Hard Rock Cafe Case
Jennifer Varavithaya
September 21, 2012 MISM
Hardrock Café Case:
1. What problems did the Rank Group find with the Hard Rock’s three main internal information systems (restaurant operations, merchandising, and financial)? Why was this a problem? [table – indented white bullets answer why] Restaurant Operations | Merchandising | Financial | * Different owners/franchisers implemented own restaurant management systems * No standards = hard for corporate to analyze sales * Processes broken & communication worse * Different experiences at different Hard Rock Cafés, any bad experience from one might mean losing potential return customer | * Relied on restaurant mangers w/o merchandising experience telling corporate when they ran out of something * Corporate unable to order restocks if managers don’t let them know but managers can’t b/c of lack of experience | * Not updated frequently enough * Unsure of where money is ($100k incident) * No one trusts system to update it (vicious cycle) * Hard for corporate to know exactly how much money company has/makes | * Get tourists who visit HR elsewhere to visit local one * Leads to a loss of potential sales and low customer retention rate | * Lack chain-wide merchandise system * Stores not being stocked/restocked when needed (e.g. Cleveland Hard Rock opened w/o shirts to sell for 3 weeks) -> loss of potential sales | * Different books between restaurants, finance, and CEO. Totals weren’t even close * Unsure of true amount, can’t analyze sales/predict corporate spending, can’t get work done w/o knowing how much money there is | * Customers/media confuse Hard Rock w/ Planet Hollywood * No brand recognition, not memorable to customers -> no returning customers -> no word of mouth advertising -> no future customers | | * Managers e-mail financial statement copy in Lotus Notes, dedicated staffer in corporate reproduce numbers in
September 21, 2012 MISM
Hardrock Café Case:
1. What problems did the Rank Group find with the Hard Rock’s three main internal information systems (restaurant operations, merchandising, and financial)? Why was this a problem? [table – indented white bullets answer why] Restaurant Operations | Merchandising | Financial | * Different owners/franchisers implemented own restaurant management systems * No standards = hard for corporate to analyze sales * Processes broken & communication worse * Different experiences at different Hard Rock Cafés, any bad experience from one might mean losing potential return customer | * Relied on restaurant mangers w/o merchandising experience telling corporate when they ran out of something * Corporate unable to order restocks if managers don’t let them know but managers can’t b/c of lack of experience | * Not updated frequently enough * Unsure of where money is ($100k incident) * No one trusts system to update it (vicious cycle) * Hard for corporate to know exactly how much money company has/makes | * Get tourists who visit HR elsewhere to visit local one * Leads to a loss of potential sales and low customer retention rate | * Lack chain-wide merchandise system * Stores not being stocked/restocked when needed (e.g. Cleveland Hard Rock opened w/o shirts to sell for 3 weeks) -> loss of potential sales | * Different books between restaurants, finance, and CEO. Totals weren’t even close * Unsure of true amount, can’t analyze sales/predict corporate spending, can’t get work done w/o knowing how much money there is | * Customers/media confuse Hard Rock w/ Planet Hollywood * No brand recognition, not memorable to customers -> no returning customers -> no word of mouth advertising -> no future customers | | * Managers e-mail financial statement copy in Lotus Notes, dedicated staffer in corporate reproduce numbers in