Overview

This simulation models a typical night at a Benihana restaurant. It is organized as a series of challenges, each with a different set of options for managing operations and demand. Throughout the simulation, participants understand the linkage between Demand Variability and Process Variability, recognizing how variability negatively impacts an operation. They recognize that demand variability is mainly the responsibility of the marketing function while process variability is the responsibility of the operations function. The connection between the two is explicitly analyzed to maximize profitability.

They see that the arrival of customers is driven mainly by demand variability resulting from marketing activities.  Meanwhile, process Variability is depicted by the options available to control the customers’ dining time at the restaurant, like a long menu, a disconnected ordering process, food prepared in advance, etc. Moreover, participants learn some operational (process) responses that service managers can use, like Buffering and batching, to respond to demand variability.