bobby da dhaba - a detailed case study comparing a small stop-over place with the chains of south...
DESCRIPTION
A case presentation about the initiatives of a local dhaba (Indian roadside restaurant) which showcase some of the most cultivated methods of queue management and operations management for services.TRANSCRIPT
Shashank Dev SondhiRoll No. : 86Subject: OMSI
Piping hot service lessons at Bobby Dhaba
2Introduction
B O B B Y D H A B A S T U D Y
INTRODUCTION
When food and its quality become paramountly important there are some things that can be
negated. In the midst of the urban hubbub the most rustic of ambience receives a roaring
response. Consistent quality of cooking and food ensures that the customers keep coming and
pure word-of-mouth publicity establishes a long-standing reputation which, through sheer
determination and consistent growth has remained untainted.
Bobby Dhaba is just such an establishment. If one were to replicate it then setting it up would
take not more than a day in constituents of ambience. The hut in which it resides would not
require more than 2 weeks’ labor to construct while the food would fall in the category of
simple and plain making it sound something readily available. But still, with Bobby Dhaba being
located in Ulsoor Lake, which the average individual would describe as an out-of-the-way
location, it is a matter of appreciation to see that the people who come to this “seedy”
establishment are ardent fans of it - students, families of the Upper Middle Class and Middle
Class cadre and better-off. These are people you would expect to frequent the cliché fast food
establishments, people who would be the in-crowd at KFCs and McDonalds. But you’ll see them
waiting obediently in line at Bobby Dhaba. They are regulars but still they receive no special
treatment, they are very important people but to Bobby they are just as important as any other
customer. That is one of the reasons they are patrons of this Dhaba.
SERVICE ELEMENTS
LOCATION
Giving people the address of Bobby Dhaba is very difficult. After all how do you give the address
of a shack next to a Gurudwara? It doesn’t even have a name board yet. Compared to the road
outside which is well-lit, the shack is in darkness. So lets try and describe the way to the Dhaba.
When you approach the Ulsoor lake Gurdwara from the front, keeping the Gurudwara to your
right take the road going down rather than the flyover. Immediately after crossing the white
3Introduction
wall of the Gurudwara look to the left. Instead of closed doors if you see a six feet wide and five
feet tall doorway into a decrepit shack then you have are at the entrance of Bobby Dhaba.
ORDERING METHOD
Uniqueness being the watchword here,
on the wall next to the entrance there
will be a short menu of only 14 to 20
food items, uniquely there is no price
written next to them probably so as to
prevent haggling over the price. To the
left of the entrance is a small staircase
leading down to a lower mezzanine
where there are 5 tables each capable of
seating 4 people. At the waiting level
there is one table which can seat six
people where the quick orders and
parties of one are served. If the
customer is ravenously hungry then a
quick order for kheer ( a There are four
servers of whom two handle the taking of
the orders while two wait on tables. Every customer or customer group must choose a name to
represent their group. Stating that at the top of the order chit the customer then cites the items
from the menu and their quantity and submits the chit to Bobby. Bobby writes the menu in an
abbreviated encoded form in a register and queues the chit into a stack of chits under the
register. Once the customers are seated then the reference name also has a table number
allotted to it. Future orders placed with the waiters are added to the initial item list ordered by
the customer.
FIGURE 2: THE DHABA AT RUSH HOUR
QUEUEING (ORDERS AND CUSTOMERS)
AND WAITING
All the while, keeping his register as a reference and
hazarding an occasional glance at the customer
rush, the customers will see him shouting orders to
FIGURE 1: MENU BOARD
4Introduction
the kitchen where two to three men are working on the items that he is dictating. While taking a
food item out of the kitchen, every waiter asks him where to deliver it wherein Bobby tells them
which table and then dictates the next item to the kitchen. (Note: Although McDonalds at Forum
has something similar it suffers from a bottle-neck due to compulsory double-entry into the
electronic system which depends on the server’s skill. Bobby has removed this issue by being fast at
writing and encoding the order in a format quick to use by him. One disadvantage is that the speed
of service suffers in the absence of the owner.)
Once a table is empty then on a FCFS (First-come-first-serve) basis the customers are ushered to
the table.
The capacity of the Dhaba is enough to be addressed properly by the single serving counter.
At times a “fresher” may come up to the counter and ask him to hurry up with the order for
which, in the same voice and tone which he uses to address the other customers and tell them
about the waiting time when they hand in their chits, Bobby will tell him “Charli minit lagenge ji
maharaj” <(Maharaj for courtesy) it will take
forty minutes> This is his way of preventing
Baulking.
As a result of sheer word-of-mouth publicity
the entire queue has come for the sake of
eating food. As a result reneging is out of the
option. Occasionally, if a customer has to
cancel an order then it must be done after
submitting the chit and before sitting down. If
the customer has over-ordered then it is the
customer’s responsibility to package the food
or to let it go to waste.
The authentic Punjabi nature of Bobby, his
cloaked respect to every customer in true
genuine homogeneity and frankness and the
taste and simplicity of the food are what
make this an experience worth experiencing.
Some people are hooked and although they are Punjabi and will make similar food at home,
when the lady of the house is not feeling like cooking then Bobby Dhaba is the place where they
come. Most of the waiting happens on the road in front of the Dhaba. In the event that too many
FIGURE 3: THE MAN HIMSELF (BOBBY)
5Introduction
customers enter the shop the customers will hear Bobby tell them “Maharaj Dhuaan ko bahar
jaan di jagah te do.”<(Maharaj out of courtesy) please leave some room for the smoke to go out.>
No queue disciplining or standing in line here. Once the customers are given their estimated
waiting time their position in the queue is secure. Of course, if they are not available when their
reference name is called then it becomes another 40 minutes of waiting for the next table to be
empty.
HYGIENE
Looking at the state of the Dhaba’s structure and its furniture one of the worries in every new
customer’s mind is the hygiene and cleanliness that is being followed.
An example that can reinforce a worrying customer’s faith in the sense of hygiene is the bowl of
kheer that Bobby keeps on his counter. At the very most there will be one fly hovering over it.
Otherwise there are no insects in the vicinity of the place. (Note: Comparing this to the average
fast-food restaurant such as Shanti Sagar, Sukh Sagar, and, in electronic city, Maaji Sagar, it speak
s very highly of the freshness of the food and the cleanliness of the surroundings of the food as
well.)
The taste of the food is authentic Punjabi. This is not declared anywhere in the menu or on any
shop board (as there isn’t any). It is left to the customer to experience first-hand.
6Introduction
QUALITY AT THE CENTRE OF IT ALL
Simplicity is key to the service delivery at Bobby Dhaba as it is the heart and soul of it. Being a
person who only studied till the 12th grade, Bobby can be hailed as the representation of
services grass-root nature. His pricing is simplistic. Approximately Rs. 15 - 25 is charged for
every item. So as to get an idea about the pricing’s low margin nature let us consider the menu
which I sampled with a friend which was:
Item Quantity Price at Bobby DhabaPrice at a normal fast food
hotel
Paneer stuffed
Paranthas3 45 66
Muli (Radish) stuffed
paranthas1 15 20
Alu stuffed Parantha 1 15 20
Palak Paneer 1 25 40 to 50
Dal Makhani 1 25 40 to 50
Mathha ( also called
Chhaas or butter
milk)
3 glasses 45 90 ( considering quantity)
Kheer 1 15 20 to 25
Total 185 296 to 321
Additionally he serves complementary salad and pickle. On asking for extra butter (which may
be more unhealthy as they give a more-than-sufficient amount anyway) a customer will receive
a thick sliver approximately 3 teaspoons wide served on a tea spoon.
Although the food is simple in presentation it is far from unattractive due to the quality control
done in the kitchen. Bobby’s mother or, at times, his grand-mother takes care of that. One of
them is always there to tell the cooks whether they are working correctly or making a mistake.
To ice the cake creamier than anywhere else, the food is served piping hot. Testament to this is
the butter which tops most dishes and can be seen in various stages of mouth-watering melting.
Occasionally there is an error in service wherein the item is returned to the kitchen without any
haggling with the customer. Au contraire the server is chided for not listening to the customer.
The reason that Bobby can make this decision as to whether the waiter is mistaken or not is
because he assigns the ref name in his register a table number once the customer is seated. In
7Introduction
the event that the customer is mistaken he has the original order. Subsequent orders are placed
through the waiters so if it is not in the initial list then he assumes that the waiter must have
made a mistake in listening to the order.
RECENT NEWS – “EXPANSION”
In recent times Bobby has decided to relocate the Dhaba to the opposite side of the lake. As a
result he may have had to hand over the shop occasionally so if he is not behind the counter the
service may suffer a little but the quality of food will remain the same. He assures his customers
that the number of seats will be more (estimates it to be a 150-Seater) so they will have more
room and less time for waiting. But even he knows by now that they don’t mind waiting as the
food is worth both the wait and the money.
8Introduction
ONLINE REFERENCES FOR THIS REPORT
These are proof of the pure word-of-mouth fanaticism of Bobby Dhaba:
1. Chaas at Bobby Dhaba on Flickr – Photo Sharing (link:
www.flickr.com/photos/bluesmoon/6808623/) Note: Those big glasses are filled to the
brim with Chaas ( for West Indians) or Mattha (for North-Indians) or peppery butter-milk
(for South Indians)
2. Restaurant reviews from the moon (http://bluesviews.blogspot.com/2007/11/bobby-
dhaba.html)
… and many more. Just Google it.