Discussion about Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) Fast Food Restaurant Cas

Question: Discuss about the Kentucky Fried Chicken Fast Food Restaurant. Answer: Introduction KFC or Kentucky Fried Chicken which is a fast food restaurant mainly specializes in fried chicken and the company has its headquarter at Louisville, Kentucky in United States. It is considered to be the second largest fast food restaurant chain in terms of sales after McDonalds operating globally in 115 countries though its 18000 outlets across the globe (KFC, 2016). The company operates in order to cater to the specific tastes and preferences of its customers and thus emphasizes upon facilitating its customers with high quality products and services. In this context, the operations of the company is supported by highly skilled and experienced employee base responsible for delivering efficiency in both its backstage and frontstage operations. From the analysis of the fast food restaurant operations, I observed the fact that the operations are generally divided into front of the house and back of the house operations. Where in back of the house operations, the areas involved include the purchasing of the materials, the receiving, and storage, issuing preparation of the food, service, sanitation, dishwashing, budgeting, accounting and control, the front of the house of the operations can be related to the individuals and the operations that directly interact with the customers in the dining space. Analyzing the front of the house of the operations at KFC, I became aware of the fact that the managers tend to play a major role. They emphasize upon forecasting the number of guests to be expected on a particular day and communicate the message to the kitchen. This is done by analyzing the arrival of the guests on that particular day in the previous year taking into consideration the factors like the weather conditions, day of the week, events or holidays and others (Greasley, 2008). I observed that the tables are generally 24 to 30 inches square and are placed at equal distance from each other and the tables are also capable of accommodating six people when they are spread open. Once the tables are laid and restaurant is set, the front staff members get involved in quick service meeting and then get into actions. When the guests or the customers enter the restaurant they are greeted by the hosts and they are shown the way to the table. The menus are handed over to the guests and t hey also have the provision of displaying the menus with price on the display screen. Very often, the customers are asked to wait for few minutes so the orders can be spaced out to prevent the kitchen from getting over slammed. The customers are also helped with the menus by the server, offers if any are also explained and their queries are answered. After clearly explaining the menus, the customers allowed the space to decide their menu. Once the customers decide their menu they visit the counter where they place the order and are facilitated with the receipt of the amount that they have to pay for the order placed. After that the order is taken which is again sent to the kitchen and appropiate cutlery is checked for each of the customers and the spoons are added or removed as required. The order once ready is then handed over the customers in a tray. The customers receive the tray and enjoy their menu on their preferred table. Once the customers are done with their food, they are approached by the staff members within the store and are often facilitated with the survey leaflets to collect their valuable feedbacks about their experience within the restaurant outlet (Iredell, 2007). Moreover, from the analysis, I came across that in this overall operation, the managers emphasize upon ensuring the fact that everything is functioning smoothly and are ready to help the staff members and guests in every way possible. On the other hand, I also emphasized upon analyzing the back of the house of operations of KFC. The analysis revealed the fact that the kitchen proves to be the center of production and thus needs to be run properly in order to offer good quality food and presentation so that it can be meet the goals of costing. The chefs are responsible for checking the inventory at the close to ensure sufficient quantities of food for the expected visitors. The suppliers are provided the orders one day before so that the materials get delivered. The prep cooks are assigned with their responsibilities and task the day before and the chef tends to ensure that all the menus are prepared as per the standardized recipes and entire line is ready for the service. During the service delivery, the manager acts as a caller that facilitates in controlling the ordering and expediting of the plates at the pass (Weng et al., 2016). Once the service has been delivered, the food is put away and the cleanup part is done, the par stocks are checked for the next service, orders are made and schedules of production are made and thus it acts as a never ending process. With the passage of time, I have observed that the competition in the fast food restaurant industry has increased with various players like KFC, McDonalds, Subway, Starbucks and thus it becomes important on the part of the fast food restaurants chain like KFC to not only strive towards ensuring operational efficiency, but also take into consideration the aspects like service encounter which is the main aspect that is looked upon by the customers while evaluating a service. Again if the customers are satisfied with the service encounter then it tends to have a positive significant impact on the business profitability through repeat purchases and positive word of mouth marketing. Thus, I can emphasize upon the fact that fast food restaurant should be proactive in their approach to design strategies that are capable of leading the business towards sustainable competitive advantage. Again the service encounter can be looked upon as an area where the promises made by the business are eith er kept or broken and at times it can also be referred to as the real time marketing efforts that are capable of offering high level customer satisfaction and gain customer loyalty (Zeithaml Bitner, 2008). The service encounters also facilitate the customers with the reasons and grounds to develop their perception or opinion towards the business in context to the service quality. Thus, in conclusion, I would like to focus upon the point that with each service encounter, the business has opportunity to enhance the overall satisfaction on the part of the customers. Moreover, in this context I tend to emphasize that where service encounters tend to portray the image the businesses like KFC as a quality service provider, it becomes important that the managers play a major and active role in delivering quality services. Taking into consideration the front stage operations, the managers are responsible to train to the staff members so that they acquire required skills to handle the customers and ensure efficiency in their operations (Drucker and Maciariello, 2008). Moreover, the managers are also responsible for assisting the staff members together with the customers in order to ensure the fact that operational functions are carried out in a smooth manner. They also have the roles and responsibilities of analyzing the external and internal environment to develop strategies so that the business can be led to new heights ahead of the competitors. Conclusion Thus from the above discussions, I would like to derive that a fast food restaurant is characterized with back stage and front stage operations where the managers tend to play a major role in ensuring enhanced service encounters leading to improved overall customer satisfaction. References Drucker, P. and Maciariello, J. (2008).Management. New York, NY: Collins. Greasley, A. (2008).Operations management. Los Angeles: SAGE Publications. Iredell, A. (2007). Control in Food Service Operations.Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly, 4(3), pp.39-45. KFC. (2016).About - KFC: WHAT MADE us GREAT IS STILL WHAT MAKES US GREAT. [online] Available at: https://www.kfc.com/about [Accessed 13 Sep. 2016]. Weng, S., Gotcher, D. and Kuo, C. (2016). Lining up for quick serviceThe business impact of express lines on fast-food restaurant operations.Journal of Foodservice Business Research, pp.1-17. Zeithaml, V.A., Bitner M.J, (2008) Service Marketing, 2nd Edition, McGraw Hill, New York.