BSBMGT517 Assessment 2 - Operational Plan

The Hotel Futura management has adopted a proposal to utilize a sunny indoor section of the lobby as a services point for morning and afternoon teas. It fits all the legal requirements regarding the serving of food and after a cost benefit analysis, it was seen to potentially create a lucrative new revenue stream in a previously revenue neutral floor space. Therefore, the operations of the Hotel Futura includes to use a sunny indoor section of the lobby as a services point which can be used to provide morning and afternoon teas to the consumers.

Aim of the Operations

The aim of the operations is to use a sunny indoor section of the lobby as a services point which can be used to provide morning and afternoon teas to the consumers. Therefore, further the aim of the operations are to analyze the financial positions of two different options. The first option is to install full espresso coffee service station in the designated area and the second option is to utilize the existing coffee facilities inside the busy 24 hour coffee shop outlet, situated 30 meters diagonally across the foyer. These are the aims of the operational plan.

SWOT Analysis

Strengths

The strengths of the business environment are:

• The premises of the Hotel Futura – vast space
• Management of the Hotel Futura
• High performing employees
• Quality of Food
• Comfortable Lobby seating

Weaknesses

The weaknesses of the business environment are:

• Increase amount of employees used by the Hotel Futura
• High operating costs and expenses
• Holding too much stock
• Poor record keeping
• Cash flow problems
• High Rental Costs

Opportunities

The opportunities of the business environment are:

• Increase in the revenue in the hotel
• Advancement in technology

Threats

The threats of the business environment are:

• High Competition
• Changing customer taste and preferences
• Changing rules and regulations

Legal Requirements

1. Food Safety Standards

Food safety standards place obligations on Australian food businesses to produce food that is safe and suitable to eat. A food business is any business or activity that involves the handling of any type of food for sale, or the sale of food in Australia. The standards, which also contain health and hygiene obligations for food handlers, aim to lower the incidence of food-borne illness.

Standard 3.2.3 sets out requirements for the design and construction of food premises, fixtures, fittings, equipment and food transport vehicles. The objective of this standard is to ensure that, where possible, the layout of the premises minimizes opportunities for food contamination. If complied with, these requirements will help food businesses meet the food safety requirements of Standard 3.2.2.

2. Design Standards

• Common rooms, entry foyers, lobbies, stairwells and circulation spaces have visual connection to the outside, natural light and provide space for residents to talk without blocking entries and lobbies, whilst allowing others to pass.
• Entry Lobby doors have access control. Intercoms as per brief. • All entry doors to have a minimum 1350mm x 1350mm external covered porch • Ceiling, floor and wall linings are impact resistant, able to conceal minor scratches and marks, easily cleaned, vandal resistant and do not include difficult to source replacement elements.

Detailed Overview of Resource Requirements and Options:

The two options for the utilization of a sunny indoor section of the lobby as a services point for morning and afternoon teas are first option is to install full espresso coffee service station in the designated area. In this option a new full espresso coffee service station will be installed in the lobby which will be changed to a service point for the morning and afternoon teas

While the second option is to utilize the existing coffee facilities inside the busy 24 hour coffee shop outlet, situated 30 meters diagonally across the foyer. It will not involve any installation of the install full espresso coffee service as the existing coffee facilities in the coffee shop outlet will be used though it is 24 hours busy.

Resource Requirements: Option 1

• Technology

Under the option 1, there will be use of the new technology as it will require an installation of the new install full espresso coffee service station in the designated area. Beside the installation of new install full espresso coffee service station, there will be no other technology that will updated as the fridges will be used which are already installed at the premises.

• Human Resource Needs

Regardless the installation of the new technology that is installation of new install full espresso coffee service station, there will be used of food service employees. As there will be two timings for which the tea will be available are morning and afternoon. The timings will be 10am to 12pm and 2:30pm to 4:30pm, for each timings two food service attendants will be needed. Further, one food service attendant will also be hired to make sure that operations can operate 7 days a week. Moreover, two food service attendant will be needed to take orders and collect the food orders for this outlet.

• Financial Requirements

For the Option 1, there will be installation of new full espresso coffee service station which must be financed by the business. Therefore KitchenAid KES2102 Espresso Machine - Candy Apple will be more suitable for the services and will cost $1800. Therefore, for the business must lease the equipment as it is costly to purchase. Further, additional finance will be required as three new food service attendants needs to be hired for efficient running for the business which means they have to be paid salaries as well and hence must be added in the financial budget.

• Requirements for Intellectual Rights and Responsibilities in recruitments and acquisition of resources and services

For the installation of the new full espresso coffee service station, no Intellectual Rights and Responsibilities are needed for the installation. Further, no Intellectual Rights and Responsibilities for hiring human resource as well

Resource Requirements: Option 1

• Technology

Under this option, the business will utilize the existing coffee facilities inside the busy 24 hour coffee shop outlet, situated 30 meters diagonally across the foyer. It will not involve any installation of the install full espresso coffee service as the existing coffee facilities in the coffee shop outlet will be used though it is 24 hours busy. Therefore, no technology will be updated.

• Human Resource Needs

There will be use of food service employees for this option. As there will be two timings for which the tea will be available are morning and afternoon. The timings will be 10am to 12pm and 2:30pm to 4:30pm, for each timings two food service attendants will be needed. Further, one food service attendant will also be hired to make sure that operations can operate 7 days a week. Moreover, two food service attendant will be needed to take orders and collect the food orders for this outlet.

• Financial requirements

Under this option, no new technology is being installed and as the business will utilize the existing coffee facilities inside the busy 24 hour coffee shop outlet, situated 30 meters diagonally across the foyer. Therefore, only finance will be required to pay the salaries for the food service attendants.

• Requirements for Intellectual Rights and Responsibilities in recruitments and acquisition of resources and services

No Intellectual Rights and Responsibilities are needed for this option as no technology is being installed or being used. Further, no Intellectual Rights and Responsibilities for hiring human resource as well

Clearly, observing and analyzing the two options, it is more suitable for the business to install new full espresso service station as under the option 2, where the business will use existing coffee facilities inside coffee shop outlet which is busy 24 hours. It will create a lot of chaos and delays in providing the orders. Therefore, it is more suitable to install new espresso service station. 

Contingency plan

Risk: Breaking down of the Espresso Service Station
Procedure: In such a case, a repair and maintenance will be immediately called, and to avoid customer dissatisfaction and disturbance, the coffee and tea shall be served through using existing coffee facilities inside coffee shop outlet for the time period.

Timeframes

A total of 40 days will be needed to implement this option.

Consultation requirements

There will be need of consultation from the CEO and finance and operation departments on following matters:

1. Selection of the option
2. Brand and Type of Service Station
3. Finance available for the New Full Espresso Service Station
4. Time Period in which service shall be launched

There is need of consultation from the CEO and other experts. Firstly, the consultation is required to be done regarding the selection of the option from both the options available. Secondly, the CEO and further departments will be consulted regarding the choosing of the espresso service station and finance available to do so. Lastly, timeline will be also be thoroughly discussed with the CEO and departments to make sure, the time period in which he services shall be running. 

Evaluation method

The main aspects of the project are the choosing of the option and finance used for the launching of the services. In order to evaluate the option several methods can be applied such as:

1. Customer Satisfaction
2. Time to get the customer its order (Services)
3. Taste

The finance that was used for the services will be evaluated through:

1. Profit

Project 2

Part A: Observation of Operational Procedures at Risk

• Overview of the Workplace and description of the Operational Procedures:

The workplace where I work in is a fast food restaurant which provides Pizza and Pasta to the consumers. During the lunch and dinner time, there is most rush of the people and the place is cramped with people.

The operational procedure that will be monitored, reviewed and analyzed will be the kitchen operations as during the lunch and dinner time, the fast food restaurant is cramped and customers are tired of waiting in the lines and complain while other leaves the place which means loss of profit to the business. Therefore, it is necessary to monitor, review and analyze the kitchen operational procedures.

• Standard Procedures

The standard procedures involved are:

1. Communication of the order in the kitchen
2. Division of tasks among three chefs
3. Placing of the pizza in the oven

• Operational Procedures

The standard procedure that is followed in the workplace is that as the customer places an order, the order is communicated at the kitchen where the chef starts rolling the dough and preheats the oven, the next chef makes the sauce and applies to the dough and moves to the third chef who cooks the chicken, applies it and then bakes in the oven. And a standard time is required to bake in the oven. In case of rush, the time needed to complete the task is slow as there are only 5 chef in the kitchen and the ovens are only two and each oven can bake two pizzas at a time. This results in lot of time being consumed and consumer has to wait a lot.

• Overview of the findings

From observing the operational procedures, it can stated that the procedure is very slow and at time of rush it causes lot of trouble as there are limited chefs and the ovens are two which cannot handle the orders at time of rush. The chances of errors are high and the orders quite mixed up which leads to customer complaints and customer dissatisfaction. Due to the slow services, many of the customers doesn’t eat at the pizza and leave due to the waiting time and the rush, this means that loss of customers and profits to the business which is not good for the business. Therefore, steps shall be taken by the pizza shop to overcome the issue.

• Shortfalls or Underperformance

During the observation, it was observed that there was underperformance on the two factors which are:

1. Equipment
2. Employees or Chefs

These two are the two underperformance factors for the business which is the main reason for the lack of success of the business.

• Issues and Potential Reasons

The main issue are that the chefs to complete the orders are only 3 and the ovens to bake the Pizza are only 2 which can bake 2 pizzas at one time. This results in lot of time being consumed and consumer has to wait a lot. The potential reasons for this is less chefs and less oven facility to bake the pizza during rush hours which causes serious trouble for the business.

Part B: Developing Strategies and Critical Reflection

• Strategy to overcome Shortfalls

The main issue are that the chefs to complete the orders are only 3 and the ovens to bake the Pizza are only 2 which can bake 2 pizzas at one time. This results in lot of time being consumed and consumer has to wait a lot. Therefore, in order to overcome this, there should be more chefs hired and more ovens needs to be bought so more set of hands can make more pizzas and more ovens can bake more Pizza at a given time which will decrease the time to complete the orders.

Firstly, the business shall research the type of oven that will fulfill the business purpose that is bake as many pizza as possible and obviously is in budget.

The next step is to determine the budget that is available to the business to purchase the ovens.

Thirdly, hire additional chefs so that they can bake as many pizza’s they can. Therefore, additional 3 more chefs will be hired by the business.

• Potential Cost factors

In the upgrading of the operational procedures, the cost will be required in terms of technology as well and also human resource capital.

The salaries of the chefs will be a cost of the business that will be incurred by them and hence they need to acknowledge the cost.

Further, the other cost that they need to fit in is the oven cost therefore, the best option for them is to lease the oven, which will be paid in installments and decrease the lump sum burden on the business.

These are the two costs that the business will incur in course of upgrading the operational procedures and decreasing the customer’s complaints and loss of profit as well.

• Critical Reflection

The strategy that is stated and observed by the business is viable as the business kitchen is large enough that it can accommodate additional chefs and few more ovens or one large oven. Therefore, in my point of view, this is more feasible option and other option available is to automate the system but will require lot of capital which is not an option for the business to put in. Therefore, for now this is the most viable strategy for the business.