Data in Action: Improving Your Speed of Service

Krista remembers the day they brought the second grill into their kitchen. It was an original decision for the restaurant. They’d been struggling with their kitchen processes to improve the speed of service. Initially, many wondered if it was the right way to go. Now, she’d hate to think where they’d be without it. Krista decided on the purchase after running a Speed of Service report from the ConnectSmart® Kitchen Enterprise portal. While analyzing one particular night, she noticed that her kitchen processed 139 entrees. Of those orders, 25% of them took over 20 minutes to cook from start to finish. While they were exceeding the 20% limit they’d set for themselves, Krista couldn’t help but think about those 35 unhappy customers, awaiting their overdue food. In this report, she noticed a pattern in her restaurant: when they processed more than 120 entrees, they strayed further from their goal of keeping orders under 20 minutes. In conjunction, food quality and customer satisfaction metrics tended to slip on these nights as the kitchen became more overloaded. On nights when order counts stayed below 120, the kitchen worked well within their threshold, with only 5% of their orders exceeding 20 minutes. From here, Krista had to decide whether she should invest in the additional labor and onboarding or determine another solution. With data and a little brainstorming on her side, she decided to bring a second grill station into the kitchen. This way, when entree counts exceed 120, the kitchen can still handle the order traffic without entrees getting backed up. Since the kitchen only gets slammed in a particular window, they can forecast and prepare. Then, they can return to normal operations without sending anyone home. This saves money and time on labor allocation. CSK’s best in class kitchen display system gives users a direct window into the granular workings of their operation so they can strategize for success. Nowadays, Krista’s kitchen runs in tip-top shape. They rarely see an order exceed 20 minutes, and when it does, they’ve got a strategy in place to right any wrongs. Not to mention, the marked increases in sales, productivity, and guest experience mean the restaurant performs better than ever. And it all started with a decision made from a CSK speed of service report. Subscribe to the blog for more interesting restaurant content!

About the Author

Dylan Chadwick is a Content Marketing Specialist at QSR Automations. He graduated from Brigham Young University with an English degree and journalism focus and loves to write about technology. When left to his own devices, he enjoys loud music, adorable dogs and documentaries about the aforementioned.