MBA Operations Management

Case Study Analysis – The Paramount Diner (60%)

The case describes the Paramount: a 44-seat diner in the Beacon Hill neighbourhood of Boston, Massachusetts. The restaurant is a popular favourite among locals and tourists particularly for brunch on weekends, when queues can stretch down the street. The case study focuses on the restaurant’s unusual seating policy and a recent increase in the popularity of carryout orders.
The purpose of this case study are threefold: firstly, to critically evaluate the Theory of Swift Even Flow and to apply it to a practical situation; secondly, to provide students the opportunity to practice basic process analysis concepts, such as cycle time, throughput time, input rates, output rates, bottlenecks and utilization;; and thirdly, to enable students to consider the interrelationships between the design of an operation and the corresponding behaviours of customers and employees.

The Case Study Analysis is divided into four sections. Students are required to complete:

Process Analysis

Following the guidelines provided below*, conduct a quantitative analysis of the restaurant operation to identify the bottleneck in the process and to calculate how long customers might have to wait to be served.

Explain how the unusual seating policy is an operations management tool.
(250 words for 1 b)