An Operational Analysis of Subway Restaurants

Each team member was charged with the task of visiting a Subway location near their residence. This way each member was given the opportunity to observe the concrete steps required for Subway to complete a service from beginning to end. When you hear the words â€Å"fast food,† you imagine being offered a service in which you are quickly in and out with your order, and nothing else to it. In this instance that is not the case; Subway did not become one of the largest sandwich chains overnight. It has taken years of productiveness from the owners, top managers, employees and each customer of Subway. Throughout this paper we will analyze Subway’s operations by identifying the type of process used and the basic layout of their facilities. We will also provide a detailed service blueprint that will help to get a better understanding of the service process from the beginning, when the customer places an order, to the end, when that paying customer walks out the door with their subway sandwich. After visiting our Subway locations, we will also be able to explain the strengths and weaknesses that we observed from the interaction between employees and customers and the overall Subway experience. One of the locations visited and observed during hours of operations was the Subway restaurant located at 19214 Clay Road, Suite A, Katy TX 77449. This restaurant has been serving the Katy community for approximately ten years. This particular location was observed in order to help create the service blueprint. The service blueprint lists all of the service functions that are performed and the average time expected to achieve the completion of each function. It begins with the customer’s action; the customer walks into the store and places an order, the employee then acknowledges the customer’s request. This is followed by the customer deciding on the size and type of sandwich they would like made. The Subway employee then begins to prepare the customer’s sandwich with their size and type specifications in mind. At this point, the employee asks the customer to decide on their type of meat and cheese, once the customer communicates this decision, the employee adds the requested meat and cheese. He/she gives the customer the choice of having their sandwich toasted or not. If the customer decides to toast the sandwich the employee then proceeds to put it in the toaster for a minute then moves on to adding the dressings and sauces. If the customer does not want their sandwich toasted, the employee continues along with the process. The interaction continues with the choosing of any vegetables and final touches which may include adding oil and vinegar or salt and pepper at the customer’s request. Finally, as we approach the end of the service process, the employees wraps the sandwich and offers the customer the option of adding a cookie or the option of making their sandwich purchase as a meal, which would then include chips or a drink for a set additional price. Once the customer has chosen, the employee then collects payment to complete the transaction, and hands the order over to the customer, thus concluding the service process. This entire process happens in between the line of interaction. A line of visibility does exist in all Subway locations, on one side you have the components that are visible to the customer, which include the bread baking and all of the products and produce used to make a Subway sandwich. On the other side of the line of visibility, you have those items not visible to the customers’ eyes, which include the preparation of the bread before baking it, the extra vegetables, meat, and cheeses to be cut and prepped, the chips and drinks used to stock the storefront, as well as the storage of all the other products necessary to perations such as paper products, bags and any office supplies. All of this is required in order to ensure the success of the service process. Even though the customer does not realize what exactly occurs behind the line of visibility, it does not mean they don’t care. Every paying customer hopes and expects that their food is being handled and prepared in the safest and best way possible. This means that employees must be equipped to complete all tasks required in the minimal time possible, while maintaining the utmost standards of sanitary handling and preparation. Please refer to blue print 1 for a visual representation of how the actual process explained above works. After getting a closer look at how the service process works by completing the blue print you can see that the employees work diligently to complete the process in less than five minutes. From this you can learn that during peak hours which include lunch and dinner rush, employees work faster than normal to meet the 5 minute process standard. This way may cause a customer to feel rushed. For instance if the employee sees that the customer line has exceeded more than five it begins to rush the process; this causes the customer to make abrupt decisions on what they want in their sandwich. At the same time this can easily cause the employees to make mistakes during the process. For instance they can accidently add the wrong vegetables or sauces simple because they are trying to rush through the process in order to get the customer in and out. This urgency of completing the process faster than usual can turn a customer away. Many paying customers like to have the undivided attention of the employees since they do feel like they should get their money’s worth through the service. To help both the employees and customers during this circumstances the manager should ensure the employees that yes you might have to pick up the speed to meet the lunch rush demand; but they will have to be courteous without making the customer feel rushed. ——————————————– [ 1 ]. Subway location 19214 Clay Road, Suite A, Katy TX 77449