Inbound logistics
There are 5 items regarding inbound activities:
l Human Resource
l Technology
l Purchase input
l Purchase assets
l Firm Infrastructure
Human Resource
The HR department has recruited a person for stock control and responsible for ordering to ensure the quality and quantity of raw material. He will interact with the cashier who is responsible for accounting system and the financial control. Both two people keep a good contact with the technological company (Central.Tech) who designs a stock control and accounting software.
Technology
Central. Tech provides an automatic system for material handling so that out of stock will not be happened before the next turnover, if so, the stock control person will need to order extra products from the wholesaler which is time consuming and inconvenient as the wholesaler will transport the goods in the afternoon only. Therefore, replenishment policies are set up based upon the previous demand forecast to estimate the products ordered for next month.
The forecast will also be automatically updated in the accounting system to do the budget for the next month.
Purchase inputs
Kasumi orders raw material from a wholesaler as he is the only wholesaler of meat, vegetables, seafood in Macao. She also orders seasoning, flour and oil from a local supermarket (Parknshop). Nevertheless, with the fast economic growth and the devalued of currency, the cost of raw material increases sharply (Macao daily, 2008) and Kasumi has a high pressure of rising up the selling price as she has a low bargaining power on the ingredients. Since Kasumi has a frequent stock turnover, the restaurant normally does not keep stock for more than two weeks as they are easily fragile.
For transportation, with the order twice per month, the supplier has offered a reliable distribution of good service to Kasumi only in the afternoon so Kasumi has to break during that day which will cause inconvenient for the guests.
Purchase assets
The boss purchased the restaurant in 2002 with a relatively low price but small area which has a capacity of around 20 people. The location is situated behind the world heritage of Macao- Ruins of St. Paul and the peaceful surrounding area attracts no only tourists but also local people to visit and enjoy a comfortable meal though there is only simple “home-feel” decoration in the restaurant.
Operation
This activity contains 7 items:
l Human Resource
l cooking process
l Kitchen ware design
l Energy management
l Menu design
l Product design
l Time Management
Human Resource
Since it is difficult to employ people as Macanese citizen has varieties of job choice, the boss and his wife will be the cook and the waitress, the cashier and the stock control person may help them if necessary.
Cooking process
Due to the small size of restaurant, the boss offers a open kitchen to save some space and more importantly, provide an opportunity for the customer to”monitor” the cooking process to let the guests feel being involved in the entire operation process including choosing the ingredients and cooking method which also fits in the theme of the restaurant – welcome home. Moreover, with the excellent cooking skill and the guests’ confidence on the hygienic of food, the observation process becomes a gimmick of this restaurant.
Kitchen ware design
To let the guests observe the whole operation process clearly and keep the restaurant looks fresh, smokeless kitchen wares are required which is rather expensive on maintenance but reduce the risk of downtime. In addition, the cook has offered hand-made utensils from Japan as the container to give the guests’ impression of going back home.
Energy Management
Energy consuming is another important issue in the operation process. Nowadays, Kasumi has ordered gasoline everyday and the usage is so high that this becomes a relatively high percentage on cost of production.
Moreover, for the government rules and the safety of the guests, it is impossible to store more than 3 gasolines in the restaurants which are inconvenient as the cashier has to keep on checking to ensure there will be enough gasoline time after time as the cook can do nothing if there is no energy.
Menu design
The menu setting is based on the theme of the restaurant so the dishes offered are the family crusine including Japanese pizza, Japanese noodles and nice, various favor of green tea and sake (Japanese wine) for guests to choose. The menu setting will directly affect the stock control department and the menu will be different in different season as some ingredients are unseasonable.
Product design
Under reasonable price, no matter which ingredients the guests choose, the chef cooks the dishes with more materials that the customers expected. Beside quantity, the chef is aware of the quality of the dishes, so the chef will only offer the seasonable dishes. Moreover with the genuine Japanese cooking method and design of the dishes, this creates a good brand name and attracts customers to try.
Time management
Under the observation of the cooking process, the time management is significant as it will affect the capacity utilization and profit at last. Having only one chef in the restaurant is insufficient which means the time consumed on each product becomes longer. Fortunately, the restaurant’ can serve only 20 people which is still under the control of the chef.
Outbound Logistics
This logistics includes the following items:
l Human Resources
l Order and delivery process
Human resources
With only one waitress in Kasumi, she needs to take the order, and deliver the food to the guests. Sometimes, the stock person will be the temporary waiter if necessary. Usually, two people will be enough to service the guests. Nevertheless, for telephone order, the customers have to take the food by themselves because of lack of people. The cashier will be responsible for marking the order and tell them the estimated time of taking the meal. Since every staff is so important, they applied some training courses in Institute for Tourism Studies (IFT) to increase their knowledge on how to serve the guests and run the restaurant.
Order and delivery process
With the professional training in IFT, the waiter and waitress are able to take the order in a very short time and deliver the cusine to the right guests accurately. For the telephone order, it is a flaw that the guests have to take the meal by themselves as Kasumi does not provide the after sale service. Despite of this, the waiter and waitress are very nice and polite which makes the customers have less concern on the time spending to wait the dishes, the limited space and decoration of the restaurant.
Marketing and Sales
It includes the following items:
l Technology
l Product positioning and image
l Relationship with channels and buyers
l Excessive promotion
Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com
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