Kingdome of Bahrain

College of Administrative Sciences

Business Administration
Department

‫ـال‬MANAGEMENT
PRINCIPLES OF ‫مـ‬ II
(BA 109)

Case Study

Student Name

_____________________

ID Number

______________________

Section

_______________________

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 Academic Year 2020/2021
Summer Semester

Skyline Chili Restaurant

Read the case and answer the questions that follow.

Opening any kind of business requires a great deal of patience, dedication, and perseverance. Lynn
Leach jumped into the world of restaurants with both feet when she decided to open her own
quick service restaurant. Truthfully, the industry is filled with stories of people who dove in, got
knocked down, but pulled themselves back up (Dempsey 2011).
In the small town of Wilmington, Ohio, Lynn opened a Skyline Chili franchise. The town of 12,000
people has embraced the location and Lynn’s friendly business practices built upon strong
customer service and delicious offerings. Recently, Lynn celebrated the restaurant’s one-year
anniversary. But getting started was no easy task. “I hadn’t worked in a restaurant since high school
and here I was, opening a restaurant,” she said (Leach 2012).
Skyline Chili is a Southern Ohio–based restaurant chain that serves “Cincinnati style” chili. This
rather unique blend of chili and seasonings is typically served over spaghetti and hot dogs and is a
favorite in the Midwest. With over 100 stores, Lynn’s franchise is somewhat typical of their small
town locations.
Lynn calls her foray into the restaurant business as a “great learning experience.” Fortunately, she
had a lot of support from Skyline’s corporate office. But, much of what needed to be done was
driven by her. “My ultimate goal,” she said, “is to help people and make them feel good— people’s
careers, our customers, and the community.”
First, she had to determine just how many employees she would need before ever opening the
doors. “We did scores of interviews,” she said, “and hired some really good people.” However, she
discovered during her first year of business that some who may have interviewed well were not
necessarily the best employees. After turning over about half the staff, she now feels she has the
right people in place, but every employee must be properly trained. They have to learn the menu,
how to properly greet and serve the guest, handle their transaction at the cash register, and keep
the entire restaurant fastidiously clean. In addition to hiring, she had to plan the marketing for the
grand opening and order the initial inventory for the restaurant. “All this took a great deal of
planning,” she said. “From a to z, we thought things through and how best to get them done.”
Once the operation was up and running, Lynn had to pay attention to her costs as well as her staff.
From a cost standpoint, she discovered that there were some very efficient steps the restaurant

2
could take to contain expenses. One idea implemented was to stop serving half-pint cartons of milk
to children. It was found that more than half the carton would be wasted and thrown away.
However, by serving a small amount in a glass, the restaurant wasted very little. To keep tabs on
all the raw ingredients, Lynn conducts an inventory every Monday—literally counting every hot
dog bun, cheese, chili, onions, etc. “It’s painstaking work, but highly necessary so we know what
we have and what we don’t,” she said. “The Monday inventory is how we know what we need to
order and when we need it.” Lynn is not alone in her approach. Successful restaurateurs
understand that counting food costs down to the penny is critical. Restaurants should look at every
shift of operation with a before, during, and after approach to not only monitor inventory costs,
but also identify important best practices throughout the facility (Sullivan 2011).
For her team of servers, cooks, and cleaners, Lynn believes in creating a fun, yet productive
atmosphere. “Positive feedback is important,” she said. “I’m not going to yell at an employee in
front of everyone.” Instead, she counsels employees when performance is not up to par or the
quality of work is suffering. “We do role-plays,” she said, “where we ask each other how you would
like to be treated if you were the customer.” These role-plays demonstrate the proper way to
engage with customers and provide a safe training ground to fine-tune the servers’ skills. For those
employees who go above and beyond with their service— whether to customers or to coworkers—
Lynn provides a gift card. “When an employee goes out of her way to serve the customer,” she
said, “they should be rewarded.”
Everyone at Skyline Chili chips in where needed. There are always tasks that need to be done, and
assigning those tasks are handled a number of different ways. Sometimes workers are scheduled
to take on certain assignments, but in some cases, there might be an opportunity to trade tasks.
“We sometimes have a lottery,” Lynn stated, “where some of the least popular tasks like cleaning
the bathroom are drawn in lottery fashion.” Occasionally, the team will play a game where servers
can assign tasks to each other—realizing that if one employee gives a difficult task to another, that
employee may also get a least favorite job to do, too.
Now that Lynn’s first year of business is behind her, she can say with certainty that it has indeed
been a learning experience. “I have to touch every facet of this business,” she said, “and you know
what, I love it!”

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Question 1: (2.5 Marks) – (b2)
How Lynn managed to establisher and initiate her business making it a successful organization
using key managerial functions?

Note: Explain your answer in detail in not less than 300 words and support it with examples
from the case

Question 2: (2.5 Marks) – (b2)

• Determine which of Katz’s managerial skills does Lynn seem to use most often? What
implications does this have from a management point of view?
• How could she further expand on her managerial roles to cope with the demands of
being a manger for a franchise organization?

Note: Your answer should be provided in detail in not less than 300 words and support it with
examples from the case

Question 3: (5 Marks) - C1
Reflect on the use of organizational resources in the franchised restaurant industry.
• What challenges would a restaurant manager or owner face with each one?
• What might be the biggest challenge that is facing Lyne as a manager? What ways could
you suggest to overcome the challenge?

Note: Your answer should be provided in detail in not less than 300 words