Joses Authentic Mexican Restaurant Case Solution

2. Problem Identification

Firstly, one of Jose’s main persons, the cook, does not seem satisfy with the current operations at Jose’s. There are complaints about the quality of raw material, that is, the ingredients used in making the meals. Hence, this leads to poorly prepared meals, and the customers may be decreasing in number. Moreover, a major problem with the Mexican restaurant is its seating capacity, which leaves the patrons waiting to be seated on Fridays and Saturdays. It is also evident that the waiters and cooks are more stressful over the weekends as each customer order takes longer than usual to be prepared and served. The customer survey also pointed out to delay serving of meals as a primary issue.      

3. Analysis of the Problem

The analysis presented here shall also cover the questions presented in the case. Firstly, ‘quality’ in terms of this Mexican-specialty restaurant would consist of customer service, food quality, timely delivery, ambience, the way of conduct of the staff, depth (variety) in the menu, as well as pricing issues. Hence, quality would not just mean the quality of food for Jose’s. All these features can be said to be various processes that the restaurant needs to take care of in order to provide an overall good customer experience. 

Therefore, if any of these elements and features experience failures and delays, this will build up significant costs to the company. For example, a significant delay in serving of food will de-motivate the patrons and frustrate them. Hence, they may not like to visit the restaurant again and may go to competitors. Secondly, as the quality of cooked meal is very much dependent on the restaurant’s cook, a de-motivated and unhappy cook would not facilitate the production of quality meals. Hence, the restaurant owners need to take the feedback from the cook more seriously.        

Moreover, as the customer survey has pointed out the importance of the order taker (waiter) in terms of the patrons’ satisfaction, the role of the waiter, such as Karetski, needs to be recognized and valued. It is the waiters who are the face of the company as they interact the most with the patrons. Hence, the concerns, feedback, and complaints of the waiters are important to improve the performance of the restaurant and make it more customer-oriented. It has also been noticed that customers are concerned with higher price charges at the restaurant. Hence, the patrons at Jose’s are looking for good value for their money. A bundle of benefits is what would satisfy the patrons.