Suitability of IS with THR’s strategic planning
Question:
Discuss About The Management International Journal Hospitality?
IS strategy generally refers to the making of the planning document which is used for explaining the way in which the information system and technology is to be used along with the overall business strategy of the organization (Seo & Jang, 2013). The main reason for designing this strategy is for the purpose of supporting the overall business plan of the organization.
Thumbkin House Restaurant or THR which is situated in Kuala Lumpur started its operations afew years ago and has used the IS so as to provide a faster response and better service. So they are thinking of expanding there is astrategy so as to keep a track of the food items present in the stock so as to avoid the problems of out-of-stock”. Along with this, they have also adopted the process of online ordering so as to reach out to their customers. This report mainly aims at creating aproposal for IS strategy which can be used for carrying out the strategical, tactical and operational goals of the organization.
The restaurant is situated in the Kuala Lumpur which is specialized in serving a variety of eastern and western cuisines along with drinks. Information System is used by THR for the purpose of handling all the data of the operations carried out by them on a daily basis. It has been noticed that the IS strategy is being used by the restaurant only for the purpose of processing their foods but now they are thinking of expanding they’re existing IS strategy. The new strategy would mainly involve the improving the ways in which they can improve their new service of home delivery and track the level of stock.
Suitability of IS with THR’s strategic planning
The restaurants existing IS strategy is mainly being used for the purpose of processing the different food orders. The mains users of this ISstrategiesare the waiters and management of the restaurant. By use of the existing IS strategy the waiters are able to provide a better service to the customers in the best way possible. The response of the waiters have greatly increased by making use of this IS strategy. By providing this services they are capable of earning a lot of profits along with a better relationship with the customers. The data of the daily operations are handled by this IS strategy. But the management of the THR is now thinking of expanding their IS strategy. This expanded IS strategy would include the supporting two main functions. The two main functions include the tracking of the level of stock and online ordering system which can help in reaching out to a variety of customers.
The restaurant has understood the importance of keeping a track of stock levels as this would help in avoiding the problems that might arise due to running “out-of-stocks”. There is a need for policies and procedures so as to do this. Some of the steps that might be included so as to keep a track of the stocks are listed below:
The importance of tracking stock levels
This mainly involves the setting up of a software-based inventory control system. The main convenience which lies behind the use of a software-based inventory control system is that it will help in theautomatic calculation of various features (Long et al, 2015). Along with this, a software would also help in presenting the orders so as to trigger them at acertain level of the inventory.Software’s are able to track the stocks that are being ordered or sold and will also record the costs (He, Zha & Li, 2013). This might include the scanner or point of sale (POS) machines.
There might exist some policies so as to control the inventory. It is to be made sure that proper or accurate records of the inventory are kept. Along with this, there is also a need of appointing an individual who would be solely responsible for managing the inventory (Kwok & Yu, 2013). The restaurant needs to conduct the inventory management on a daily basis or real-time basis or on a weekly basis.
The inventory control procedure should be developed which should include at least 2 individuals if possible. This would help a lot in avoiding the problem related to missing out during the inventory count (Lu et al, 2013). This a very good measure of general safety and an anti-loss measure.
The restaurant must confirm the usage that is expected along with investigating the variances which are significant. The restaurant will be capable of tracking the exact amount of items which are sold on a daily basis. This, in turn, acts as a very good idea of what are the ingredients that are to be used and in what way this is to be reflected in the inventory (Seo & Jang, 2013). It should be made sure that the restaurant is using the items on a First in First out (FIFO) basis. This would help in using the older stocks first and prevent the wastage.
Training is to be provided to the team even if they are not associated with the counting of stock, so as to make sure that each andevery employee of the restaurant understood the processes which are associated with the controlling of various elements (Anderson & Magruder, 2012). It should be made sure that re staffs are adequately trained on the inventory procedure as the inventory management systems would become much better with the amount of effort executed by the employees.
Adaptation of this strategies would greatly help THR in managing its inventory in a very efficient way and would easily help in avoiding the problems that might arise due to running out-of-stocks. The strategies discussed would greatly help in managing the stocks as this would help in better tracking of the items present in the stocks. The restaurant can order items on early basis whenever the amount of some item is getting low.
Define the mission of company: THR desires to make sure that their guests should receive of professional along with friendly services. In order to provide comfortable environment to their staffs and guests, they maintain of well premises. THR also provides of fair price and well prepared meals to their guests. They also give thanks to their guests for providing opportunity to serve them. THR provides a fair profit which allows them to contribute to community they are serving.
Steps for keeping track of the stock
Set the objectives and goals for THR: The Company aims to sell delicious foods as well as drinks. The foods as well as drinks sell the higher standards of quality and traditional style of southern cooking (Hua & C. Dalbor, 2013). THR provides friendly and cooperative environment that encourages longer term satisfaction and growth of employment. It provides of cutting edge towards hospitality industry.
Design of business portfolio: The process to achieve competitive position along with business performance is relative to the market of THR. The strategic planning of THR optimizes investment activities to allocate resources towards the business opportunities (Tan, 2013).
Plan marketing: THR requires combining their marketing goals with the comprehensive plans. The marketing strategy is drawn from the market research and it is focused on right products mixed to achieve of maximum profitability.
IS strategy can be implemented for the purpose of supporting the online ordering of food. Some of the strategies that can be adopted for the purpose of attracting more customers and supporting the system along with success of the system are listed below:
Use of Technology
- Registering with Online ordering and delivery portals.
- Creation of a mobile optimized website.
- Use of an online ordering application.
Marketing Strategy
- Use of social media
- Updating of necessary information
- Proper advertising with the ordering portals
- Sending of promotional SMS and Emails
- Monitor the Restaurant Listing and Review Sites
Proper delivery Service
- Delivery in time
- Proper packaging of the foods
The process of carrying out the online delivery of food can be improved by following the above mentioned steps which are discussed below:
Use of Technology
THR can think of registering itself with the famous online ordering and delivery portals so as to provide a faster service to their customers. When THR will register itself with this portals then they become automatically discoverable for the potential customers which will greatly increase their visibility (Mellet et al., 2014). It should also be made sure that such point of sale software are used which is compatible with the third party integrations and is capable of processing and accepting of orders from various ordering platforms which is capable of calculating the orders from various sources without any manual effort.
There is an essential need of official website of the restaurant so as to favour the online delivering process and it is also important for the branding of the restaurant. There exists many customers who might search the internet for the restaurant before ordering (Tan, 2013). So it should be made sure that all the information are updated which might include the menu, contact details, reviews and many more. The website must consists of pictures of mouth ordering foods which would initially trigger the hunger pangs of the customers.
Use of mobile application is a step ahead so as appease the customers who are loyal by providing them the facility of ordering the food directly from the restaurant by making use of the application. This application would help in improving the speed as well as make the process of ordering food very easy. Customers who would be ordering food at a regular basis can keep themselves logged in into the account and save their contact details, most ordered foods and many more. This can help them order food with just a click.
More or less everyone living in this twenty-first century makes use of the social media and due to this social media has made a prominent position. THR can use the social networking sites to make the customers feel their presence. This might include the sharing of photos of different food items, arrangements of the restaurant and many more on social networking sites. There are also other ways in which the social media can be used.
Training procedures for inventory management
Updating of the necessary information on social media like the list of holidays, menu, and the changes in timing of online ordering and many more (Hua & C. Dalbor, 2013). This might happen whenever the need of the changes arises and along with this it should also be made sure that all the relevant information are present on the social networking pages of the restaurant for the customers. The restaurant must make sure that all this changes are reflected in each and every place.
THR can make use of advertisements of the online ordering service and delivery so as to increase the visibility of the restaurant. Advertisements can be made regarding the banner of the restaurant so as to target the customers within a specific area or segment.
THR ca increase their amount of regular orders by keeping their customers updated about the restaurant. This can be done by sending regular SMS or e-mails to the customers which would contain certain offers that are running in the restaurant or offers for specific customers (Ban, 2012). THR should also make sure that they keep the link of the online order short and include the phone number so as to accept telephonic orders as well.
The most important thing which displeases the customers while ordering food online is the late delivery of food. Late delivery of food will not only lead to customer dissatisfaction but will also lead to bad quality of the foods. The online portals makes use of their own delivery boys so as to deliver food in time, but still the average time taken for delivery of food should be calculated. The restaurant can appoint their own delivery boys and use the “POSist’s Delivery Rider’s Application” so as to assign the orders to the riders or delivery person according to their ability, their location. Along with this it would also provide the facility of tracking the delivery person to the customers (Cockburn & Cockburn-Wootten, 2017). The customers should be updated about their order status by making use of the SMS.
The reason lying behind the loosing of loyal or regular customers is delivering of the ordered food without proper packaging. Packing of food is done once the food is ready. The packing involves proper bagging of foods, putting the food in proper containers, providing of essential utensils or condiments and lastly the checking so as to make sure that all the items are placed properly (Maurya, 2012). THR Should make sure that all the steps involved in packing are done in a proper way along with making sure that the delivery representatives are equipped in a proper way so as to deliver a respective order.
The discussed strategies if adopted by THR can greatly help the restaurant in getting success while delivering the food which are ordered online. The use of online ordering and delivery portals cost only about 10-15% of the ordered values/every order placed online. Ensuring that proper packing is done and the delivery is done in time will greatly help in increasing customer satisfaction along with attracting new customers towards the restaurant.
Conclusion
Implementations of the new strategies along with the existing strategies would help THR in refueling its business processes a lot. The existing strategy only focused on the food processing services in the restaurant. Whereas, the new strategies discussed above would greatly favor the organization in avoiding its problem due to running out of stocks and would also favor the online ordering of foods as well. The implementation of the POS or Point of Sale strategy would help a lot in proper stocking of different items along with which it would also help in the delivering of food which are ordered online.
References:
Anderson, M., & Magruder, J. (2012). Learning from the crowd: Regression discontinuity estimates of the effects of an online review database. The Economic Journal, 122(563), 957-989.
Ban, V. (2012). Analysis of the upscale/Fine dining sector in the restaurant industry.
Cockburn, T., & Cockburn-Wootten, C. (2017). Brazilian restaurant case-vertical and horizontal business integration.
He, W., Zha, S., & Li, L. (2013). Social media competitive analysis and text mining: A case study in the pizza industry. International Journal of Information Management, 33(3), 464-472.
Hua, N., & C. Dalbor, M. (2013). Evidence of franchising on outperformance in the restaurant industry: A long term analysis and perspective. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 25(5), 723-739.
Kwok, L., & Yu, B. (2013). Spreading social media messages on Facebook: An analysis of restaurant business-to-consumer communications. Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, 54(1), 84-94.
Long, M. W., Tobias, D. K., Cradock, A. L., Batchelder, H., & Gortmaker, S. L. (2015). Systematic review and meta-analysis of the impact of restaurant menu calorie labeling. American journal of public health, 105(5), e11-e24.
Lu, X., Ba, S., Huang, L., & Feng, Y. (2013). Promotional marketing or word-of-mouth? Evidence from online restaurant reviews. Information Systems Research, 24(3), 596-612.
Maurya, A. (2012). Running lean: iterate from plan A to a plan that works. ” O’Reilly Media, Inc.”.
Mellet, K., Beauvisage, T., Beuscart, J. S., & Trespeuch, M. (2014). A “democratization” of markets? Online consumer reviews in the restaurant industry. Valuation Studies, 2(1), 5-41.
Seo, S., & Jang, S. S. (2013). The roles of brand equity and branding strategy: a study of restaurant food crises. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 34, 192-201.
Seo, S., & Jang, S. S. (2013). The roles of brand equity and branding strategy: a study of restaurant food crises. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 34, 192-201.
Tan, J. (2013). Running out of steam? Manufacturing in Malaysia. Cambridge Journal of Economics, 38(1), 153-180.
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