Setting peak standards

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The manager plotted the flow of business by hour. This showed where the business peaked. Staffing was also charted (Exhibit 11) and hour-by-hour productivity calculated (Table 4). This showed what was being achieved at peak hours and where the slack in the schedule was. The higher the covers per server-hour, the better the productivity.

Next, staffing standards were developed by determining the coverage needed to service the peak periods. There were at most 11 stations in the 175-seat dining room. The manager estimated that at lunchtime people sat down, ate, and left in 30 minutes or less during the 12.00 to 13.00 period. Because parties of three are seated at tables for four and single guests are seated at tables for two, it is unlikely that all servers would have all seats occupied at one time. It was assumed, therefore, that only 75 per cent of the chairs are occupied even when the restaurant is at full capacity. Thus, the most a server could attain at a 16-seat station during the hour would be two seatings of 12 people, or 24 covers.

This figure assumes that there is a waiting line and that whenever a table is vacated, another party is waiting to sit down. It also assumes that people are able to be served as quickly as they wish, with no slowdowns or delays in service.

With 24 covers per station or server per hour, the manager estimated that a maximum of 262 people could be served at the 12 stations in the peak lunch hour. In other words, for every 24 covers served in that hour, one more server would be required. But the analysis of the week studied shows that only eight servers were needed instead of twelve because an average of 200 people, not 288, were served from 12.00 to 13.00. ( Table 4).