Operations Management: A Case Study of Dinner by Heston Blumenthal

This report investigates the operational processes at Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, a London-based restaurant. It analyzes key operational processes, including inputs, processes, and outputs, alongside a discussion of the four V's of operations management: volume, variety, variation, and visibility. The report also critically examines the five performance objectives—quality, cost, flexibility, speed, and dependability—and their application within the restaurant's operations. A detailed analysis of the restaurant's supply chain is provided, followed by recommendations for operational improvements to enhance business performance. The report concludes with insights into waste management, focusing on inventory, overproduction, and defects, and offers strategies for streamlining operations and boosting productivity.

Operations Management and Service Excellence
8/8/2018
Dinner by Heston Blumenthal

Operations Management and Service Excellence 1
Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Overview of company..................................................................................................................3
Time schedule..........................................................................................................................3
Services offered.......................................................................................................................4
Current demographic targeted by restaurant............................................................................5
Location...................................................................................................................................5
Key operational processes...............................................................................................................8
Four V’s of operation management.............................................................................................9
Volume dimension.................................................................................................................10
Variety dimension..................................................................................................................10
Variation dimension...............................................................................................................11
Visibility dimension...............................................................................................................12
Seven Wastes.............................................................................................................................12
Waste of inventory.................................................................................................................13
Waste of overproduction........................................................................................................13
Waste of defects.....................................................................................................................14
Performance Objectives.................................................................................................................14
Quality.......................................................................................................................................14
Improvement areas.................................................................................................................15

Operations Management and Service Excellence 2
Cost............................................................................................................................................15
Improvement areas.................................................................................................................16
Flexibility...................................................................................................................................18
Improvement areas.................................................................................................................18
Speed..........................................................................................................................................18
Improvement areas.................................................................................................................19
Dependability.............................................................................................................................19
Improvement areas.................................................................................................................19
The supply chain of organisation...................................................................................................20
Improvements to operation............................................................................................................22
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................25
Bibliography..................................................................................................................................26
Appendix........................................................................................................................................29
Appendix 1.................................................................................................................................29

Operations Management and Service Excellence 3
Introduction
The aim of the report is to investigate the operational processes that are used in a small business
organisation. The organisation that has been selected for the analysis is Dinner by Heston
Blumenthal. Dinner by Heston Blumenthal is a restaurant that is offering its service in the UK.
The report includes the analyses of the key operational processes that are used by the restaurant.
Along with this, there is critical discussion related to the five performance objectives that are
related to the company. These performance objectives support the working and the operations of
the company. This report also includes the discussion related to the supply chain of the company
which is considered as one of the important function. In the end, there are recommendations for
the operations to bring improvement in the business operations.
Overview of company
Dinner by Heston Blumenthal is a restaurant that is situated in London, England. The restaurant
came into existence in the year 2011 in January (Open Table, 2018). In the year 2014, the
restaurant gained a Michelin star within a year and along with this, it was listed in the fifth
position on The World's 50 Best Restaurants in the magazine of restaurants. The restaurant is
currently headed by the Fat Duck Head chef and Ashley Palmer-Watts (Dinner by Heston
Blumenthal, 2018). The menu that is offered by the company includes modern dishes that are
inspired by the historic British Gastronomy.
Time schedule
The restaurant is open for 7 days a week,
Lunch- 12:00 until 14:00 Monday to Friday

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Lunch- 12:00 until 14:30 Saturday and Sunday (includes public holidays)
Dinner- 18:00 until 22:15 Monday to Friday
Dinner- 18:30 until 22:30 Saturday and Sunday (includes public holidays)
Figure 1 Timings of Dinner by Heston Blumenthal
(Source: (Dinner by Heston Blumenthal , 2018)
Services offered
The restaurant offers the service of lunch and dinner facility which is inspired with British
gastronomy. A La Carte menu is available for the lunch and dinner with the additional set lunch
menu that is offered from Monday to Friday that excludes public holidays (Dinner by Heston
Blumenthal , 2018). The restaurant interior is conceived as a subtle, elegant portrait with the
contemporary and innovative services that are offered by the company.

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Figure 2 Elegant portrait
(Source: (Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, 2018)
Current demographic targeted by restaurant
The current demographic to which the restaurant offered the services include the both male and
female irrespective of particular age group which means the age group of the customers targeted
by the company include 5-20 years, 20-35 years, 35-40 years and above. This has been observed
that in the list of visitors there is the presence of very few children’s with their parents (World
popultaion Review, 2018). There is a rise in the customers at the time of the breaks and on the
weekends.
Location
The location of the restaurant is a very prime location in the market in London because the
restaurant is near to the Knightsbridge which is an exclusive residential and retail district in
West, London. Along with this, it is identified as one of the two international retail centres in

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London. Along with this, the restaurant is near to the Bucherer Rolex, which is one of the big
retailers (Rolex Bucherer, 2018).

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Figure 3 Location of Dinner by Heston Blumenthal
Figure 4 Dinner by Heston Blumenthal Map
(Source: (Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, 2018)
The map shows the place with its nearby location which reflects that the area is a prime area due
to which the restaurant is able to grab the attention easily. The maximum capacity for the guest
available at the restaurant is for 100 people. Along with this, this is the fact that restaurant is
currently operated by 2 chef with some helpers (Open Table, 2018).
Figure 5 Dining area
(Source: (Flying Fourchette, 2018)

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Key operational processes
The operational process is an organised set of activities or task that produces a specific product
or service. Every business performs the set operational process with the help of which they can
easily meet the needs of their customers (Jacobs et al., 2014). The below given is the operational
process of the Dinner by Heston Blumenthal.
(Source: By author)
The restaurant follows the set process with the help of which the restaurant can achieve their
goals and objectives. The below given is the day to day operations that is followed by the Dinner
by Heston Blumenthal.
Inputs
Restaurant will input the raw material which
include vegetables, meets, and other
necessary raw material for serving the beers.
The resources also support the working and
operations of the restaurant. These resources
include the need of the experienced chef with
the knowledge of the British style cooking.
In the end, the restaurant needs other
material which helps them in making the
interior effective for the guests.
Along with this, there is need of some
equipment’s that helps in serving the products
for example plates and cutlery.
Processes
Processing of the food products will take
place.
The effective and efficient use of the resources
is essential for the restaurant.
Food delivered to the guest according to the
order.
Outputs
Making the customer satisfy with services
Collecting the payment of ordered products

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(Source: By Author)
This is the set process which takes place when the customer visits the place for consuming the
services and products (Bamford & Forrester, 2010). This is the day to day process which takes
place within the restaurant on the regular basis almost irrespective of the size and location of the
place. This process includes the arrival of the customers within the Dinner by Heston Blumenthal
restaurant then staff greets the customers and they take the seat. Customers at the restaurant get
the menu and make the order. From this point, the key processes initiate in which the processing
of the food takes place with the use of the raw material. This raw material includes the fresh
veggies, juice, beer and many others which are used to make the final order of customer. Then
the process of serving the food will take place and the customer makes the payment for the food.
Four V’s of operation management
Every business in the market performs the operational processes keeping the things constant like
inputs, processes and raw material. The restaurant performs their business operations in the
different ways which can be known from the four V’s which include Volume, variety, variation
Customer
arrives
Customer
enters
Customer is
seated
Customer
recieves
greetings
Customer
receives the
menu
Customer
order for food
Order recieved
by the
customers
Customer
consume the
product
Payment is
done by
customer

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and visibility. These four V’s of the operation management affect the working of the restaurant.
This is the reason due to which the impact of four V’s operation management is explained with
the reference to the restaurant Dinner by Heston Blumenthal.
Volume dimension
The volume dimension shows the way through which the business organise the high volume of
products and services with low cost (Goetsch & Davis, 2014). The volume dimension is
important for the company as low volume of the operation leads to be the less repetitive with the
staff that are performing the same sort of functions. On the other hand, the high volume can
easier satisfy the higher level of demand since the production is faster due to automated
activities. Dinner by Heston Blumenthal restaurant performs the operation in the high volume
because they get the customers on the daily basis because of the advantage of location.
Along with this, most of the customers visit the place because they found British recipes with a
modern twist. According to the analysis, this has been found that the restaurant was able to sell
some 900 Meat Fruit (a dish offered by restaurant) per week in the month of November 2011. At
that point of time, the restaurant decided to increase the supply up to 1200 a week. This shows
that the volume of products produced by a restaurant was high in volume.
Variety dimension
The variety dimension includes the variety of products and services to be produced and offered
by the restaurant to their customers. High variety of the products helps the restaurant in meeting
the needs of the product (Goetsch & Davis, 2014). This shows that the flexibility in offering the
products and service is present. The menu at Dinner by Heston Blumenthal is accompanied by

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the eclectic selection of global wines with a cocktail bar that offers an exclusive bespoke range
of drinks, infusions and distillations.
The restaurant offers the products are the modern dishes which are offered by the company and
these recipes are inspired by the history of British cooking. Along with this, the restaurant menus
are different than the regular menu which includes the private dining, chef’s table, wine and set
lunch menu and A La Carte menu. (Refer appendix 1)
Figure 6 private dining of restaurant
(Source: (Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, 2018)
Variation dimension
The variation dimension is referred to as the level of demand changes within a period of time due
to the external forces. Though, this is the fact that the number of factors makes it difficult to
expect the variation (Managers Door, 2013). In London, the demand of the customers for the
products changes according to their preference. In addition, the demand also changes with the