New Management System Guide

Technical Writing I 
WR 227

Presented to 
George Knox

Presented by 
Wanvadee Jermsak

Date
December 1, 2003

New Management System Guide

The purpose of these guidelines is to increase sales volume and to improve the quality of work of employees at ABC Thai Restaurant. According to the high competition of food service among the restaurants, only good restaurants can stand in the market. By personal observation, I discovered the sales volume of ABC Thai Restaurant extremely decreases especially on lunch time. Economic crisis, insufficient supplies, employees’ dissatisfaction, services, and taste of food affect the decrement of sales volume. Most employees are working under pressure in the workplace. By following these guidelines the quality of work of employees and the sales volume of ABC Thai Restaurant will be increased.

These guidelines provide the information about the existing problem that causes employees’ dissatisfaction, and the causes of the decrement of sales volume including menu, work assignment, preparation, serving, sanitation, tips, food handling, personal hygiene, time limitation, serving hours, and cost.

1.	MENU

Menu influences the customers’ order. Some customers hardly make order because there are so many choices of dishes without any illustration. Most customers prefer the menu with the illustration of food and clear description. Customers see how the dish looks like when they order. A special menu should be printed on the large paper to draw customers’ attention. In addition, the dishes on a special menu should be different every day.

2.	WORK ASSIGNMENT

The existing work assignment lowers the quality of work. Work assignment sheet with clarified description should be distributed to all employees. The clarified work assignment aids employees to work smoothly.

The following duties guidelines are assigned to servers, dishwashers, and chefs.

2.1	SERVERS

 Each server should concentrate on his/her section only. He/she can pay more attention to his/her customers. He/she doesn’t have to worry about other servers’ sections. A Server who is assigned to be responsible for each section must complete the following work.

Beginning of the shift:

Section A
1.	Prepare hot water.
2.	Prepare condiments.
3.	Fold To Go bag.
4.	Get ice from the ice maker to Section A.

Section B

1.	Wipe tables and chairs with a bar towel in Section B.
2.	Get ice from the ice maker to Section B.
3.	Prepare beer and wine for sales
4.	Check sanitary supply in the restaurant.

Section C (Patio Section)

1.	Wipe tables and chairs with a bar towel in Section C.
2.	Bring regular menu and special menu to the reception counter.
3.	Fill up salt and pepper on the tables in Section B & Section C.
4.	Lit the candles on the tables in Section C.

Ending of the shift:

Section A

1.	Sweep floor in Section A.
2.	Clean all pots and all areas in food station.
3.	Turn off the burner.
4.	Put all towels in bleach water.

Section B

1.	Sweep floor in Section B.
2.	Fill up beer and wine for next shift.
3.	Clean men and women’s restroom.
4.	Put the empty beer bottles in the case.

Section C (Patio Section)

1.	Sweep floor in Section C.
2.	Bring the table lamps back to the cabinet.
3.	Close account for daily sales.

2.2	DISHWASHER

A dishwasher is responsible for washing the serving equipment including plates, glasses, cups, and utensils. He also helps for prep work. He should completely wash all serving equipment at a single shift to protect the health of the employees and customers.

2.3	CHEFS

Chefs are responsible for cooking and prep work. The young chefs can memorize the recipe faster than the old one. The old chefs cause the quality of work down. The balance of young and old chefs may improve the quality of work.

All employees should not collaborate on cross-functional teams. No other servers want to work on Saturday and Sunday lunch time because they have to wash plates or glasses or cups or utensils by themselves if the restaurant is busy. The dishwasher should come earlier to wash all serving equipment for the dinner shift. The dishwasher doesn’t want to be a chef when the restaurant is busy. The quality of food should be controlled; otherwise, the restaurant’s reputation will be lost.

3.	PREPARATION												
Well preparation facilitates employees to work smoothly. The utensils are often insufficient during a single shift because the dishwasher hardly completes his work before he leaves the restaurant. The dishwasher should complete his work at a single shift. In addition, Steamed rice is always short during the shift because the dishwasher will cook rice when the servers ask for. He is supposed to cook rice when the restaurant is busy. All the shortage of supplies will be eliminated if he pays more attention to his work.

To fill Thai Ice Tea and Thai Ice Coffee in the small plastic bottles wastes servers’ time and energy. A large bucket with tap should be replaced for one of each.

4.	PROPER SERVING

People who work in the office usually have only one hour for lunch break, so lunch serving should be fast. The existing lunch serving causes more work to employees and more time to serve. Only napkins, utensils, and glasses should be placed on the table. Serving food over rice on one plate per one customer is the best lunch serving. Most restaurants use this serving for lunch time because it is fast serving and it also saves employees’ energy. 

To serve as a professional, all servers should follow these guidelines.

•	Use only cleaned and sanitized utensils.
•	Don’t touch the food-contact areas of glasses, cups, plates, and tableware.
•	Don’t stack cups or bowls before serving them. The bottom of one will touch the rim of the one below it and possibly contaminate it.
•	Use plastic or metal tongs or scoops to get ice.

See Figure 1: Proper Serving.

Figure 1:   Proper Serving.

Source: Courtesy of Thai Orchid Restaurant Handout.

5.         SANITATION

Sanitation protects not only the health of all employees but also the risk of food-borne illness. The dishwasher should be aware of cleanliness because some food still sticks on the cleaned plates. He should know about the proper cleaning and sanitizing. See Figure 2: Illustration of Proper Cleaning and Sanitizing. Bad circulation in the kitchen causes lung cancer to the employees. The existing exhausted hood doesn’t suck the smoke much at the busy time. A new one should be replaced immediately. To minimize the cost, the exhausted hood should be cleaned every month.

Proper Cleaning Up Spills

       
		
                           Cleaning up				      Different Cloths for Different Surfaces									

          
       Using a Dishwasher to clean and sanitize	     		Getting Rid of Garbage

Figure 2: Illustration of Proper Cleaning and Sanitizing

Source: http://www.ora.org/education/education_fhonline.htm

6.	TIPS

Tips motivate employees to work efficiently. A pool tip at lunch time is the best thing to do because all servers need to collaborate on their work. The more time you serve quickly, the more benefits you gain. An individual tip at dinner time motivates servers to pay more attention to customers. Customers will reward servers with good tip for the best effort of servers. In contrast, a pool tip at dinner time causes servers not only to take advantage from the other servers but also to lower the quality of work of the other servers.

7.	FOOD HANDLING

The existing food handling at ABC Thai Restaurant is the cause of customers’ dissatisfaction and employees’ dissatisfaction. American customers will wait until the servers handle food for all people on their table as their culture; thus, chefs should completely cook one single order ticket at a time. Waiting for cooking the same dish from several order tickets at a time should be eliminated. The existing food handling of chefs cause more works not only to servers but also to them. Servers often handle the food to wrong tables at busy time because the level of spicy of the dishes is different. As a result, chefs have to cook again. To handle food a table at a time reduces chefs’ and servers’ work. 

8.	PERSONAL HYGIENE

Personal hygiene is an important habit for all employees. Bad personal hygiene can be contaminated to the food, and will be the cause of food-borne illness. All employees should be educated when they need to wash their hands, how to wash their hands in proper way, how to use hair nets when cooking, and what the differences of aprons and towels are. See Figure 3: Illustration of Personal Hygiene Habits.  

		
         Wear Hair Nets When Cooking					    Aprons Not Towels

			
	Gloves & Hand Sanitizers				       When To Wash Hands

	
	Not Work When You Are Sick			     Proper Drinking Container

Figure 3: Illustration of Personal Hygiene Habits

Source: http://www.ora.org/education/education_fhonline.htm

9.	TIME LIMITATION	

The limitation of time creates pressure to employees and lowers the quality of work of the employees. The dishwasher’s worked hour is between 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. and the hourly wage is at a minimum wage. His responsibility is to clean and to help chefs for prep work. Sometimes he has to leave the restaurant, even though he hasn’t finished his work yet. Time extension should be applicable to this matter in order to improve the quality of work. In addition, a clock-in clock-out system for servers should be replaced for their worked hours.

10.	SERVING HOURS

The serving hours of the restaurant are between 11:00 a.m. and 2.30 p.m. at lunch time, and between 5:00 p.m. and 9.30 p.m. at dinner time. To serve customers before or after these times should be completely eliminated since it doesn’t respect employees’ time. To stop seating 15 minutes before the restaurant is closed should be applicable. When customers know the time to stop seating, they will come early to respect the employees’ time. 

11.	LESS COST MORE PROFIT

Exhausted hood and walk-in Cooler should be cleaned every month; otherwise, they will cost more money when they broke. Good maintenance will last the equipment long to use. To change the existing lunch serving will make more profit to the restaurant. To serve one plate per one customer will reduce the workload to the dishwasher; in the meantime, water, dish detergent, and the maintenance cost of the dishwashing machine will be reduced.