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1.0 Introduction
Byblos is a recently opened restaurant in the campus of Bahrain Polytechnic, like
most business of this nature its purpose is to harvest all the money from its assets
and investments. Byblos follows a management operation method to operate
process effectively and efficiently. Byblos serves a variety of dishes as appropriate
for different times of the day like sandwiches for breakfast and rice for lunch with
a wide range of beverages, snacks and desserts. Furthermore, with a range of
products and services Byblos serves Bahrain polytechnic staff and students which
have contributed in limiting the operations of Byblos. This report will shed light on
and examine matters regarding the management of operations of Byblos.

2.0 4 Vs profile.
This case is an example of the high and low volume, variety, visibility and high
variation in demand.
Volume Dimension

The volume dimension is clearly high and low. Byblos is a relatively popular
restaurant with many branches such as at Bahrain polytechnic university, Gulf Air
hotel, IMERYS in Al-Hidd and Abu Algazali institution. The restaurant has currently
20 employees and has one main manager, assistant director and administrators.
To ensure an accurate and detailed analysis of the volume dimension,
repeatability and systemization were examined in terms of repeatability; it is
analyzed by considering food preparations through the operation and tasks
required by staff. Each group of employees is repeating the same job specially
employees who work inside the kitchen, for instance; number of employees are
required to cut the vegetables only and another group of employees are required
to prepare the bread for the other group who will gathers the whole sandwich.

Also, there are number of employees who are required to do different jobs,
especially in the operations that happen outside the kitchen such as the checkout
and cleaning. For instance, the cashier may work in the checkout area and
sometimes he/she may clean the tables and arrange trays and this example
clarifies the low volume due to low repeatability. Systemization is examined by
looking into the staff and manager systemized factors. Staff and the manager are
also responsible for quality inspections and delivering the meals for customers.
In addition, Byblos uses specialized machines for preparing the meals inside and
outside the kitchen. For instance, some food preparations like sandwiches are
done using specialized machines such as Sunbeam machine and for the coffee
they are using high quality machines like Supreme coffee machine and Nescafe
Alegria machine but for the juices they use the Cofeimell-Italy machine. Another
important example is the walking chiller and the food chiller for buffet and these
chillers are been imported from outside to ensure the high product quality
provided for the customer. Therefore, these uses of specialized machines allow
for high volume and these examples also show the high capital costs. Byblos is
clearly investing in high quality machine in order to meet the demand and support
the restaurant operations. These investments are done in order to meet the
performance objectives of quality, costs, dependability, speed and flexibility.

Here are two real examples for the machines that Byblos use to prepare the
coffee and offer the juices:

Cofeimell-Italy machine

Nescafe Algria machine

Also, these are real examples for the chillers:

Walking chiller area inside the

kitchen

Food chiller used for the buffet area

Variety Dimension
The variety of Byblos restaurant is considered to be both high and low. To clarify
the high dimension here. The operation in Byblos is clearly flexible because they
start ordering when there is high demand in order to meet customers' needs
which is the second implication. For example, the manager states that when there
is high demand on one dish such as salad, the restaurant is able to order new
quantity of vegetables to meet their customers' wants.
Also, Byblos has complex operation in terms of systems that happen in daily basis.
The restaurant has schedule including all the processes at very defined times,
therefore all these implications allows for the high variety. For instance, the
restaurant has specific schedule for every operation such as for deep cleaning,
ordering for the new inventory and receiving the bread in the early morning.
Furthermore, the restaurant also has or includes low variety in some stages in
their operations. The standardization, in terms of the processes such as
restaurant operating five days a week, between hours of 7.30 am and 5.00 pm,
with scheduled processes to manage when they should take place. For example,
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schedule that includes timing for cleaning, ordering new products, cutting
vegetables and preparing the food. Although Byblos has complex system, but all it
processes and operations are done in routine approach because the tasks are
repeated every working day regardless the days that need to order new
inventory. These two implications (standardization and routine) show clearly the
low dimension for the variety in this case.
Variation Dimension

The variation in demand dimension is high. Byblos operates during all the
semester which means the restaurants will definitely face seasonal factor of
demand effects. In fact, the manager states that there is high demand on the
restaurant at the end of each semester because of exams. Students are highly
attracted to stay in the restaurant because they order meals while they are
studying and working on assignments. Thus, this example clearly shows the
anticipation implication for the high variation because in some periods staffs are
able to anticipate for any demand fluctuations. The second implication is
flexibility. As it explained in variety section, the restaurant is flexible for offering
another new quantity of food in order to touch the demand and meet their
customers' needs especially during the exams and events.
Visibility Dimension

Visibility is high and low. Byblos has two ways for ordering, regular ordering from
the menu or delivery ordering within polytechnic campus. Both ways allow for
low visibility because when the customer/student orders from the menu or asks
for delivery (back-office which means activities are rarely seen by the customers),
he's/she's actually not involving in the restaurant operation. Which means
ordering from the menu operation activity does not allow the customer to
participate within the activity. For example, when the student orders a sandwich
from the menu, he/she is not part of making and preparing the sandwich in the
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kitchen. And the same manner for the delivery, because the customer dose not
involve in making the meals activity, but he's/she's just receiving the meal and
paying.
What's more, when the customer orders from the buffet (front-office which
means activities are totally visible for customers), he's/she's actually involving in
the operation activity because he/she can see how the dish can be prepared in
the plate and he/she may also ask the employee to add or remove some
ingredients from the meal.
These three ways clarify the high and low visibility because when the customer
become a part of the operation activity (buffet) the visibility is high, but when
he's/she's not involving in the operation (delivery and menu), then the visibility is
low. To clarify the high and low visibility regarding the implications in this case,
the high staff utilization and medium standardization tasks are clearly showed the
low visibility. The staff in Byblos can not be absent at work because the restaurant
is highly depend on staff capacity to accomplish tasks. Which means most of the
tasks are done by staff first hand rather than using electronic machines that will
prepare the meals or clean the tables, that means Byblos is using their staff utilize
efficiently.
In terms of standardization, some employees' tasks are standard especially for
those who work within the kitchen as it explained in volume dimension, and some
of employees may have different tasks to do. However, satisfaction governed by
customer perception allows for the high visibility in this operation. According to
the manager is that students keep visiting the restaurant even in the normal
studying days, because students are fully aware that the restaurant is able to
meet their expectations and satisfy them easily. Another implication for the high
visibility is the short waiting tolerance because according to staff working in
buffet section; the time lag between ordering the meal to receiving it will not be
for more than 19 minutes which means the customer will not feel bored for
waiting long time until receiving the order.
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The importance of understanding the operations position on the 4 V's

throughout:
Positioning the four dimensions is vital to the restaurant as the products and
services it produces is the basis for the business existing. Thus, the operation
processes take their inputs such as raw materials, knowledge, capital, equipment
and time, and transform them into outputs like products and services.
Understanding the dimension position will help the restaurant to allocate the
resources that are constant to the production and delivery of products and
services.
Also, understanding the how the operation is positioned will help the company to
manage their operation effectively because through this step the company can
reduce the cost and control it by increasing the profit and satisfy the customers in
offering them high quality products and services but also make sure that the
company is able to reduce the amount of investments (e.g. capital employed) in
order to use the resources effectively and in innovative way. Understanding the
operation position will also help the restaurant to identity if they are keeping
transformation costs down or up; therefore it is important to ensure that the
company is meeting the demand of the market with no high costs ("Chapter 8
slides," 2012).

3.0 Operations performance objectives

Quality
Byblos provides fresh food by using fresh raw materials such as vegetables, meat
& chicken on a daily basis after submitting a previous order each Saturday
morning. Also, using high-tech machines such as coffee, juice maker and modern
ovens are signs of high quality. What's more, cooking meals is completely visible
as there is a big transparent window that enables consumers how staff works in
the kitchen considering all of the health and safety codes standardized by the
ministry of Health such as wearing cooking gloves and head covers while cooking
and serving customers. In addition, the time between producing and consuming is
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very short as the customer receives his order after 10 minutes in maximum. As for
the buffet, trays of food are kept in hot water to keep it warm. Moreover, staff
inspects each meal before presenting it or delivering it to customers. Supervisors
& managers observe the process daily in the kitchen and the store to minimize
the chances of making mistakes. The Internal benefit of such a high quality
operation is increasing the dependability; because Byblos is keeping their promise
in providing high quality food to satisfy customers which will lead to an increase in
their revenue. The external benefit regarding the operation within the kitchen is
the usage of raw materials such as fresh vegetables, meat and higher quality of
machines that results the ability of providing high quality gourmet food to satisfy
customers.
Cost
Since the volume is high due for having the largest restaurant operations in
campus, it prepares high quality food by orders and buffet prepared every two
hours and once a dish is empty it can be replaced right away in few minutes. Staff
in the kitchen uses high quality machines & equipments inside and outside the
kitchen, such as: cashiers machine. It has a high cost, because these costs is are
spent on dealing with different suppliers such as: chicken farms; transferring the
raw materials delivery and labor. Internal benefit: all performance objectives
affect cost which leads in having a high cost. External benefit: low price, high
margin.
Dependability
Byblos receives orders and prepares it within 10 minutes and usually taking it to
the customer's table. What's more, Byblos has a delivery service to other
buildings in campus. In addition, the amount of raw materials and stored food in
the restaurant is enough to avoid disappointing customers. For instance, the
manager orders 60 KG of rice 3 weeks ahead before the available rice gets out of
stock. Byblos staff guarantees that what you see is what you get as soon as
possible, such as: the buffet, customer choose what he/she likes and receives the
dish at the same time. As well as, ensuring the availability of all whats mentioned
in the menu & preparing it. Internal benefit: Since Byblos keeps its promises and
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be on time as this is considered as cost and money effective. External benefit:

Byblos is reliable in delivering food, customers can depend on Byblos to make
orders that are mentioned in the menu and receive it within 10 minutes or less,
this makes customers trust Byblos.

Speed
Byblos once gets orders, tries to prepare it within 10 minutes. Also, a finished dish
from a tray such as pasta would be replaced with a new ready pasta tray right
after 10 minutes or less. Internal benefit: decreases inventories because getting
many orders in short period, buffet trays can be completed each day, this would
lead to not having a lot of inventory that would be in stock and getting expired in
short period and not being used at all.
Flexibility
It has higher flexibility since having 20 staff working in this restaurant. Tasks are
divided on these staff by schedule. Byblos is able to change in cost such as
providing discounts on specific meals like the pizza which it was for 2 BD and now
for 1,500 BD. Additionally beside the regular daily dishes like Pasta of the day
chicken Biryani, there is special dishes of each day during the week days, such as:
on Wednesday serving beef broccoli, beef steak, chicken sweet & sour with
steamed rice and crunchy chicken wrap. Byblos has the ability to provide high
amount of food for special occasions such as: the national day event. Also, it has
the ability to manage 100 customers at the same time, since there is a queue for
the buffet and staff to assist customers. Internal benefit: flexibility helps in
making responses quicker regarding to customers & demand fluctuations. Also, it
helps in remaining dependability. External benefit: Byblos has frequency in
providing new products each day, every day the menu of buffet is changed which
leads customers have a wide range in trying new dishes every time.

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4.0 Aggregate demand and capacity

To manage capacity a series of decisions must be made in order to reach fare
certainty of the demand and capacity and the ability to meet that demand and
manage it. The first step to reach capacity management is to measure the
aggregate demand and capacity of Byblos after that an appropriate capacity plan
will be identified and suggested with consideration of Byblos operation nature.
To reach a conclusion on the aggregate demand and capacity levels for a 12
month planning period from January 2015 - December 2015 many factors must be
considered like the number of people taking advantage and benefiting from
Byblos services and products, annual demand and the capacity.
To measure the annual demand an observation was done in Byblos for a period of
three hours divided equally with consideration of the usual meals timings which
are breakfast, brunch and lunch. Moreover, the observations were based on
counting the number of people from Bahrain polytechnic staff and students
walking into Byblos restaurant. To increase accuracy of the observation, only the
people walking into Byblos restaurant and actually ordering were counted and the
number of people just walking in and using the eating area for other purposes
was excluded.
The first observation was conducted for a period of one full hour starting 10AM
to 11AM with an aim to measure the demand for breakfast. The finding of the
first observation was that 67 people, including Bahrain Polytechnic staff and
students only, walked in Byblos restaurant and ordered. The second observation
was during brunch time and took place for an hour starting 12AM to 1PM. The
findings of the second observation stated that 155 people from Bahrain
Polytechnic staff and students walked in Byblos at that time and ordered. Finally
the third observation was conducted for an hour starting 2PM to 3PM. The third
observation finding was that 45 people from Bahrain Polytechnic staff and
students walked into Byblos and ordered. The findings of the observations were
used to identify the average number of people ordering from Byblos per hour
through using the Mean formula. The Mean formula requires adding the findings
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and dividing them on the number of the finding. The figures from the findings
which are 67, 155 and 45 were added, equaling to 267, and then divided by 3,
which is the number of the findings, and then the answer to the equation stated
that 89 is the average number of people ordering from Byblos per hour.
To find the average number of people ordering from Byblos per day, the figure for
the number of people ordering from Byblos per hour is multiplied by the number
of working hours per day. According to Byblos manager, Byblos operates from
7:30AM to 5PM which is exactly 9 and a half hours of operations every day and
from that the average of people ordering every day, which is 89, when multiplied
by 9.5 hour, results in the average number of people ordering per day which is
846 students and staff from Bahrain Polytechnic.
Finally, to calculate the annual demand the average of the daily demand on
Byblos is multiplied by the number of days per year in which Byblos is opened. To
find number of days of operating for Byblos, the number of annual leaves,
religious holidays, non-teaching days, official holiday, Etc is deducted from the
number of days per year Byblos will have to operate if there were no holidays,
just weekends, which will be 183 days. In this case the average daily demand of
846 is multiplied by 183 to result in the figure of 154,818 as an annual demand.

23

25
20

21

20

19

18 18 17

17
13

15

10
7

10
5

Number of days operating in

2015 (Without holidays)

Month

12

December

November

October

September

August

July

June

May

April

March

February

0
January

Number of days per month

Number of days operating in 2015 (Without

holidays)

To calculate the capacity, the number of chairs available in Byblos restaurant was
calculated to decide upon and indicate the scale of the operations of Byblos which
was 350. As a result, Byblos can only satisfy the demand of 350 people only at a
time.
Considering the fact that the demand can vary according to religious holidays like
Ramadhan or Eid, timings of the day, usual classes breaks and annual holidays of
staff due to not operating and closing up during those days when no staff and
students are on campus, alternative capacity management plan must be
considered by Byblos to cope up with demand changes. Organizations have 3
different options when planning for capacity management which are to chase the
demand, level the capacity or manage the demand. When looking at Byblos, it is
believed that the most appropriate capacity management plan is demand
management. Unlike the leveling in capacity, demand management will not leave
Byblos with unsold products that cannot be stored considering the nature of
Byblos products and services which usually are perishable and only bought and
demanded fresh. Furthermore, demand cannot be chased by Byblos as incase of
extra demand on Byblos it is just not possible or reasonable to buy extra capacity
other than the already existing 350 chairs or storages which may also cause
discomfort to customers and is hard to achieve. Additionally, Byblos cannot follow
the demand chasing plan as it yet not reasonable to hire staff for the peak hours
or days as simply managing the demand is less costly and more rational.
Managing the demand plan requires change in the demand through applying a
specific pricing strategy which provides some offers on specific products during
specific timing to encourage more demand on hours where the demand is usually
not very high and therefore reducing the demand and the load of peak hours
where capacity becomes hard to manage. For example, looking at the observation
findings we notice that during some hours the number of people ordering from
Byblos was higher than others, the finding of the second observation was 155 and
on the third observation were 45. Assuming that the timing of the second
observation was the peak hour of the day which was causing a load on the staff
and queuing due to any circumstances, a sale or offer on specific products on the

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hour with the least visitors is made to encourage people to buy at the time with
fewer demand rather than the peak hour.

5.0 Inventory
Inventory is a list of items that a company keeps in stock for the purpose of resale or prepare for production use and it needs to be managed in order to reduce
costs and loses by following the best methods to avoid damage or expiry of
products and ensure that there are enough quantities to avoid products running
out of stock issue in order to cover the demand for a certain period of time.
A survey has been conducted in order to know the 4 most demanded products
offered by Byblos Restaurant at Bahrain Polytechnic. It has been distributed on
222 students and staff randomly at Byblos; this number represents 10% of
Bahrain Polytechnic Population which is 2220 which is called sample size.
Conducting a survey on the whole population would be difficult and very time
consuming unlike the sample which is easier, time-effective and representative to
the whole population. Although having a 10% sample size is not ideal when
considering the appropriate method of calculating the sample size, it was chosen
due to time limitation.
The survey has resulted that the 4 most demanded products in Byblos are water
(78), Pepsi (70), potato chips (52) and chocolate (48).
Economic order quantity (EOQ) and re-order point (ROP) formulas need to be
calculated to know the economic quantity to order for most demanded items and
the re-order point will identify the re-order point which will help avoiding items
running out of stock.
Economic order quantity (EOQ) and re-order point for each of these products are
calculated using:

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 The estimated annual demand for each item from the total annual demand
which 154,818 per year for the period from January 2015 to December
2015. The estimated annual demand for each item is calculated by
multiplying the total annual demand by the item demand percentage%
from the survey.
Order cost per order: calculating the order cost by multiplying the unit cost
by the standard quantity ordered by Byblos.
Unit cost: contacted the suppliers to find out the unit cost (per box).
Annual holding cost rate: 25%
Lead time: 1 for all the items as what the supervisor of Byblos and suppliers
stated when contacted.

Formulas:

ROP= Average Daily Demand/Lead Time

Item annual demand= Total annual demand x percentage of the item's
demand
Average Daily Demand= item annual demand/ company working days

Water:
The annual demand for an item needs to be calculated by this formula:
D= Total annual demand x percentage of the item's demand
154,181 x 35.14%= 54,179
D

54,179
15

24

0.8

25%

Lead time

EOQ= 3,606 (the economic and ideal quantity to order)

ROP= Average Daily Demand x Lead Time
ROP= (Annual Demand/working days) x lead time
(54,179/183) x 1 = 296 (when this much is left it is then when Byblos must reorder)
Pepsi:
D= Total annual demand x percentage of the item's demand
154,181 x 31.53% = 48,613
D

48,613

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2.8

25%

Lead time

EOQ= 1,972(the economic and ideal quantity to order)

ROP= Average Daily Demand x Lead Time
ROP= (Annual Demand/working days) x lead time
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(48,613/183) x 1 = 267 (when this much is left it is then when Byblos must reorder)

Potato Chips:
D= Total annual demand x percentage of the item's demand
154,181 x 23.42% = 36,109
D

36,109

0.8

25%

Lead time

EOQ= 1,202(the economic and ideal quantity to order)

ROP= Average Daily Demand x Lead Time
ROP= (Annual Demand/working days) x lead time
ROP= (36,109/183) x 1 = 197 (when this much is left it is then when Byblos must
re-order)

Chocolate:
D= Total annual demand x percentage of the item's demand
154,181 x 21.62% = 33,334
D

33,334

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17

3.6

25%

Lead time

EOQ= 1,155(the economic and ideal quantity to order)

ROP= Average Daily Demand x Lead Time
ROP= (Annual Demand/working days) x lead time
(33,334/183) x 1 = 182(when this much is left it is then when Byblos must reorder)
Re-order level graphs:

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To determine the level of control to apply on different items sold by Byblos, the
ABC method of classification is applied. The ABC method uses the Pareto principle
to differentiate between the value of each item and its importance. The
importance of items can be measured either using the usage rate of the item to
avoid running out and causing disappointment of customers or importance can be
measured according to how high the value of the item or how expensive which in
Byblos case makes more sense to depend on. Although the products demanded
the most by consumers are water, chocolate bars, Pepsi and potato chips,
classifying them as A, B or C level to place specific level of control will not make
sense as the value of those products are approximately the least comparing to the
other products. Running out of Pepsi, water, chocolate bars and potato chips will
not cause as much as running out and not satisfying customers need for products
that have the highest value, are the most expensive and impact and generate
Byblos more revenue. Considering the Pareto law which states that 80% of
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operations sales come from 20% of all stocked items, the items that will be
classified as A level and Byblos cannot afford to run out from are the Chicken
Steak and Mushroom Sauce, Beef Steak and Mushroom Sauce and Beef Steak and
Pepper Sauce all sold for 2.200BD. The B level item is the grilled fish which is sold
for 2.000BD. The C level item is the Beef Broccoli which is sold for 1.800BD. When
looking at the prices of the products levelled as A, B and C the rationality in
choosing to place control on product with high value instead of use increases,
Byblos will need to sell 22 bottles of water to make Byblos the profit it would
generate from selling one Beef Steak and Mushroom Sauce and that is why Byblos
cannot afford to run out of the ABC classified items and high level of controlled
must be placed on.

6.0 Gantt Chart

The following Gantt chart will provide a visual representation of the start and
finish times for activities that take place in Byblos:

20

21

22

The following Gantt chart is a recommendation regarding the sequence of

activities taking place in Byblos:

The implications of these improvements on Byblos are the benefits it will gain
from changing some sequence of work. Work tackled on Sunday, Monday,
Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday has not been changed as it does not need
improvement because the activities taking place on these days are mostly
controlled by the schedules of suppliers for receiving orders and delivering,
according to the manager of Byblos, and are generally usual day-to-day activities
for any restaurant having the same nature as Byblos.
On Saturday it is recommended to change the timing for the weekly preparation
like marinating and cutting from 3PM - 5PM to 8AM 10AM to make time for
cleaning. More to that, instead of cleaning twice on Saturday, it is recommended
to dedicate one period of the day to deep clean, rearrange the kitchen, dining
tables and menus from 11AM to 5PM. As a result of changing the number of
periods dedicated for cleaning, Byblos will save more time for other activities and
will also save employee effort. Those changes can save Byblos a lot of money, as
by deep cleaning once after finishing the utilization of the kitchen there will be no
need to consume more cleaning detergents or equipment which will consume
more money if finished more frequently. Moreover, it is more rational to clean
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one instead of cleaning once and the morning and once before leaving and using
the kitchen area. It is not very rational to do the accounting work and inventory
filings before inspecting the existing inventory as if it was done the other way
around, a lot of confusion will be created and money might be wasted due to
insufficient calculation of the inventory.
To monitor the occurrence of planned activities a sequence of activities is
followed. Through monitoring the outputs of the operations Byblos will gain the
advantage to compare plan with the activities that are supposed to happen and
making improvements. The first step is to compare the output to the actual
operation and process. Then any deviations from the plan should be changed and
controlled by an intervention and taken into account in a re-planning activity
which will assure that the plan is followed as expected.

7.0 Quality Management

1. Step 1 and 2: defining quality characteristics of the service or product and
how to measure each quality characteristics

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Quality characteristics of Byblos operations

Functionality:
Food that is clean and edible.
Describes how well the
Must not cause any kind of sickness to consumers of the
product or service is fit
products provided.
for purpose.
Products provided must be up to standards of the claimed
freshness and cleanness.
Must not be made of or is unfit for use due to expiration of
its shelf life or expiry date which may cause health issues
to consumers
Appearance:
Food served smells good, looks appealing, tastes good and
Examines the
must be fresh.
characteristics of the
Ingredients used are fresh.
product or service
provided by Byblos like
its look, feel or smell.
Reliability:
Consistency in the quality of food provided to consumers
Reliability and
including freshness and temperature.
steadiness of the
How often complaints are received.
products or services
performance over time.
Durability:
The length of the useful
life of the product
provided by Byblos.
Contact:
The ability of
consumers to have
person-to-person
contact with manager
or staff.

Usefulness and useful life of products/food.

Availability of staff and manager to contact and make

complaints or discuss matters regarding the products of
Byblos.
The attitude of staff.
Knowledge and courtesy of staff and manager.

To measure the characteristics variables and attributes are used:

Variables
Functionality

Attributes

How long does it

take on average for
each customer to
receive his/her
order
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Was the food

acceptable?
Is the food up to the
claimed level of
cleanness?

 Number of
customers receiving
their order per hour
Number of
plates/meals
bought by
consumers without
having to return
them
The actual
temperature of
food served
comparing to the
acceptable
temperature of
food served

Is the food fresh?

Well the food
causes any kind of
sickness to
consumers?
Is the temperature
of food served
acceptable?
Is the method of
cooking food an
acceptable healthy
method that follows
the codes of
hygienic and
healthy cooking?

Appearance

The numbers of
plates which food
are served on that
are not satisfactorily
cleaned
Number of
customers who
brought back or
returned their food
due to their
unacceptable
appearance

Is the staff following

the health and
safety requirement
(Like disposable
gloves, head
capes...) when
dealing with food?
Does the staff
hygiene level allow
them to deal with
food?

Reliability

Proportion of meals
that are served to
consumers on the
scheduled time
The average time

Did consumers
complaints?
Is there consistency
in the acceptable
temperature of the

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Durability

Recovery

Contact

between complaints
from consumers.
The number of
complaints per
week.
The acceptable life
length for meals
provided (For how
long can consumers
keep the
sandwiches sold by
Byblos before
eating them)
Time it takes to
change the meals
from the time
consumers return
them due to faults
or not following the
accepted level of
quality.
Number of meals
suffering from
failures in quality
changed to meet
satisfactory levels of
quality.
On a scale of 1 to 5,
1 being very
satisfactory and 5
being not
satisfactory, how
helpful are the
staffs to consumers.
On a scale of 1 to 5,
1 being very
satisfactory and 5
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food served?

Is the food served

before its expiry
date or within its
acceptable shelf
life?

Does staff deal well

with complaints
from consumers?
Are staffs trained to
deal with
complaints?

Did customers feel

like that the staffs
are helpful?
Did customers feel
like staffs are wellmannered?
Did customers feel
like staffs are
available for
contact?

being not
satisfactory, how
well did staff treat
consumers
On a scale of 1 to 5,
1 being very friendly
and 5 being not
friendly at all, how
friendly and
respectful are the
staffs to consumers.

Did customers feel

like staffs are
welcoming?

Step 3: Setting quality standards.

Functionality

Standards
Following the Ministry of Health procedures
and codes for healthy methods of cooking,
preparation of food and serving to ensure high
quality products that wont cause consumers
any kind of illness.
Storing food accordingly with the ideal
temperature for storing and freezing. Food
must be kept in a refrigerate set to 40 F of
bellow and frozen in a freezer set to 0 F to
match the requirement of health and safety
from the government of Bahrain.
Food must be served to consumer in
approximately 5 minutes to avoid it cooling of
or going bellow or above the required
temperature and to avoid customer
disappointment by keeping up with
consumers tolerant time.
Food served must be according to the ideal
expected temperature of the ordered
products. (Coffee or tea is served between 60
C and 70 C which is the acceptable
temperature)
28

 Appearance

Reliability

Durability

Contact

Products served must not be expired and the

ingredients used must not be after its shelf life.
Kitchenware used for serving must be clean
fully and hygienic.
Smell of food must be appealing and does not
cause any discomfort to consumers.
Staff must always follow the Ministry of health
procedures of wearing disposable gloves, head
capes, apparels and using sanitizers to ensure
health, safety, cleanness and hygiene.
Ingredients used must be fresh and not
perishable.
Food served to consumers must always be o
the same level of freshness.
Food served must be up to the expected
temperature.
Complaints must not be very often. The
average number of complaints is 3 complaints
per week and all must be solved.
All products must have an expiry date printed
on their packaging to avoid consumers eating
them after its expiry dates. (The sandwiches
sold must all have an expiry dates printed on)
Food must be served before its expiry date.
Staffs are trained to deal with complaints as
soon as it arrives.
Consumers must be satisfied with the way they
are treated which can be measured by a
suggestion box or feedback form in which
consumer satisfaction can be measured.
Staff must be monthly evaluated through
observation to measure their level knowledge
and manners.

Step 4: Control quality against those standards.

29

1. Where is the operation should they check that it is confirming to standards.

Regular checks must be done in 3 different process of the operation:
A. At start of the process: Incoming inventory must be checked and inspected to
ensure cleanness and high quality before using of storing the inventory to avoid using
them and costing the company time and money in case the inventory was not up to
standard.
B. During the process: Ingredients must be checked before starting the cooking or
preparation process to assure not losing money and time as if we cooked the
ingredients together and one was not up to standard all the other products must be not
used too.
C. After the process: Food/products must be checked before being served to
consumer to assure providing the consumers the high quality expected. The taste,
cleanness and temperature must be checked in this process.
2. Should they check everything or take a sample
Having a sample checked is very more convenient than checking every product.
Considering the fact that Byblos must sometimes be overloaded with customer, it is
rational to have a sample consisting of 25% of all products to be checked to guarantee
high quality. Having to check all the products may not be suitable as it will consume a
lot of time and effort and may also cause delay in customer receiving their order.
3. How should checks be performed
A check using the Statistical Process control, which is the most common method, is the
appropriate method to ensure monitoring the quality over period of time to make sure
that the company is not very often under the standard of quality.

Step 5 and 6: Find and correct causes of poor quality and continue to make
improvement.
Total quality management outlines how much quality improved and how to form
the improvements into a self sustaining activity.

30

8.0 Recommendations
Recommendations for improvement of customers satisfaction level and
profitability of Byblos:
1. It is recommended to develop a system in which all data regarding inventory is put in like the
number of products sold per day, number of existing inventory and number of inventory required
to meet demand. By aligning IT with Byblos, the use of old fashioned methods of calculating
inventory will be vanished by the use of developed systems that will allow minimizing the chances
of miss-calculation which costs Byblos a lot of money and time. Having a system that includes all
the data regarding inventory and the data about number of inventory ordered and existed in the
past will definitely help identifying the demand in certain occasions. For example, looking at the
data of inventory of last week can help give an idea about the required number of inventory to
order.
2. Developing a process that the work should be tackled according to will help certainly with
identifying whether or not the process followed is achieving the performance objectives. Having a
process map which identifies the when and what activities are done during the process and the
flow of material and information will help minimize the throughput time (the time each unit
requires to move through the process) and will also minimize the work waiting to be progressed
and the cycles time (average time between outputs existing the process). Identifying the process
and the map will ease up the process of identifying any faults in the operation that is costing
money and maximizing the time and effort required to produce a product and also maximize
customer satisfaction by providing products fast. Furthermore, through recognizing the
throughput time, work in progress and the cycle time, following the Littles Law will assist in
finding the accurate number of employees required for each process to maximize utilization of
human capital and effort and consequently minimize cost from effectively utilizing efforts which
matches effort requirement for each process.
3. It is suggested to have a suggestion box or do a frequent survey to measure the gap between
the customer perception of the product and services and the customers expectation from the
products and services. As a result of measuring the gap in quality, identifying the factors that
will increase customer satisfaction and increase demand.
4. Byblos is recommended to change their ordering schedule from placing orders of meat, fish
and chicken twice a week to once a week. As storing/freezing meat, fish and chicken does not
cause any health issues, ordering once a week will help minimize the time and effort dedicated
from the process of ordering, and maximizing the benefits of having an economic of scale.
According to Byblos manager, the restaurant management has a plan of expanding its kitchen
and so it is recommended to benefit from that space by expanding the storage of inventory area
to minimize the cost of ordering units in limited quantity. Ordering bigger quantity once a week
will lead the supplier to offer Byblos less cost for units.
31

5. As observed, Byblos does not place any expiry dates on packed sandwiches sold while the
main competitor does so and nevertheless it is more aligned with the ministry of health codes
and recommendation. Having set an expiry date on packed sandwiches will increase customer
level of satisfaction and perceived quantity. Furthermore, it will set the standard for the
appearance and functionality of the product, will reduce the chances of consumers getting any
kind of illness which will ruin the reputation of Byblos and will ease up the process of
measuring high quality factors.

9.0 Conclusion
In conclusion, all the matters regarding Byblos operation has been done with
consideration of Byblos business nature. Findings of this research were gathered
from research, Byblos manager and employees and surveys and interviews

10.0 References

Chapter 8 slides operations management. (2012, October 18). Retrieved from

http://www.slideshare.net/sthemiso/chapter-8-slides-operations-management

32

11.0Appendix:

Survey findings
18
4
2
24
10

614
641

24

42

pasta
chocolate

48

pepsi
water

52

70

milk
chicken cashew
chicken noodles

8
222
62
4
16

jacket potato
salad

16
6
16

78 33
212

soup
coffee

20

4 20

10
10 10 10

tea