At the very least a restaurant should measure how long it takes the food to be cooked and in turn given to the guest. This measurement is called Speed of Service. It amazes me how many restaurant operators think they understand SOS and its impact on guest satisfaction. So let's examine a visit to a fast food restaurant and how its delivery system is supposed to operate and what information can be gleaned from the measurements.
I will use a drive through for my example. A car pulls in to line to place an order and at some point trips a switch that starts the timer for SOS. This could be at the menu board where the order is taken or a few car lengths away from the speaker. In any case the timer is started. Most major fast food restaurants have cash registers (POS) that communicate information to the kitchen as the cashier is ringing in the food. Now days that communication goes to video screen and at that point the kitchen is involved in the SOS measurement.
Recapping to this point the SOS has two measurements in process. First is the 'line time' when the car joined the line or approached the speaker. Second is the kitchen time. These could be nearly the same or several seconds apart depending on how the customer has ordered. For instance they order all the drinks before ordering any food will make a huge difference in the two timers.
Once the cashier totals the order and asks the guest to pull to a cashier window a third SOS timer begins and it will end once the cashier has completed the money transaction. This time will reveal how fast your cashier may be as well as if a separation of the order taking and cashier is needed. All the major chains use the 2 window system most of the day. Even some local restaurants have taken to using this system. Don't sweat it if you do not have 2 windows. In my opinion (backed by 33 years of fast food experience) it is easier to operate a single window with the proper car spacing than it is to operate 2 windows with cramped car spacing.
At some point the kitchen will have cleared the order off the video system and the kitchen SOS is over. Properly doing this step tells you if you have a slow point in the kitchen, if you need additional staff, if you need more prep or held product or if you need additional training. DO NOT ALLOW your staff to cheat this number by clearing off the screen just to lower the supposed SOS. This number will help you, if it is accurate, to improve your over all SOS. If you allow your staff to cheat the timer you are cheating your customers and giving your competitors a chance to take your guests. I personally know of a chain that encourages the orders to be cleared and then recalled, effectively stopping the clock. Then this chain celebrates "how fast they are" when in reality they are missing the chance to improve in a real way. Looking at the kitchen time a manager would be excited by an 8 second average. But if it takes another 3 minutes before the car receives the food and you have cheated the timer, you don't know who created the problem or how to fix it.
With food ready to be presented to the guest, someone must read a second video screen, gather the order and either pass it off to a presenting staff member or present it themselves to the guest. If you have an up to date timing system this gathering person (expeditor, coordinator or runner) clears off their screen and stops a yet another second timer.
Finally the food is passed to the guest and as the car drives off the last of the timers is stopped. Most major chains have a goal of between 180 seconds to 210 seconds for line time. This the time the car joins the line until the food is presented.
Now think about any trip you have taken to a fast food restaurant and when in the drive through you are asked to "pull up" because something you have ordered is not quite ready. If there is no car behind you, you have been told SOS is more important than real guest service. This restaurant wants the timer to stop rather than really measure how long it takes to serve you. If this happens more than once at the same restaurant you should really reconsider your patronage. Because if a restaurant consistently demonstrates a "cheating" mentality it should make you wonder what other important things they are willing to "cheat". Food safety? Holding times? Hand washing?
In review, using the measurements properly will assist you in making decisions regarding:
- Staffing
- Training
- Prep
- Cooking and holding product
- Organization of your restaurant
The timing information should tell you:
- How long it is taking your cashiers to take an order
- How long it takes to transact the cash
- How long it takes the kitchen to produce the food
- How long it takes the expeditor to gather the food after it is prepared
- How long it takes from gathering the food to presenting it to the guest
Looking it these specific points in the SOS process you can establish service standards and set improvement goals.
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