ORDER FULFILLMENT PROCESS

AT DOLLOPS

Prepared for
Project submission for PGDM
MNCN 2
TAPMI

Prepared by
Group AK2
Section 7
MNCN 2
T. A. Pai Management Institute - 576104
February 28, 2015

Letter of Transmittal

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
ORDER FULFILLMENT PROCESS
AT DOLLOPS
Group AK2
February 28, 2015

The purpose of this study is to zero in on the processes involved in the daily
functioning of a local restaurant named, Dollops. The reason for the same is
to better understand the functioning of the service industry, specifically a
restaurant. The scope of the study ranged from assessing the procurement of
the raw material all the way up to the collection of payment from the
customers and the detailed processed involved in the same.
The methodology involved in support of collecting the attributes included indepth interviews with the managers and owners of the establishment and
from secondary data received from past records of the restaurant and
observing the daily work processes apart from collection of attributes from
external sources like the internet.
The results of the above observational study pinpointed the attributes and
confirmed the existence of all the viable business processes involved from
procurement of the raw materials from the suppliers to the billing and
collection of the profits from the customers. It also explained why and how
the processes for the same have evolved to the current state and thus have
contributed to our understanding of the processes involved in running
restaurant services.

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CONTENTS

MEMO(LETTER) OF TRANSMITTAL

ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

iii

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

iv

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
GLOSSARY
INTRODUCTION
Background
Problem Statement
Motivation
Coverage and Scope
Limitations
Report Organization
Procedures

METHODOLOGY
Objectives
Research Techniques
FINDINGS
Knowledge of Benefits
Familiarity with Benefits
Present Methods of Communication
Preferred Methods of Communication
Opinions of Present Methods
Importance of Benefits
Satisfaction with Benefits
Desirability of Additional Benefits
SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Summary of the Problem and Procedures
Summary of the Findings
Conclusions and Recommendations

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APPENDIX
A. Cover Letter
B. Questionnaire
REFERENCES

18

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Tables
Figures

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16

ORDER FULFILLMENT PROCESS

AT DOLLOPS

INTRODUCTION
Order fulfillment refers to the chain of events starting from the point-ofservice/sales inquiry encompassing all activities employed for successful
delivery of product to customer. Essentially it is a process of receiving,
processing, delivering orders to customers. In this report, we focused on the
order fulfillment process followed by Manipals famous restaurant Dollops.
Dollops as we know it was not how its founders envisioned it, the reason it first
came into existence was in order to dispense the ice creams produced by the
mother company. They have come a long way since then and have
incorporated many changes since its inception.
The establishment was first registered under the name of Rusta Zavia which
sold ice creams as produced by the company Rusta Zavia about 25 years ago.
Students who studied in Manipal were their initial target market and Rusta
Zavia reemerged as Dollops after the ice cream parlor set shop due to losses,
Dollops digressed from being an ice-cream parlor to a snack joint and
subsequently moved to cater to a wider market as a fully-fledged restaurant
about 15 years back.
Dollops has metamorphosed from a small ice cream shop vendor in to a fullfledged restaurant by correctly identifying a few Key Performance Indicators
(KPI) and adopting a business strategy centered around these KPIs.
As the restaurants offerings changed over time, the operations and the work
processes have also evolved. Although details of these changes would be
discussed in detail in the coming modules, It is clear that the company, over
time has perfected its work processes and the success of the same is currently
observable as confirmed by the ratings and compliments from tripadvisor, and
Google+.

BUSINESS OVERVIEW
The services provided at Dollops include provision of meals, drinks for immediate
consumption, take-out and home delivery. While Chinese cuisine remains the
customers favorite, Tandoori and Indian cuisine see a fluctuating demand. Dollops
differentiates itself from other local restaurants with respect to the main chefs popular
cuisines and the service model that allows customer service within a reasonable
timeframe. Dollops aims at providing services with least possible lead time.
The competitive advantage of Dollops is low-cost leadership. Dollops offers a wide
variety of food items at low costs. With students forming its primary business market
segment, Dollops wins over its competitors by appealing to cost-conscious student
community. Thus the business runs on low marginal profit model. With the restaurant
operating for more than 25 years, Dollops has seen an increasing learning-experience
curve effect.
Restaurant Services Global context

Restaurant services in Indian Context

Sales
At Home

5.06; 5% 1.26; 1%
6.33; 6%
50.63; 51%
36.7; 37%

Fig 1.1 Sector-by-Sector Volume Share

Away From Home Mainstream

Away from Home Speciality
Coffee
Others

The pie chart in the figure 1.1 shows the sector by sector volume share percentage of
Indians choice of consumption of food. Take away services and home delivery form a
huge segment followed by dining away from home. Dollops serves both these
segments and thus can earn a huge revenue in its areas of operation.

Sales

3% 5%

22%

Fine dining
Casual dining
Quick service restaurants
Cafes
Pubs and bars

44%
26%

Fig 1.2 Sales volume percentage in various segments in India

Restaurant market in India is growing fast due to increasing number of people eating
out. In the Manipal city, 90% of the population is the student community and the
student intake has been growing rapidly at a rate of 10% every 5 years.

ORDER FULFILLMENT PROCESS

Dollops follows Build-To-Order (BTO) / Make-To-Order (MTO) order fulfillment
strategy. In this strategy the willingness of the customer to wait is greater than the
production lead time. However the success depends on minimizing the customer
waiting-time. The final product, the food item to be delivered has a standard design
but the product processing depends on the customer preferences/specifications.

Food Services Market Size

300000
250000
200000
150000
100000
50000
0

2013

2018

Size of Licensed Stand alone Food Services Market

80000
70000
60000
50000
40000
30000
20000
10000
0

2013

2018

AS-IS PROCESS
The order fulfillment process at Dollops starts with the customer placing the order. The
waiter, who provides the menu, takes down the customer order and prepares a
Kitchen Order Ticket (from here on referred as KTO). The waiter confirms the order

by repeating the food items ordered to the customer. He makes 2 copies of the KTO,
one to be handed-over to the Barker and the other is directed to the billing desk.
Dollops uses a Barker-centric order processing system in which the Barker ensures
the timely delivery of assured quality order. When the food is cooked by the chef with
the assistance of helper staff, the Barker directs the waiter to serve the food at the
appropriate table. The waiter collects the bill from the bill desk and produces it to the
customer at his request towards the end of the meal.
Responsibilities of Barker

Barker segregates multiple orders and assigns orders to the chefs and cooks
according to the multiplicity of a food item ordered by various customers,

availability of vacant burners, cooks, urgency of the order

Directs orders to kitchen staff based on the collected customer preference
Guides/ routes orders to appropriate cooks Tandoori/Chinese/Indian cooks
Tests quality of the cooked food items
Coordinates with waiter and guides waiter to serve food items at appropriate

tables
Stock estimation forecasts for the following month

Responsibilities of Waiter

Waiter assumes a dual role of waiting on the tables, cleaning up of tables after

the customers exit

Coordinates with the Barker in serving food to the customer
Coordinates with the bill desk to prepare the billing for the customers order

Demand Estimation & Forecast

The Barkers at dollops estimate and categorize the demand for each of the food
varieties and forecast the demand for the following month. These forecasts are based
on the historical consumption patterns, sales trends, seasonality and current on-hand
levels. The Barkers consolidate the monthly sales and the forecast is calculated as
twice of the previous months demand. They follow a crunch time policy which learns
from history, real-time data to increase restaurant forecasting precision. To prevent
over production, stock outs, wastage, weekend and weekday forecasts are made
independently taking into consideration, previous months estimates, current weeks
demand. The production model is based on day schedule and raw vegetables and

other inventory items are bought from the suppliers on a daily basis. The factors that
dictate the production accuracy are

Historical consumption patterns

Shelf life of finished goods
Forecast sales and guest traffic

Customer Turn-out
Customer turn-out varies for Weekdays and weekends. While weekdays observe a
steady customer demand around 500 per day, weekends pull approximately 700
customers per day. Festivals and national holidays also attract huge customers and
the turn-outs on those days are similar to that of weekends and Barkers use previous
month history and current sales trends to arrive at inventory purchase levels.

ANALYSIS OF KPIS
Kitchen Management
Kitchen Labor hours Considering the long waiting hours, the kitchen is grossly
understaffed. Dollops, being at the center of the Manipal city, attracts customers in
large numbers and is always crowded. With 4 Barkers, 2 chefs with 4 cooks and 4
supporting staff the restaurant is not equipped with ideal staff count to serve 500
customers per day.
Total kitchen labor hours =

1.

$ Revenue per available seat hour (RevPASH)

2.

$ Sales per labor hour

3.

$ Revenue per available square meter (RevPAM)

4.

% Restaurants that apply principles of workplace safety and sanitation

5.

% Positive feedback from guests

Food Costs Dollops secures its raw materials from the Udupi based market based
on the forecasts made by the Barker. In case of non-availability of required items at
the regular stores, procurement is arranged from a different supplier. Dollops identifies
itself as a low-cost-leader among the restaurants in the city. Thus it is essential for
them to establish single supplier so that bulk orders can be acquired at discounted
prices.
Best and Worst Selling Items Dollops has identified that its Chinese offerings are
in huge demand when compared to continental, Indian, Tandoori food items and have
aligned their procurement accordingly.

TO-BE PROCESS MAPS

RECOMMENDATIONS
Technology and business process changes when inculcated to the current model
brings in added revenue to the restaurant.
Majority of the customers visiting Dollops are the students from the Manipal vicinity
colleges viz. MIT, KMC, TAPMI. Having a new business process where Dollops could
set up stalls in the colleges would be a sound business idea. This creates additional
revenue for the restaurant, reduces the crowd at the restaurant, reduces the order
delays and increases customer satisfaction.
Mobile App Ordering Having a mobile app in place to accept orders while the
customer arrives at the restaurant reduces the delay time for delivery.
Relaying Orders Waiter relaying the order to the barker and the barker directing the
same information to respective cooks can be skipped if real time information relay

through technological equipment is equipped in the kitchen. This reduces the order
delay time.
Online ordering Dollops does not have an online presence.
Menu Reengineering - The menu has been constant for a long period of time (almost
11 years). Engineer more profitable menus by expanding the Chinese offerings, by
analyzing demand, item percentage sales contribution. Addition of time estimate for
cooking the meal in the menu helps customer in choosing wisely.
Suggested Ordering Simplify the ordering process for new customers by including
Chefs favorites and system generated ordering based on historical consumption
pattern.
Actual vs. Theoretical food costs help identify cost savings by determining where
savings can be achieved by comparing actual costs to theoretical estimates. This
helps in identifying areas of opportunity and maintain ideal levels of inventory to
reduce waste.
Perpetual Inventory Management Dollops ensures that they never run out of stock
and stocks up excessively which leads to huge wastes. Cut costs by maintaining
optimal inventory levels helps reduce inventory wastes. Have the suppliers provide
inventory when in need.
Technological Improvements Integrate with suppliers electronically and stock out
situations can be avoided by sending orders to suppliers Just-in-time.
Sales Reconciliation Reports - To capture accurate data related to guest count,
promotional campaigns, and seasonal discounts so as to estimate the footfall and be
ready with the base for all food items.

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REFERENCES

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