Launceston Curry Club: An Organisational Context Business Report

This report provides an in-depth analysis of the Curry Club, an Indian restaurant located in Launceston, Tasmania. The report begins with an executive summary and table of contents, followed by an introduction to the restaurant and a detailed company overview. The business model, organizational structure, and business strategy, including the QSCV framework (Quality, Service, Cleanliness, Value), are explored. A SWOT analysis is conducted to evaluate the restaurant's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats within its operating context. The report also examines the current situation of the business from three perspectives: ICT Systems Strategy and Management, E-Logistics (purchasing, warehousing, inventory management, demand forecasting), and Knowledge and Information Management. The report concludes with a summary of findings and references.

Published Date: March 2021 Organisational Context
of Curry Club
Business Report
Research Done By:
Rama Krishna Yedluri
Sandeep Boyapati
Sindhu Mandhadapu

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Executive Summary
Curry Club is a popular Indian restaurant in Launceston city. It has tandoori and variety other
facilities which make it strong competitor in the restaurant business around Launceston. The
current scenario of the business is studied to understand it from various perspective such as
ICT Systems Strategy and Management, E-Logistics, Knowledge and Information
Management perspectives. From the initial look at the business there seems to scope for
improvement of the business in these perspectives which can enable the restaurant to achieve
their goals in the future.

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Table of Contents
1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 3
2 Company Overview ...................................................................................................................... 3
2.1 Business Model ...................................................................................................................... 5
2.2 Organization Structure .......................................................................................................... 6
3 BUSINESS STRATEGY .............................................................................................................. 7
3.1 Quality .................................................................................................................................... 7
3.2 Service ..................................................................................................................................... 8
3.3 Cleanliness ............................................................................................................................. 8
3.4 Value ....................................................................................................................................... 8
4 Operating Context ........................................................................................................................ 8
4.1 Strengths ................................................................................................................................. 9
4.2 Weaknesses ............................................................................................................................. 9
4.3 Opportunities ........................................................................................................................ 10
4.4 Threats .................................................................................................................................. 10
5 AN OVERVIEW OF THE CURRENT SITUATION OF THE BUSINESS FROM THREE
PERSPECTIVES: ............................................................................................................................... 10
5.1 ICT Systems Strategy and Management perspective ...................................................... 10
5.2 E-Logistics Perspective ....................................................................................................... 12
5.2.1 Purchasing ................................................................................................................... 12
5.2.2 Warehousing ................................................................................................................ 12
5.2.3 Inventory Management ................................................................................................ 12
5.2.4 Demand Forecasting .................................................................................................... 12
5.3 Knowledge and Information Management Perspective .................................................. 13
6 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................... 14
7 References .................................................................................................................................... 15

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1 Introduction
Curry Club is a restaurant in Launceston that specializes in Indian cuisine. It offers Indian
speciality food such as Tandoori, a type of Indian barbeque, and curries to its customers. This
document aims to provide the organizational context of the restaurant. The organizational
structure, business model, and business strategy are described in this document. SWOT
analysis is used to understand the operating context of the restaurant by identifying its key
strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
2 Company Overview
Curry Club is a restaurant located in Elizabeth Street, Launceston, Tasmania, specialising in
Indian cuisine. Curry Club was established in the year 2016 by Mr Singh to fill the gap of the
absence of good quality authentic North Indian cuisine in Launceston. The restaurant is opened
on all days from 5 PM to 9 PM except on Tuesday. Customers can order food for dining in or
take away. Figure 1 below shows (a) the location of the restaurant in Elizabeth Street and (b)
the inside ambience of the restaurant. The restaurant can cater to around thirty customers at a
time. It is one of the best Indian restaurants in Launceston that provides food at a reasonable
price and high quality. Curry Club has a Google review rating of 4.5 stars given by one hundred
and fifty-one reviewers. It won the best Indian restaurant in state awards for excellence for the
year 2018.

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Figure 1: Curry Club restaurant (a). Image taken from outside the restaurant (b). Ambience
of Curry Club restaurant

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2.1 Business Model
The main aim of Curry Club is to provide freshly cooked Indian meals to customers who either
prefer to dine-in or takeaway. The three categories of Indian food which Curry Club specialises
in are -
➢ Tandoori - An Indian cooking technique using a special kind of oven known as Tandoor.
➢ Indian Curries - Offers both vegetarian and non-vegetarian curries.
➢ Indian bread - Different kinds of Indian flat-breads prepared using a Tandoor oven.
Curry Club was established to provide high quality Indian food to the people residing in
Launceston at a cheap price. Tandoori was chosen because the cooking technique is similar to
barbeque and barbeques are famous in Australia. Also, Indian breads and curries are popular
worldwide. Curry Club has a BYOB (Bring Your Own Bottle) policy. Curry club doesn't sell
alcoholic drinks in its premise. The restaurant wants to be accommodating to people who would
like to enjoy drinking alcoholic drinks along with their food but don't want to sell alcoholic
beverages because of licensing costs. Besides, the restaurant is located in the heart of
Launceston city, there are other establishments which sell alcoholic drinks. For example,
Tandy's Alehouse is near the restaurant. People can hang out in the Alehouse and eat freshly
prepared Indian meals and Indian style barbeques in Curry Club. Another offering of Curry
Club that makes it different from other Indian restaurants is the different serving size for
takeaways. Curry Club has a full and half serving size for their curries for its takeaway curries
and rice. The restaurant also has an option for banquet and Indian meals with multiple curries
at a lower price known as the value pack.
It aims to cater to people seeking to experience different international cuisine in their home. It
also targets people who eat only vegetarian food. With the rise in the number of people who
opt for vegetarian food, Curry Club caters to vegetarian customers. It also caters to tourists who
are looking for cheap options to dine while they are on their holiday. Also, its target market is
Indian who are visiting Launceston either for leisure or work purposes.
The restaurant has a seating space for around thirty customers. The kitchen of the restaurant is
equipped with all cooking equipment such as the Tandoor and cold storage area to store raw
materials. Raw materials are stored and processed in a way so that all temperatures and sanitary
regulations are met. The restaurant takes around fifteen to twenty minutes to fulfil customer
order after an order is placed.

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The restaurant has a partnership with other local businesses. The suppliers of raw materials are
TasFresh and Spice House. Meat is supplied by William Street Meats and wholesaler D.R.
Johnston. Other small items are procured daily from Coles or Woolworth.
2.2 Organization Structure
Figure 2 shows the organizational chart of the restaurant. The owner of the restaurant is the
manager of the restaurant. The manager is in charge of the restaurant. There are two groups
under the manager. The first group of people work in the kitchen. Their main job is to fulfil the
orders taken from the customers. The back of the house team comprises of the head chef under
whom there are two other chefs. The sue chef helps the main chef and takes over the head chef
role in his absence. Their responsibility is preparing curries, rice, desserts, and other entrees.
The restaurant also employs another chef who specialises in tandoori. The tandoori chef
responsibility is to prepare tandoor items such as meat tandooris and Indian flat breads. The
chef also employs two kitchen hands which help the chef in food preparation. One kitchen hand
is dedicated for the preparation of curries, rice, desserts, and other entrees, and another for the
preparation of Tandoori items. The kitchen hand is also responsible for cleaning the kitchen of
the restaurant and washing the dishes. The front of the house staff comprises of a waitress and
food and beverage attendant. The responsibilities of the front of the house are to take orders
from customers, place the order to the back of the house staff, give prepared food to the
customers, and cleaning the front side of the restaurant.
Figure 2: Organizational Structure of Curry Club

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3 BUSINESS STRATEGY
The mission of Curry Club restaurant is to become the industry leader in serving Indian food
in Tasmania. The business had laid out a business plan to achieve its goal. The strategy map of
Curry Club is as shown in figure 3.
Figure 3: Curry Club’s Business Strategy Map
Curry club had adopted the QSCV (Quality, Service, Cleanliness, and Value) business strategy,
a well-known business strategy for restaurants (Pradhan, Swapna 2007). The business strategy
outlined in figure 3 follows the QSCV (Quality, Service, Cleanliness, and Value) strategy and
described as below;
3.1 Quality
Curry club strives to provide high-quality food to its customers. The strategy followed by the
restaurant is to procure high-quality products such as fresh meats and Indian spices. Thus, it
procures meat from one of the best meat suppliers in Launceston - William Street Meats and
D.R. Johnston. Also, the restaurant procures export quality spices from Indian spices. These

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quality raw materials are procured and stored using strict quality control. Besides, to make the
food delicious Curry Club employs experienced and specialised chefs to run its kitchen.
3.2 Service
Fast service from the placement of order to delivery of end products to customers is of utmost
important to Curry Club. Consistency is also important to achieve the high quality of service
provided by Curry Club. The strategy followed by the restaurant is to hire experienced staff
members - front and back of the house and rent space enough for accommodating staff and
equipment.
3.3 Cleanliness
Cleanliness is important to Curry Club. Thus, to achieve the goal of cleanliness so that
customers can have a pleasant experience the restaurant clean the restaurant and the kitchen
frequently. The restaurant follows all health and sanitary policy and rules laid down by the
council.
3.4 Value
The strategy followed by Curry Club to provide value to customers are - lesser cost of products
than its competitor, adequate portion size so that there is no waste of food, but at the same time
customers are happy about the meal's size, and taste of food. To achieve this goal, Curry Club
procures meat from wholesaler providing high-quality meat and spices. It also provides
varieties of food so that the overall price of products balances out - the right blend of vegetables
and meats.
4 Operating Context
Organization operating context can be ascertain using tools such as SWOT analysis tool.
SWOT analysis (MindTools 2021) is a tool to know the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities,
and threats. Knowing the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats allow organizations
to know where it stands, and help make decisions for future changes and growth. Figure 5
shows the SWOT analysis for Curry Club restaurant.

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Figure 5: SWOT Analysis of Curry Club Restaurant
The strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of Curry Club restaurant are as follows:
4.1 Strengths
The strengths of this restaurant is that it offers a very different cuisine than its other competitors
where this restaurant has really good reviews and is one of the best restaurants in Launceston.
Good reviews on google will create a positive attitude towards the restaurant and attracts more
customers. where this restaurant is located in one of the main places in the city. They also cook
their food fresh, unlike the other Indian restaurants who serve precooked meals and the staff
appointed are very skilled who know how to operate the Indian ovens.
4.2 Weaknesses
This restaurant is present in a small city with fewer customers when there are no tourists. They
can convert their weakness off season demand of tourists into strength by focusing on local
customers. In case of emergencies there are no security systems that can be use, and dinner
parties cannot be hosted. They should install security system to overcome the problems of data
theft to safeguard customers identification details like name, mobile number, email address and
bank account details.

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4.3 Opportunities
The services that the restaurant can add to increase their business is that they can provide
delivery options, special menus, registration in delivery apps such as uber eats and Menulog so
that customers can order by online which will help to improve the business. Social media like
facebook, instagram helps in marketing the brand and increasing customer base. As well as by
opening branches all over the state in Burnie, Hobart, etc, having space for hosting parties, and
the installation of security cameras.
4.4 Threats
The threats for the restaurant are that there are a lot of similar restaurants like Bengal Tiger,
Spice Lounge, Spice on Charles as their competitors. During the global pandemic of COVID
when no one could come out of the house, all restaurants had home delivery while this
restaurant did not. They can convert the threat of not providing contact less delivery during
covid into an opportunity to increase customer orders.
5 AN OVERVIEW OF THE CURRENT SITUATION OF THE
BUSINESS FROM THREE PERSPECTIVES:
In this report, the analysis of the business context of Curry Club is explored for the
recommendation and the suggestion of ICT solutions and the improvements which can help in
the smooth functioning of the restaurant. The restaurant is analysed in the perspectives of
knowledge and information management, e-logistics and ICT strategies and with the analysis
of these it makes the restaurant to implement systems that can help the restaurant reach great
heights and make the operations of the business better.
5.1 ICT Systems Strategy and Management perspective
The ICT strategy of an organization needs to be in alignment with the business strategy of an
organization. ICT technologies help in achieving many goals of an organization. It aids in
executing many of the processes in a business. Restaurants can use billing software to track
sales for auditing purposes. Other factors which impact the use of ICT technologies by small
scale businesses like Curry Club is the change of technology landscape and customers'

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preference in using technology. Example, nowadays, customers' preferred mode of payment is
credit and debit cards which is a complete change from earlier times. The goal of Curry Club
is to become one of the best restaurants in Tasmania. The ICT strategy which Curry Club
follows to achieve its business strategy are:
1. Social Media - Curry Club uses Facebook to interact with its patrons and customers. The
manager of the restaurant provides information about the restaurant openings hours and
important information about the restaurant to its customers. Customers can easily access
their page without following their page to find valuable information about the restaurant
such as opening hours and promotional offers.
2. Google - Another platform that Curry Club uses is the Google platform. The menu of the
restaurant, customers reviews, location, pictures of the food, and the restaurant can be found
in the Google platform which is linked to its address in Google map.
3. Billing Software - Curry Club uses the SAXPOS POS system which comes with a touch
screen, printer, and server. Figure 4 shows the SAXPOS touchscreen POS system used by
the restaurant.
Figure 4: SAXPOS Touchscreen POS system (SAXPOS 2021)
The POS system is capable of generating sales data, menu management, and till management
along with shifts management.

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5.2 E-Logistics Perspective
E-Logistics is the function of an organization that encompasses the acquisition of materials,
storage of material, and transportation of products to their final destination. The E-logistics
function can be sub-categories into four functions - purchasing, inventory management,
demand forecasting, and warehousing. The current situation of Curry Club with respect to E-
Logistics is as below:
5.2.1 Purchasing
Curry Club purchases raw materials from suppliers using a phone call. Suppliers provide
delivery options. The exact amount of the order placed, price of the items, price promotions
from suppliers are only known to the owner of the restaurant who the manager is also. Apart
from meat, flour, rice, and Curry Club procures toiletries such as cleaners, toilet papers, etc
from suppliers. Non-alcoholic beverages such as cold drinks and sparkling water are also
supplied by the suppliers. Other small items such as fresh vegetables and greens are bought
from Coles and Woolworth. The owner collects all the bills for bookkeeping purposes.
5.2.2 Warehousing
Raw materials procured from suppliers are stored in the kitchen storeroom by the staff
members. Curry Club do not have a separate warehouse, but a fridge and a storeroom in the
kitchen to store raw materials. Staff members use the raw materials on a first-come-first-use
basis to minimise waste and maintain the freshness of products.
5.2.3 Inventory Management
Inventory management of the restaurant is done by the owner of the restaurant. Raw materials
required in the kitchen is prepared in consultation with the head chef of the restaurant. The
manager makes the order to the suppliers by phone call. Kitchen hand are responsible for
buying materials from Coles and Woolworth, but the inventory management is done by the
owner of the restaurant.
5.2.4 Demand Forecasting
Demand forecasting is done by the manager with the help of the head chef. The manager doesn't
use any tools to demand forecast but uses experience and past sales report to estimate the daily
requirement. Usually, raw materials are procured in bulk from the suppliers. The manager starts
the demand forecasting process when the chefs inform the manager of the dwindling material

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in the kitchen. Every night after the kitchen is closed the chef make a list of items to be procured
from suppliers or from local supermarket.
5.3 Knowledge and Information Management Perspective
Knowledge management is more important than ever before in today's business world. The
way a company gathers, manages, and distributes information is known as information
management.
Based on the information provided by the manager of curry club during our interview, we
deduced that there are two types of knowledge used in the knowledge management process.
Tacit knowledge is knowledge gained through personal experiences by employees. The other
is explicit knowledge, which employees gain by observation of other employees.
Knowledge management is the method of gaining advantages and achieving business
objectives through the application of knowledge tools. Curry Club's main goal is to satisfy its
customers while also concentrating on the market rivalry. As a result, they recruit employees
who can quickly grasp the customer's needs and satisfy them accordingly. Indian cuisine is
served at Curry Club. As a result, understanding the customer's attitude and cultural context is
critical in order to fulfill the customer's cravings based on the spice quantity that is appropriate
for them.
Curry Club has provided us with some insight into how they manage information and
knowledge.
1. Data: Files, word papers, excel sheets, and other file formats are used to securely store
Curry Club information. And it can only be retrieved by those who have been given the
authority.
2. Ethics: Curry Club adhere to the ethical principles while sharing knowledge. The
employees are aware of the privacy and confidentiality of any information/data while
they communicate with each other/or with the customers.
3. Record management: All the records of transactions, orders and billing related records
are being stored as part of their POS software SAXPOS POS. With this software, they
can download data reports to analyse. These records can be accessed by all the
employees as well as the owner so as to check the amount of business Curry Club has
done for the month/any specific period.

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4. Informal sharing: The informal communication of the employees in the curry club
will make the passing of information a lot easier and it is an easy way to learn and
improve the restaurant.
5. Informal knowledge management: Informal Knowledge Management is used in
Curry Club because it is a small restaurant with minimal employees. When the
employees of the restaurant speak with the customers and share their experience with
the other employees who are working there, the knowledge is shared informally.
6 Conclusion
Curry Club is a small and thriving business in Launceston that has scope to grow from the
current size. There are opportunities to expand the business just by providing delivery options.
However, Curry Club should strive to maintain the current cost and timely preparation of food
for customers. This document outlines the organizational context of the restaurant and the
operating context from the three perspectives - ICT strategy, logistics, and Knowledge and
information management.

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7 References
MindTools 2021, SWOT analysis, MindTools, viewed on 23rd March 2021
<https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMC_05.htm>
Pradhan, Swapna 2007, Retailing management: text and cases, 2nd edition, Tata McGraw-Hill,
New Delhi, India, pp. 105.
SAXPOS 2021, Complete Touch Screen System with Software, SAXPOS, viewed on 23rd
March 2021
http://saxpos.com.au/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=50