Equator Coffee Observation

For our Gemba project, we decided to analyze the order fulfillment procedure for Cup of Joe, a coffee shop located in the Lennox Town Center. In order to capture the establishment’s peak hours of business, we primarily visited during the hours of 9:00am-12:00pm. We focused our attention on orders for baked goods, coffee, and espresso drinks, as these products are the shop’s main source of revenue and reputation. On several separate mornings we were able to observe an average of 125 orders over three hours (a takt time of 1.44 minutes). In the evening, there were often less than a dozen orders every hour. Since every order is slightly different, we have described the average order and the steps in the process that are consistent in almost every situation. We have identified multiple areas for improvement, which are referenced in the sections entitled analysis and recommendations.

From the observations of the restaurant and the interview with a full-time employee, it was evident that the queueing problem was typical, especially for ‘Today’s special Hot-food menu’ during the peak hours of Fridays between 12:00-14:00. This queueing problem affected the total time taken to be fully served, taking up to 7.7 minutes, which the problem was analysed in the group report.

insights which have been neglected by the later literature of new growth theory and new trade

Frist, as the most popular coffee shop in Toronto, people who want to buy drinks in Tim Horton’s have a long line. Since I went to one of the Tim Horton’s which located nearby the St. George Station, people always enter in the shop in a group. However, different types of people perfer to order different kinds of drinks. Moreover, there is a phenomemon that workers frequent the café, and mothers with babies occupy approximately 20% of the whole consumers.

My informant explained an observation she had made about the flow of the customers in the coffee house. Due to the location, the flow of customers corresponds to the arrival of public transportation, trains and buses. When a train arrives and customers get off the train, many wait to transfer to a bus close to the entrance of the coffee house. During that time, there is usually an influx of customers in the restaurant. Sometimes the line to order extends to the entrance door, during this time the customers wait time to receive their order is much longer than the wait to place an order. My informant explained that the extended wait time for an order was due to a limited number of staff working in the kitchen.

With respect to staffing, I found that I initially had trouble serving customers quickly enough during peak hours. Customers dissatisfied with their queue times often left the store, resulting in lost sales.

Employees were taught to disregard disgruntled patrons and move through the line as fast as possible so that each patron would be served in a timely and satisfying fashion. Just as a machine would pull items in at the beginning of the assembly line and throw them out at the other end of the line, so did the employees treat the patrons of their establishment. This is achieved by calling them to the counter and filling their order then sending them on their way with a kind, almost sarcastic, "Thank you, have a nice day!"

Patrons like myself stood in line scanning the café for empty tables and available seats. The arrangement of the tables in this area allowed for more seating flexibility and appeared to lower social boundaries between customers while encouraging interaction between members of cliques and individual patrons. Armed with my laptop and cappuccino, my observations occurred from an empty table in the center of the café.

Crazy Coffee Beans is an American coffee shop based in Madison, Wisconsin. Their locations serve hot and cold beverages, whole-bean coffee, microground instant coffee, full-leaf teas, homemade pastries, and orginal snacks. Crazy Coffee has been looking to grow its business by finding new ways to reach more customers and appeal to their college-aged customers. They know the popularity of the smartphone in particular has changed the way the world communicates and accesses information. Crazy Coffee has heard a lot about NFC and has enlisted the expertise of HMSK Consulting to see if this technology is right for their business.

I went three times to observe. My first observation was Friday, September 16, 2016, from 3:30 to 5:30 pm. There were about five people in the shop when I arrived. Many people came in fifteen minutes after I arrived. My first visit went well. My second observation was Saturday, September 17, 2016, at the same time. Like my first observation, there were few people when I arrived, but eventually, more people came from 4:00 pm to 5:00

The purpose of this report was to analyze the internal and external environment of Di Bella Coffee in order to identify the brand´s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats as well as evaluating the market situation and the brand´s strategic positioning.

Employees were working at a rapid pace, but it seemed like they had no time for customers.

The purpose of this project is to identify the retailing techniques, processes, systems and practices used by Coffee Island which may not be visible to the regular customer in order to increase its profits. This project will begin by presenting the company and how it operates in the Greek and International market but it will specialize on its operations in Greece. The next step after introducing the company will be to analyze Coffee Island retailing strategy and its retailing mix. In order to attain information about both the retailing strategy and retailing mix an interview was conducted with the store manager of “Coffee Island” Alimou Mr. Theodore Tziaros. The specific store is a franchise store so pieces of information about certain systems, practices, processes and techniques may differ from those that the company officially uses.

The Black Coffee is committed to values such as excellence, passion, quality, integrity and leadership which allow them to navigate challenges and provide for future opportunities. These core beliefs start with their commitment to their products and their employees.

During the second week of my internship, there was a time that I neglected to check the level of milk inside the coffee machine, therefore I did not notice when it was running low. Meanwhile, many students were queuing up, waiting to buy coffee and I just realized that I was running out of coins in the cashier as well. Therefore, the moment that I was refilling milk and coins, there were many customers leaving the line as their classes were about to start, they could not wait anymore.