Chick-fil-A, Inc.: Selection of operating systems for POS terminals to serve business functions

Selection of Operating a whole s for POS Terminals to be under the orders of Business Functions at Chick-fil-A

I. Introduction

Mike Erbrick, Director of Restaurant Information a whole s at Chick-fil-A, was given the responsibility of converting the restaurant's point of sales (POS) a whole s from a proprietary EPROM based combination of parts to form a whole to a newer system. This changeover had an investment impact of approximately $329 million based upon the differences in the take away froms required to implement the various PO combination of parts to form a wholes being considered, which could be as high as $15000 by means of outlet depending on the combination of parts to form a whole chosen and store layout. Within its more than 700 exits Chick-fil-A averaged about 8 PO a whole s per store compared to the sum of two units or three systems per store used through other quick-service restaurant chains. The number of PO combination of parts to form a wholes gave rise to additional confusion for the kitchen staff because they could have six to eight orders arriving simultaneously upon the Kitchen Display System (KDS) guards Thus, the new system had to be extremely efficient and scalable to suited the needs of individual stores. Perhaps greatest in quantity importantly to the store holders using the system, who are compensated based upon their sales figures and toil income, the sales data should be relayed to Chick-fil-A's corporate headquarters accurately and reported back to each store in a timely manner.

The members of the internal throw team, referred to as the Operations Council, were Roger Blythe, brant Ragsdale, Jon Bridges, Mark Walker, Sandi variable Mike Erbrick, and Ken Oliver. The Operations Council researched the vexed question and then made their recommendations to Tim Tassopoulos, the Senior Vice President of Operations, and male McCabe, the Chief Financial Officer for Chick-fil-- A. The Operations Council praiseed two options for the nearest generation point of sales combination of parts to form a whole to be used in all Chickfil-A restaurants. The first option bring forward was an intelligent PO based upon Windows NT/95 that was robust, fault tolerant and database-driven. The next to the first option presented was a "thin" PO based upon Windows CE that was fast, incorporated memory-resident programs and data, and was noted for being a powerfully resilient system after lock-ups. The price difference between the sum of two units was of the order of $5000 through store, depending on the size and layout of the store.

The team was challenged to evaluate the options with have a high opinion of to operational usability, technical architecture, programming effort involved, environment, 5 year total require to be paid [i]or[/i] undergone of ownership, and business issues.

II.Vision and Critical Succes Factors of Chick-fil-A

II.1. clan

Chick-fil-A has a unique history and business arrangement that separates it from other quick-service restaurants. This originated with Truett Cathy, the establisher and CEO, when he render free of accessed the Dwarf Grill in Hapeville, Georgia, in 1946 after returning from World War II. In 1967 Cathy pioneered the in-mall quick-service restaurant by the agency of opening the first Chick-fil-- A in a shopping center location. This propel made Chick-fil-A a leader in mall restaurants. During the 1990 Chick-fil-- A mov beyond the traditional mall commons court to freestanding units, drive-thru solitary stores, full-service restaurants, and corporation campuses, hospitals, airports, business and industry locations. Chick-- fil-A had about 850 stores (including licensed outlets) in 1999 and planned to add approximately 100 fresh locations and an additional international location in 2000

Chick-fil-A had identified four Critical Succes Factors (CSFs) for operations: satisfied customers, sales and brand exhibition motivated effective people, and financial turn back for its business (Figure 1) These CSF were designed to work within the vision and stated mission of Chick-fil-A to enhance its competitive advantage in the market.

The Chick-fil-A corporate headquarters is located southern of Atlanta, Georgia on 73 groveed acres. The facility also features a five-story atrium and floor-to-ceiling windows. The headquarters houses the Chick-fil-A museum, as well as Truett Cathy's private collection of automobiles.

There are above 350 employees at the headquarters to service the entire emergencys of the organization, assisted through a fluctuating number of contract consultants. The Chick-fil-A abiding-place office provides support in a variety of areas, like as accounting, marketing, information technology, human resources and training. In addition, a Business Consultant helps operators be augmented and develop their business by the agency of offering additional resources, guidance, and encouragement. The Business Consultant also helps to make assured that all Chick-fil-- A standards and quality requirements are met

Also within the headquarters is a training facility for storeowners and operators to learn the point of sales combination of parts to form a wholes that are used by Chick-fil-A. Chick-fil-A trains all operators in a six-week, paid, training period which consists of three phases: two-weeks of pre-training in a Chick-fil-- A Unit, three weeks in a classroom in the Atlanta headquarters (Figure 2) and an additional week with a picked operator for hands-on experience.