Emerald Emerging Markets Case Studies

Kiwanis Pancake Day – a service operations management case study

Andrew Tiger Robert Howard
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 Kiwanis Pancake Day – a service
operations management case study
Andrew Tiger and Robert Howard
Andrew Tiger is a Professor
at Union University,
Jackson, Tennessee, USA.
Robert Howard is an
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Instructor at Southeastern
Oklahoma State University,
Durant, Oklahoma, USA.
Disclaimer. This case is written
solely for educational purposes
and is not intended to represent
successful or unsuccessful
managerial decision making.
The author/s may have
disguised names; financial and
other recognizable information
to protect confidentiality.
DOI 10.1108/20450621111186147
Introduction
As Robert entered into the parking lot, memories full of mixed emotions overwhelmed him
when he noticed the long line of people standing outside the entrance of the community
center. Thrilled as he was to see that people were willing to pay money for their product, he
was also nervous that those in line would get mad if they had to wait too long.
His days of managing a grocery store came rushing back. He could not help but recall the
many times, on Friday afternoons, around five o’clock, every checkout lane open, every
cashier working as fast as possible, as he stood ready to answer requests for check approval
or to get change for a needy cashier. He avoided, when possible, making eye contact with
customers in fear he would see the frustration in their eyes.
However, this was different. This was the first Tuesday of November, Election Day. In Durant,
Oklahoma it was also known, as ‘‘Kiwanis Pancake Day.’’ Pancake Day, The Kiwanis Club’s
annual event, is also its best fund-raising opportunity. The first Kiwanis Pancake Day, at Tom’s
Lunch on December 9, 1954, raised $400. Now it’s over $12,000 and that is a lot of pancakes!
The Kiwanis Club of Durant, Oklahoma (www.durantkiwanis.org/) has a rich heritage of
service to its community. For decades, the Club has created value for Durant and leadership
development that extends far beyond the city limits. The Club’s signature annual event is
Pancake Day, held the first Tuesday of November, always on Election Day. Pancake Day was
an instant hit that grew into a Durant tradition over more than five decades. In 2010, the
Kiwanis Club has over 100 members, all dedicated to serving the children of the community
with activities that include the Elementary School Track Meet, Meals on Wheels, Families
Feeding Families, Kiwanis Easter Egg Hunt, and the adoption of the Schuler Kiwanis Park on
North Fourth.
Everyone was standing around talking, joking, and having a good time. After all, this was a
charity event. The name ‘‘Kiwanis’’ means, ‘‘we trade’’ or ‘‘we share our talents.’’ It was coined
from an American Indian expression, Nunc Kee-wanis. Kiwanians are volunteers changing
the world through service to children and communities. Kiwanis members help shelter the
homeless, feed the hungry, mentor the disadvantaged, and care for the sick. They develop
youth as leaders, build playgrounds, raise funds for pediatric research, and much more. No
problem is too big or too small. By working together, members achieve what one person
cannot accomplish alone.
While Robert walked to his assigned shift at the ticket counter, he noticed several cars pulling
into the parking lot, and then watched them turn around and leave after seeing the long line.
He was not for sure how to take this. Were these lost sales, or were they people who had
already purchased a ticket but opted not to wait in line? Either was a potentially dissatisfied
patron. Robert made his way to his workstation and began to work.
VOL. 1 NO. 4 2011, pp. 1-5, Q Emerald Group Publishing Limited, ISSN 2045-0621 j EMERALD EMERGING MARKETS CASE STUDIES j PAGE 1
 This was Robert’s first time to help with the Pancake Day event and was unsure of what to
expect. Most of the customers had purchased a ticket beforehand. Some were there to pick
up take-out orders, and a few customers were paying cash. One take-out customer became
angry when he had to wait in line with those who were eating there. The angry customer
reminded Robert of the customer with five items waiting in line behind the customer with a
shopping cart full of groceries. The purpose of having an express lane in the grocery store
seemed to make sense. Nevertheless, at Pancake Day, everyone stood in the same line
whether eating in or taking out, one pancake or one-hundred, prepaid with a ticket or paying
cash.
Fortunately, everyone seemed to have a great time. Friends that normally do not have the time
to talk were able to catch up on local matters and Robert saw a number of friends he had not
seen in several years. However, the thought kept coming back. ‘‘How can we improve our
service by reducing the waiting time?’’
As Robert sat at his work station, board one moment and unable to take a breath of air the
next, he once again began to reflected back to the grocery business, the spikes in sales of the
Holiday seasons and the lows of the ‘‘dog days’’ of summer. Fortunately, in the grocery
business, he had all year to try different marketing schemes to make up for lost sales.
However, Pancake Day was a once a year event for the Kiwanis Club. ‘‘Were we doing
everything we could to provide the best customer service and increase our sales volume?’’ Or
could we ‘‘hang our hat’’ on the fact that this was a charity event and everyone did the best
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that they could?

During a slow period, Robert asked John, a long-time member and organizer of the event
‘‘how are we doing?’’ ‘‘About the same as usual,’’ John replied. That started Robert to wonder,
‘‘Who has ever had enough or too much business? Is the parking area too small, have we out
grown the facility, have we reached a limit of our available customers?’’ In the grocery
business, these were always good problems to have. They would add more parking, add
another check out station, increase the staff, increase the advertising area, or knock out a wall
to enlarge the facility.
Sales had flattened out over the past decade with very little fluctuation. Nonetheless, there
had to be a way to increase sales. There was not a doubt in his mind that the Kiwanis were
providing the very best customer service, the finest quality pancakes and for the most worth
cause, although, something was telling him it could be better, however, he was not for sure
how.
Robert was taking a course in Systems Process Modeling at Southeastern Oklahoma State
University at the time of Pancake Day. The major project for the course was using
simulation-modeling software for problem solving. Based on his experience with queuing
systems as a grocery store manager and his academic knowledge of simulation modeling
and data analysis from his MBA, perhaps Kiwanis Pancake Day was the perfect ‘‘fly in the
pancake batter.’’

Durant, Oklahoma, – the formerly rural Oklahoma setting

Durant was ranked as the fastest growing rural city in Oklahoma in 2004 and is now one of the
fastest growing cities in the country (US Census Bureau, 2009). Even saddled with the
hallmark problems of fast growth, parts of town still sparkle, especially Southeastern
Oklahoma State University, with its lovely campus of ‘‘A Thousand Magnolias’’ and an
old-school dedication to student learning. For fun, Durant is the gateway to Texomaland, the
area surrounding Lake Texoma, a man-made lake that straddles the Red River, the border
between Texas and Oklahoma and attracts between eight and ten million tourists yearly.
The Kiwanis Club has growing pains because Durant has grown so quickly and because
Pancake Day is so popular. Fortunately, the basics are sound, the community looks forward to
the event, and the pancakes are consistently delicious. These happy problems lead to great
opportunities. The event is held the first Tuesday in November, ‘‘Election Day,’’ taking
advantage of exceptionally high traffic count of people in town. During both the lunch and

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PAGE 2 EMERALD EMERGING MARKETS CASE STUDIES VOL. 1 NO. 4 2011
 dinner crowd, the line would backup out the door and half way around the building. Several
patrons left because they did not want to wait. One man, wanting several to-go orders, left
because he had to wait in the same line as the sit-down customers.

Customer demand
Customers begin arriving at 6:00 AM, and no new customers are taken after 8:00 PM.
Demand spikes occur at breakfast, lunch, and dinner, with the dinner rush being the largest.
Figure 1 shows historical hourly percentages of customer demand. If 2,000 customers are
expected for the day, 620 (31 percent) arrive between 5 and 7 PM, which is about one every
12 seconds. The consequence is that during the dinner rush, the line extends to outside (and
around) the building often with as many as 100 customers outside in the elements awaiting
the fresh-off-the-grill pancakes. Other than anecdotal, no data exists of (potential) customers
that balk and leave without ever paying. Customer demand has remained flat over the last five
years, averaging about 2,000 tickets sold.
Dine-in and take-out customers wait in the same line. No data exists for what percentage of
customers is take-out, but Kiwanians who have been involved for some time estimate take-out
customers to be about 2 percent. Take-out customers often place several orders (to take back
to their family or place of business) and it is estimated the typical take-out customer’s order
size is between one and four. However, larger orders occur with some up to 20!
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Operations
Figure 2 shows the current system layout. Note that limited space exists for customers to wait
inside and that once lines begin forming, it is possible that the line will extend outside the
building. A single line exists that begins at the ticket pay station and continues to picking up
plates, plastic ware, and napkins. At the pancake station, up to six stoves (griddles) are
manned by Kiwanians who both cook and serve. A cook dispenses batter and cooks six
pancakes at a time, which typically provides two servings of three pancakes. When ready, a
cook must serve all pancakes before beginning another batch. Occasionally, delays occur
because a customer does not recognize that a cook has pancakes ready to serve.
Additionally, the cooks are friendly and often visit with customers while cooking and serving.
Delays due occur due to visiting.
After a customer gets his fresh-off-the-grill pancakes, he moves to the meat station where a
Kiwanian gives him a choice of bacon or sausage (or both!). Finally, a Kiwanian serves a cup

Figure 1 Percentage of demand by hour

20
18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
7

10

11

8
6–

7–

8–

–1

n–

1–

2–

3–

4–

5–

6–

7–
9–

n–
10

oo
oo

N
N

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VOL. 1 NO. 4 2011 EMERALD EMERGING MARKETS CASE STUDIES PAGE 3
 Figure 2 Layout

Entrance Tickets

Offices Offices Kitchen

Plates Pancake
Station

Meat
Station

Drink
Dining Area Station
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of coffee, milk or water. Plated, the customer takes a seat at one of many picnic tables, where
maple syrup and butter await, and enjoys his meal. He can return for more by going directly to
any of the stations (pancake, meat, or drink). Currently, no data exists on how many
customers return for refills, but experienced Kiwanians estimate that it is around 25 percent.
When finished, customers leave after discarding their used plates, plastic ware, napkins, and
cups in a trash can.
Table I shows the results of a time study performed for each of the stations. Customers who
purchased tickets prior to the event hand over the tickets, while those who have not must pay.
Cash or checks are accepted. Pancakes take a little over two minutes to prepare, but a variety
of issues create variability. Some of these issues are size of pancakes, running out of batter,
and visiting with customers.

Questions
B Should the Kiwanians consider adopting a different service operation strategy? Why? Is
so? What should their strategy be?
B Are there demand management practices that should be considered?

Table I Processing times

Process time (seconds)/server
Station Events Average Standard deviation Distribution Number of servers

Tickets Tickets 0 0 Constant 1

Cash 30 7.5 Normal
Pancake Cooking 65 per serving 20 Normal 6
Serving 10 per serving 2 Normal
Meat 6 1.5 Normal 1
Drink 6 1.5 Normal 1
Dining 600 per trip 100 Normal 120 (seats)

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PAGE 4 EMERALD EMERGING MARKETS CASE STUDIES VOL. 1 NO. 4 2011
 Keywords: B Is service quality high?
Service operations, B Do opportunities exist to expand? Should they? If so, how?
Operations management,
B Are there other actions that the Kiwanians should consider?
Queue modelling,
Spreadsheet simulation

Corresponding author
Andrew Tiger can be contacted at: atiger@uu.edu
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VOL. 1 NO. 4 2011 EMERALD EMERGING MARKETS CASE STUDIES PAGE 5