The largest contract food service company in Canada sought a third-party assessment of their current operations at one of their key customer locations, a large well-known financial institution, located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The timing of the assessment was ideal, given the maturity of the food and beverage (F&B) programs and the mutual agreement between the food service provider and their client that opportunity for improvement existed, and improvements were necessary.
Carpedia was engaged to review the existing contract between provider and client, create alignment on a remediation plan and to foster a culture of continuous improvement.
The assessment was designed to identify and address opportunities in three key areas: operating processes, the management tools used to run the business and the behaviours of the leadership team.
The Results
Over a 3-week engagement and 2 subsequent sustainability audits, Carpedia conducted 60+ hours of observations across all service offerings which included banquet-style catering services, retail micro markets, barista cafes and premium dining. We uncovered 40+ opportunities spanning across all operational programs.
Opportunities Identified:
- 59% of the time was non-value added
- Lack of adherence to SOPs
- SOPs lacked clarity/completeness
- Staff were not fully trained
- Information did not flow
- Key management tools were missing which made planning and follow-up difficult
- 61% of managers time spent troubleshooting
- Lack of clarity around roles & responsibilities
- Active management was not observed
- Problem solving is mostly reactive
- A culture of continuous improvement was not present
Post Implementation Results:
- Value-added time increased to 60%
- Tasks were re-distributed to roles with capacity
- Cross-training of staff
- Enhanced restocking process for cafes and micro markets
- 11 new management tools developed for better planning, execution control and reporting
- 57% reduction in troubleshooting time
- Clarity in roles and responsibilities
- Managers focused more time on Active Management
