The Simio BBQ Smoke Pit is an up-and-coming local restaurant. It features a variety of BBQ smoked meats and classic sides. This makeshift cookout is nestled in an older, renovated building in a bustling downtown block. Due to size constraints, this is a carry-out only establishment. However, as Simio BBQ Smoke Pit continues to grow in popularity, customers are facing longer waiting times due to product outages and a constrained labor force. To keep up with demand, the restaurant needs help determining what new policies to enact to resolve their service bottlenecks.
Due to the long smoking time required for BBQ meat and lengthy cook time for some sides, the restaurant is struggling to keep a reasonable level of cooked food available. Having too little inventory will affect customer satisfaction. If food shortages occur too often, waiting times could increase, causing customers to leave and resulting in lost potential business for the restaurant. On the other hand, creating an excess inventory could accrue extra costs. The meat is expensive and excess uneaten food must be disposed of at the end of the day.
The challenge is to balance staffing and food production to maximize profits and customer satisfaction. The restaurant is looking to investigate customer arrivals and ordering patterns, resource requirements, and food production rates. Simio BBQ Smoke Pit desires the best strategy to replenish each of the different food items on their menu. This replenishment strategy not only affects when and how much food to cook, but also how to allocate the cooked portions between the meal assembly stations and the holding cabinets. Additionally, Simio BBQ would also like to know if the potential improvement of changing staffing levels or adding equipment would be worth the investment.
This case is a modified version of the Fall 2020 Student Competition with new data and new/different requirements. Have a look for a related, but different modeling experience!