Team 9Abhishek Pal: B14003Harsh Aggarwal: B14145Manjot Singh Saini: B14152Prashant Jha: B14160

Benihana Operations Management SimulationChallenge 1How does batching strategy affect throughput?You may choose 'Use Batching' which will send customers from the bar to the dining room in groups of eight, replicating Benihana's standard operating policy. If you choose 'No Batching', customers are seated in the dining area based on the size of their party. This means (for example), if a group arrives as a party of five, they will be seated as a party of five and completely occupy an eight-place table.

How many additional customers can Benihana service with batching? What is the impact of batching during peak and non-peak periods?Answer 1With BatchingTotal Revenue: 3155.34

Average Number of customer at bar/hr: 9Number of customers at bar during Peak Hours: 51

Average Number of Customers at Restaurant/hr: 64Number of customers at Restaurant during peak hours: 112

TOTALAverage customers (Bar+ Restaurant): 73Total during peak hours: 163

Without batching

Total Revenue: 2909.82

Average Number of customer at bar/hr: 19.29Number of customers at bar during Peak Hours: 55

Average Number of Customers at Restaurant/hr: 49.9Number of customers at Restaurant during peak hours: 72

TOTALAverage customers (Bar+ Restaurant): 70Total during peak hours: 127

Conclusion: Number of customers (average as well as during peak hrs) with batching is more than without batching)

Challenge 2

What is the optimum size of the bar for maximum profitability?

In addition to serving as a source of revenue, the bar in Benihana serves as a 'buffer' which allows customers to wait to be seated. A party may also be split into 2 or 3 groups to completely fill the dining room table. The bar provides a place for the remaining party members to wait until the next table becomes available.

A larger bar will generally provide more profit than a small bar, but how much? If the bar is too large, there is less table capacity. Every eight seats that are added to the bar will remove space for one table. Too many bar seats limits capacity to serve dinner.

Answer 2

Simulations were run using different combinations. For maximum profitability, with batching, the optimum size must be of 79 bar seas and 11 tables at restaurant with a profit of 242.38/night

Challenge 3

What is the optimal dining time across an evening?

The dining room utilization and throughput is heavily dependent on how long diners take to complete dinner.

In the Benihana simulation, diners normally take approximately 60 minutes. You have the option of instituting a special incentive program for your chefs to encourage them to finish the dinner experience up to 15 minutes faster. You may target separate changes to the dining experience for early diners (6:00pm to 7:00pm), peak period diners (7:00pm to 8:00pm), and late diners (8:00pm to 10:30pm). For this challenge, all diners are batched in groups of 8 according to Benihana's standard operating policy.

Answer 3

For maximum utilizationMaximum Utilization: 63.83%Profitability for this scenario: 2.26%

Dining time till 7:00 pm: 50 minutesDining time from 7 pm to 8 pm: 75 minutesDining time from 8 pm till 10:30 pm: 75 minutes

For maximum profitabilityUtilization: 44.37%Profitability for this scenario: 6.77%

Dining time till 7:00 pm: 45 minutesDining time from 7 pm to 8 pm: 45 minutesDining time from 8 pm till 10:30 pm: 45 minutes

Challenge 4

How do marketing efforts affect operations and profitability?

A key challenge faced by any service business is managing demand. One way to affect demand is through advertising campaigns intended to boost demand or draw attention to special marketing programs.

You may advertise in local media by setting an advertising budget. You may create advertisements intended to raise general awareness and demand for dining at Benihana. You may also run a 'Happy Hour' special, which will offer drink and meal specials to encourage more diners to eat before the peak period (7:00 pm to 8:00 pm). For this challenge, all diners are batched in groups of 8 according to Benihana's standard operating policy.

Answer 4

For maximum profitability, which comes out to be: 13.23%( Profit: 491.26 with revenue of 3712.12), the marketing efforts are as follows

Advertising budget: 1.2 XAdvertising Campaign: Happy HourRestaurant Opening Time: 5:00 pm

Challenge 5

What is the impact of more complex forms of batching?

Batching customers is not necessarily an "on" or "off" activity. You may use different strategies for early diners (6:00 pm to 7:00 pm), peak period diners (7pm to 8pm), and late diners (8pm to 10:30pm).

You may batch parties in tables of eight.

You may fill up a table with a party that has a size of 4 to 8 (leaving the remaining seats empty).

You may also batch parties in size of 4, effectively splitting each table into independent dining units.

Which of these different strategies is appropriate at which times? How do they affect utilization and profitability?

Answer 5

For maximum profitability, which is 3.86% ( with a profit of 121.8 and revenue 3155.34), the strategies for different time periods are

Till 7:00 pm: Tables of 87 pm to 8 pm: Tables of 88 pm till 10:30 pm: Tables of 8The utilization of this strategy comes out to be 57.11%

Challenge 6

Select each decision tab and enter your desired settings, then simulate. Find the combination of decisions that make up the optimal strategy. Export your best results from the summary tab and share with your instructor and/or fellow players.

Questions to consider include: What decisions will produce the highest throughput? What decisions will produce the highest profit? How does one set of decisions influence the others?

Answer 6 For Maximum Utilization: 74.37% the following decisions

Bar size: 79Dining Time Till 7 pm: 49 minutes 7 pm to 8 pm: 45 minutes 8 pm to 10:30 pm: 55 minutes

Advertising Budget: 2.2 XAdvertising Campaign: Happy hourRestaurant Opening time: 5 pm

Batching Type Till 7 pm: Tables of 8 7 pm to 8 pm: Tables of 8 8 pm to 10:30 pm: Tables of 8

For Maximum profit, 652.33 the following decisions

Bar size: 79Dining Time Till 7 pm: 48 minutes 7 pm to 8 pm: 45 minutes 8 pm to 10:30 pm: 47 minutes

Advertising Budget: 2 XAdvertising Campaign: Happy hourRestaurant Opening time: 5 pm

Batching Type Till 7 pm: Tables of 8 7 pm to 8 pm: Tables of 8 8 pm to 10:30 pm: Tables of 8