Hard Rock Cafe Essay

Hard Rock Cafe International, Inc. is a chain of theme restaurants founded in 1971 by Americans Isaac Tigrett and Peter Morton in London. In 1979, the cafe began covering its walls with rock and roll memorabilia, a tradition which expanded to others in the chain.

In 2007, Hard Rock was sold to the Seminole Tribe of Florida, and is headquartered in Orlando, Florida. Currently, there are 191 Hard Rock locations in 59 countries (including Philippines) including 145 cafes, 21 hotels and 10 casinos. (Source: www. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_Rock_Cafe)

Application of the 10 Decisions of Operations Management at Hard Rock Cafe

1. Design of goods and services – At Hard Rock Café food is their core business however they are also selling the experience of Hard Rock. They implement continuous innovation for their food menu to excite consumer.Hard Rock’s experience strategy takes food service at a different level as customers go to their restaurants not only to dine but for the Hard Rock experience.

2. Managing quality – Hard Rock implements survey to ensure that excellent quality service will be met. Regular quality surveys are done with a scale of 1 - 7, seven (7) being the highest. Any rating below seven (7) is considered a failure.

3. Process and capacity design – Processes should be designed for efficiency to ensure that they serve quality food all the time and sell the Hard Rock Café experience. Capacity should be aligned with the forecast demand to ensure that minimal opportunity cost is incurred.

4. Location strategy – the search for the right location is Very strategic - Country to City to precise Street Corner. Looking into every details on where to expand market to determine the success of Hard Rock as Global brand.

5. Layout strategy – Three (3) key factors are considered in the layout of Hard Rock Cafes, each ensuring efficiency in production and maximizing revenue potential: (1) kitchen flow for food production; (2) restaurant layout environment aligned with the experience strategy including that of memorabilia display, lighting, screens, sound and contemporary music; and, (3) location of merchandise for sale are carefully integrated to ensure maximum profit

6. Human resources and job design – Hard Rock hires people who are passionate about music, love to serve and convey the Hard Rock experience to each visitors. Hard Rock values Human Resources as the most important support center of the business. They invest in the training, development and growth of the staff.

7. Supply-chain management – Restaurants maintain a huge amount on inventory, majority of which are perishable. Hard Rock ensures that they have the right competent suppliers to supply their requirements.

8. Inventory, material requirements planning, and JIT (just-in-time) – Hard Rock being in the food business holds lots of perishable inventories. They also hold the largest Rock and Roll memorabilia inventories. These total 60,000 pieces and are properly catalogued using technology.

9. Intermediate and short-term scheduling – At Hard Rock scheduling of staff is based on the following factors: community events in the area, seasonality and the previous week’s trend which is used to forecast sales.

10. Maintenance – In restaurants, food is prepared when ordered to maintain maximum freshness. As such equipment used for food preparation should always be at good working condition to ensure fast serving of ordered meals. Hard Rock Memorabilia is pulled out in stores every 5 years for restoration to ensure that