden breakdown in storage facilities, such as refrigeration facilities, can wreaker or bring havoc on quality standards.Regardless of the associated difficulties, however, operators insist that their buyers maintain quality control.Food quality in restaurants seems to be accepted as a fundamental component to satisfy restaurant customers however, it has been often overlooked in res taurant service quality and satisfaction studies. Upon starting a restaurant business, one could have attended a seminar that discusses the importance of food quality in restaurants. nearly fast-food and restaurants claim to maintain a high ground level of supervision in their food preparation process. Restaurants owners spend a lot of money to train their staff they even have an excellent infrastructure that facilitates maintenance of cleanliness and hygiene. But despite all the rules and assurances, the complete asylum of food bought from a restaurant is questionable.With a structural equation modeling technique, overall food quality significantly affects customer satisfaction and behavioral intentions and also revealed that the relationship between food quality and customer behavioral intentions is mediated by satisfaction. attendant regression analyses demonstrated that taste and presentation were the two greatest contributors to customer satisfaction and behavioral intentions . Thus, managers should pay attention to the key food quality attributes that elicit customer satisfaction enhance return visits in the restaurant business.Customers want to have exactly what they ordered, so food consistency is pivotal to ones business. Cooks should be able to cook the same dish and the same blend over and over. Otherwise, inconsistency of food will re hunt down the customers interest from buying the best sellers over and over. It is a good move to conduct a training regarding ingredient proportions and standard preparation procedures. When a customer says that he or she has a food allergy, servers must pay close attention.Also, knowledge on the food quality standards is important. As a restaurant owner, one should carefully monitor how food is being consumed in the restaurant and how they are being prepared. Otherwise, the food quality will abate overtime, and it would definitely differ and taste and would involve sanitary and health issues(http//www.bukisa.com/ articles/435869how-important-is-restaurant-food-quality.Based on Mills study (2007), management is responsible for serving food that is nutritious, appeals to the senses, and is safe to eat. Sanitation refers to the hygienic measure for ensuring food safety and control of environmental factors that could arm human development, health or survival. According to the National Assessment Institute, a restaurant manager is responsible for identifying health hazards in the daily operation of the restaurant, develop and implement policies, procedures, and standards to prevent food borne illnesses, coordinate training, supervision, and direction of food handling and preparation while fetching corrective action as required to protect the health of customers and employees and inspect the operation periodically to ensure that policies and procedures are being followed correctly.Any sanitation slip up not only hastens spoilage but also increases the risk of customer or employee sickness. Some s tates and local municipalities have enactment that requires hospitality management personnel to successfully pass some sort of a sanitation course. There is also discussion adviseing that eventually all of the hospitality employees will have to pass some type of sanitation certification exam.At fast food restaurants, kitchen workers are assigned a specific task which they have to perform throughout the day, because fast foods furnish to hundreds of customers each hour the work volume is very high and workers get little or no time to clean their work area. down the stairs a tremendous work load, workers usually do not find the time to implement their food safety training. So it may be concluded that despite all the quality assurances that the fast foods and other forms of food establishments offer eating out is not a safe thing to do.Perishable items should be carefully maintained. Each product has a shelf life, and a good idea is always to cook first those that are longer in the fridge. It follows the queuing concept of what comes in first must first go out since food that are longer in the fridge might likely spoil and could affect every single ingredient that is inside your chiller(http//www.bukisa.com/articles/436859how-important-is-restaurant-food-qualityixzz1Vo7zZHq00).According to Stefanelli (2005), limiting prices a supervisor may suggest some flexible price limits for certain products, especially those products that represent the wad of the purchasing dollar. And, for instance, if an items price rises above that limit, it may be time to reevaluate the items place in the operation.It is no secret that good pricing practices are good for business. They increase customer satisfaction, increase profits and go a long way toward assure compliance with the law. While satisfied customers generally mean repeat business, price errors that stem from haphazard or inefficient pricing practices can cost stores money. For one thing, the dollar amount of underch arges often exceeds the dollar amount of the overcharges. For another, it is against the law to charge more than the advertised shelf price. Stores that do may be subject to civil and criminal fines (http//business.ftc.gov/documents/bus11-good-pricing-practices-scan-do).According to wire-haired pointing griffon (1999), restaurants normally have standard sales prices for the menu items they offer. The sales prices for menu items are usually established by restaurant owners or managers and are communicated to customers via printed menus or conspicuously posted signs. Because the sum of the prices paid by all customers for their menu selections is the total food revenue for a restaurant, it should be apparent that these sales prices are critically important in determining the degree of profitability for any restaurant.