You most likely have heard about Lean Six Sigma methodology at some point in your career. While the methods were originally designed for the manufacturing business, restaurateurs can greatly benefit from the methodologies to improve your biggest pain points: food and labor costs.
Six Sigma process improvement was pioneered by Motorola and GE and focuses on applying a scientific approach to solving difficult problems such as poor quality, low or variable output, and downtime.
Lean Six Sigma is a practice that streamlines business processes, eliminates defects, and reduces waste; ultimately improving customer satisfaction by creating a consistent product that you can get into the customers’ hands quickly. Below are three major benefits of applying Lean practices in your restaurant.
As operators or managers, you are always looking for ways to make your processes more efficient. Done correctly, the rules of Lean Six Sigma put products into customers’ hands more quickly.
Here’s how to get started:
One law of lean is to practice push vs. pull system. In a “push” system your menu items would be produced in mass ahead of time potentially resulting in excess, which can lead to waste. In contrast, in a “pull” system the product is made when the customer needs it; otherwise known as “just in time” (JIT) preparation. When you dial in your forecasting and know that you will have approximately 50 tables on a typical Thursday lunch shift, you focus on prepping and staffing for just those 50 tables.
Over time, the pull (JIT) system can also help you reduce waste by lowering your inventory and reducing days on hand (DOH) inventory because you know how much product you need and when you will need it. This is especially important for farm-to-table establishments that get smaller deliveries more often to ensure the highest quality of product freshness.
Lean Six Sigma relies on capturing the “voice of customer “(VOC) to improve customer satisfaction. VOC is important to define expectations and preferences regarding both food and service. Comment cards, manager table visits, and customer advisory boards or focus groups are a great way to understand how customers perceive your restaurant business and find ways that you can improve their perception if necessary. The VOC can also be very helpful when planning out a seasonal menu. Learning what a customer would like to see on your menu is certainly easier and less expensive than going the trial and error route.
Lean Six Sigma is a process improvement methodology that helps restaurants reduce waste, improve efficiency, and deliver more consistent guest experiences by identifying and fixing operational inefficiencies.
It reduces costs by improving labor efficiency, minimizing food waste, optimizing inventory levels, and eliminating unnecessary steps in daily operations.
A push system prepares food in advance based on assumptions, which can lead to waste. A pull system (just-in-time) prepares food based on actual demand, helping reduce excess inventory and spoilage.
Start by observing operations, identifying bottlenecks, gathering data, and standardizing processes. Focus on small, incremental improvements rather than large, disruptive changes.
Customer feedback, or “voice of the customer,” helps operators understand expectations and identify gaps in service or product quality, allowing for more targeted improvements.
Yes. Even small operations can benefit by improving efficiency, reducing waste, and creating more consistent processes that support long-term profitability.
Blog Menu
One of the most important concepts in Lean Six Sigma is continuous improvement through ongoing monitoring and measuring. It is also important that key processes are being used consistently across all shifts to fully reap the benefits. Keep in mind that the results are supposed to be incremental which may be slower than we want – but stick with it and you will get the desired results.
If you would like to adopt the Lean Six Sigma methodology in your restaurant group, consider a comprehensive, restaurant-specific management solution like Restaurant365 to easily track data and gain insight into your restaurant data to increase efficiency and boost profits. Get a free demo now!
Share this blog:
See why more than 50,000 restaurants use Restaurant365
Restaurant365 brings together accounting, operations, scheduling, and more in a flexible platform—empowering restaurants to choose the solutions they need and scale with confidence.
