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Assignment 1 is due Monday, 16 September 2013 at the beginning of class (If you email the assignment, the timestamp must be no later than the beginning of class).
Answers will be posted that evening after class. Each case study is worth 50 marks.
Chapter 1 Case Study
Hard Rock Cafe: Operations Management in Services
1. Read the case that follows.
2. View the video tour of Hard Rock Cafe that addresses this issue. http://media.pearsoncmg.com/ph/bp/bp_heizer_opsmgmt_8/chapter_content/video_clips/vidclips0 1_01.html
If you wish to have further background, reread the material in this chapter of the text.
In its 39 years of existence, Hard Rock has grown from a modest London pub to a global power managing 150 cafes, 15 hotels/casinos, live music venues, a rock museum, and a huge annual Rockfest concert. This puts Hard Rock firmly in the service industry—a sector that employs over 75% of the people in the U.S. Hard Rock moved its world headquarters to Orlando, Florida, in 1988 and has expanded to more than 40 locations throughout the U.S., serving over 100,000 meals each day. Hard Rock chefs are modifying the menu from classic American—burgers and chicken wings—to include higher-end items such as stuffed veal chops and lobster tails. Just as taste in music changes over time, so does the Hard
Rock Cafe, with new menus, layouts memorabilia, services, and strategies.
At Orlando’s Universal Studios, a traditional tourist destination, Hard Rock Cafe serves over 3,500 meals each day. The cafe employs about 400 people. Most are employed in the restaurant, but some work in the retail shop. Retail is now a standard and increasingly prominent feature in Hard Rock Cafes (since close to 48% of revenue comes from this source). Cafe employees include kitchen and wait staff, hostesses, and bartenders. Hard Rock employees are not only competent in their job skills; they are also passionate about music and have engaging personalities. Cafe staff is scheduled down