Problems

 

 

Problem 1: Waste

 

At our Noches de Colombia, we have many opportunities to change the way we do things and fix some problems we have. One major problem is the fact that we have waste in terms of the portion sizes and scraps. Our plates are very large and this creates a lot of waste of product. We would need to fix the problem with portion sizes. Additionally, we waste a lot of scraps that could be used for composting

Solution 1: composting/growing our own, recycling more and reusing

 

At Noches de Colombia, we have a high rate of waste of food it would be a good recommendation to lower the proportion of food. This can be done in many ways. One way to lower the proportions across the board are to use different plates instead of our current oversized plates. By lowering the proportion of food the company can both save on operating costs by having a trickle down effect of food orders but can also eliminate a large percentage of waste that happens on a daily basis.

Also, at Noches de Colombia it would be a great idea to stop wasting the scraps we have and begin composting and growing our own food and produce. This would be a great way to reduce costs as well as we will be growing our own food and wouldn't need to buy as much. We could reduce our carbon footprint by using homegrown, organic food.

    Additionally, we could recycle and reuse more than we do already. We could put this into our workbook that state's rules and regulations for recycling. This would ensure that everyone knows what and how to recycle. We could also find more ways to reuse our waste. An idea that would be great is that we could make sure that we remove the use of styrofoam and plastic in our restaurants and bakeries. We should not pack our customers meals to go in those types of containers.

______________________________________________________________________________

Problem 2: Employee attitudes

 

We saw from our Pareto chart that there was a problem with employee attitudes. Out of the 43 comments we had on yelp 14 of the complaints were about employees attitudes. From the complaints we have seen from the customers about the employee’s attitudes there have been a running trend on being ignored. Customers have stated that the servers would not come back to the table so if they needed to order more items they couldn’t or they would seat the customers and not come back for a while to take the orders. Also we see a lot of comments about the waitresses being rude to the customers.         

Solution 2: Training and Secret Customers  

 

This is unacceptable at Noches de Colombia. We pride ourselves on great food along with great customer service. We recommend that employees are re trained every 6 months. By doing this we making sure that the employees are reminded of the company’s standards and what is expected of them. A next recommendation we can make to fix this problem is to also train the staff to deal with stress. Aside from training the employees in daily operations is will be a great idea to train employees in how to handle social situations as well as dealing with stress in a fast paced environment. We also suggest having secret customers. Sometimes customers are afraid to complain because they are scared that there food would be messed with but if we have secret customers come in and then report back to management on their experience.

______________________________________________________________________________

 

Problem 3: Inventory

 

One recommendation that Noches de Colombia should consider is their inventory. Inventory is a stock of materials used to satisfy customer demand or to support the production of services or goods (pg. 319). At Noches de Colombia, we receive shipment twice a week, in which can result to waste of products or shortage of products. Another obstacle that we may face with our inventory is that we have a small kitchen so therefore we lack storage space for an overage of products. Our final inventory problem would be the organic produce. The company is trying to use more organic produce in their menu but they only last a couple of days upon delivery.

Solution 3: inventory strategies   

 

Noches de Colombia can consider many solutions in order to manage their inventory. One solution would be managing how often we receive shipment and how much is coming in the deliveries. Often in restaurants, some products should be received at least three to five days a week in order to always remain fresh. However, items such as frozen goods or canned goods may not need to be delivered as many days because they can store longer. In addition, we should invest in extending the kitchen area to gain more storage area. Also, the restaurant needs to find a proper way to store its organic produce. For example, organic produce such as vegetables and fruit should be stored in dry areas, whereas, meats and grains is best stored and last longer when frozen. Organic produce spoil faster because they do not contain artificial preservatives like conventional produce. In the case that Noches de Colombia want their organic produce to last longer than a couple days, the best solution would be to freeze it.

Another problem that Noches de Colombia can improve on is better maneuvering of inventory. On certain day Noches runs out of the necessary inventory to complete an order. This causes certain meals to be not be available upon request. The problem with this is it gives the client fewer options. What Noches de Colombia can do to solve the problem is establish a system that knows the exact inventory to have on the certain day. For example, Saturday and Sunday mornings are days customers come to have breakfast. At times Noches has run out of eggs to produce the necessary demand of meals containing eggs. By establishing a system of max-min inventory we can know what inventory is used most in one day compared to others, this will allow us to order from our suppliers more efficiency, eliminate waste, and never run out of inventory.