The importance of technology to businesses cannot be overstated. For example, over the past few decades, the corporate world has seen the emergence of technologies that have improved customer-employee engagements, improved operational efficiencies, bolstered sales volumes, and reduced overhead costs among other outcomes. The fast food industry could be one of the biggest beneficiaries of the novel technologies since they have managed to meet the expectations of their customers—to serve food within the shortest time possible. However, while some large fast food companies, such as McDonald’s, Starbucks, and others have been quick to improve their ordering systems, others, including the Kentucky Fried Chicken, KFC, are yet to match the levels of transition. Consequently, this research paper appraises the ordering process and system at the KFC restaurants in the US with the objective of recommending a technological strategy for improvement.
Statement of the Problem
KFC restaurants in the US and around the world are known for their fried chicken products even though they sell a range of other fast food products. Because of their global brand reputation, the firm deals with thousands of orders from clients each day. Currently, US stores have two ways through which its customers may order for their preferred products. First, the stores use the conventional approach to ordering. According to Mueller (2017), the traditional ordering system entails clients visiting physical stores and placing their orders over the counter. In addition to the traditional ordering approaches, KFC incorporates online ordering into its operations, in which the clients visit the company’s website and place their orders. In the recent years, especially in India, the company has introduced a mobile ordering system that simplifies the process through a one click method that allows consumers to confirm their orders. Consequently, the following flow charts may explain the ordering system that KFC uses currently.
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Figure 1 : The conventional ordering process at the KFC outlets in the US
Figure 2 : The digital ordering system at the KFC stores
Despite the fact that the company has adopted a generic strategy to ordering, the system has three major problems. Considering that the conventional method requires customers to visit the stores physically—it is not issues since most other companies still use this method—processing of orders may take longer than necessary and slow the rate of service delivery (Lee, Hsu, & Chain, 2014). Precisely, KFC staff report that they are always forced to endure strenuous working hours because of the need for them to process as many orders as possible, especially during the peak hours, such as during lunch and dinner (Schlosser, 2012). For example, they are always expected to deliver orders as fast as possible to suit the busy schedules of their clients. Slowed processing of orders, which is always anticipated in manual systems, happens because of complications in reaching the counter employees—peak hours always create confusion because of too many waiting customers against an almost limited number of store employees. Additionally, considering the digital way of ordering, the clients are limited to the use of mobile phone applications, and they only do so when they want home deliveries. Therefore, much as the digital system may allow the company to process many orders, it is limited those who do not visit the stores. The two approaches to ordering are further limited by the fact that payments are made strictly in cash, on order at the counters and on delivery using the home delivery systems.
The issues that have been identified have implications for both the customers and the business. First, slow service delivery that may be occasioned by a sluggishness in order processing could affect the volume of sales made per day (Croxton, 2013). Second, in some extreme cases, the companies may fail to meet the clients’ expectations, which could have negative implications on their corporate image (Schlosser, 2012). Third, customers could be inconvenienced by slow service delivery, especially when they have limited time to pick their snacks and return to work or to transit to other activities. Studies also indicate that clients who feel that their companies do not cater for their needs, which may be interpreted as failing to meet their deadlines in this case, are likely to turn to their competitors, especially when they think that they would be served better (Smith, Bolton, & Wagner, 2016). At the core of the implications of the identified problems, the company should always understand its obligation to ensure customer satisfaction.
In the competitive corporate environment that characterizes the American fast food industry, KFC should strive to match the pace at which its primary competitors are adopting transformative technologies. This research paper, therefore, seeks to help KFC solve the ordering problems through proposing a technological solution. The primary idea of the recommendations in this paper is to help the management of the firm to have a fast system of order processing that would suit the needs of clients who visit the physical stores as well as those who would like their orders delivered to their homes and other convenient locations as fast as possible.
Problem Analysis
Several factors may have contributed to the development of the identified problems. On the social sphere, it may be considered that the American society has been growing increasingly busy, which explains its preference for systems that would help people manage their busy schedules. For example, the modern society has a high affinity for computer assisted technologies because they simplify their lives and make more autonomous in decision making (Smith, Bolton, & Wagner, 2016). Consequently, institutions that are reluctant to adopting new technologies may not be preferred by a significant proportion of the modern society. On the economic front, it may be inferred that fast food companies always strive to be profitable through serving as many clients as they can manage. For companies, such as KFC, any improvements that would help in them to serve more clients would always interpret into more profits. On the legal sphere, it should be noted that companies have the interests of their customers as a priority, which is why they should desist from using competitive strategies that would exploit consumers (Ayalew, 2011). One example given in the cited study is that the companies should not deliberately inconvenience their clients and cause them to suffer any forms of psychological, physical, economic, or legal consequences.
It is important that the company solves the problems because of their social, economic, and legal implications. First, the fast food company should strive to remain competitive in the market through matching the volume of sales of other companies, such as McDonald’s. Literature indicates that McDonald’s, for example, has already adopted a digital ordering system that suits the needs of the customers who visit its physical stores (Strom, 2017). At the time of launching the new ordering technology, the cited literature reports, the CEO of the company anticipated that the move would bolster sales and create new employment opportunities for its employees. The firm should also solve the problem because of the implications that the new strategy would have on the social lives of the contemporary consumers. Considering that social media technologies are common among the public, it would be imperative for the company to solve the technological issues to appeal to its modern proportion of customers. The company should also concentrate on addressing the problem so that it avoids legal consequences that would come with laxity, especially when some clients might want to sue the firm for inconveniences caused. The ordering system should also be reviewed because of the implications that new technologies have on the creation of employment opportunities. Borrowing from the example of McDonald’s, the CEO suggested that the new technologies that had been adopted would create new employment opportunities, and that it was unnecessary for the firm to lay off its counter staff. The company should also concentrate on solving the identified issues because of the need to enhance one of the most fundamental pillars of the US society, the element of autonomy (Strom, 2017).
Problem Solutions
The company might want to adopt a digital ordering system, which would allow the clients to place orders automatically when they check in at its outlets around the country. It is now an out-fashioned trend for customers to walk into stores and ask counter staff about what they would like to eat. The proposed technology would promote the self-service approach that is growing increasingly common around the country. Precisely, the company’s management may want to use interactive touch screens that would allow customers who check in for their snacks to select what they would like to eat from the menu programmed into the system without being assisted by the counter staff (Smith, Bolton, & Wagner, 2016). The employees at the company would then be directed by the same technology the location of the customers—the customers would be prompted by the machine to choose from one of the several eating kiosks inside the store and the seat numbers that they would wish to occupy. To cater for the peak hours, the customers might also be prompted to synch their mobile application devices with the machines so that many orders could be made and processed at ago.
The proposed solution would solve the problem of delayed order processing by the counter staff, especially if the management shall consider two ideas. First, the firm might want to add a digital way of paying for the products that the clients offered, such that an automatic receipt would be generated as an acknowledgment of a successfully placed order (Strom, 2017). For example, the company may opt for a mobile money payment system that would integrate the credit card approach into mobile applications. Second, to cater for people who might want to take their snacks home or somewhere else, the interactive touch screen would contain an interphase that would allow the customers to indicate whether they would be eating from the restaurant or if they would like to take the food away. The speed of service delivery at the stores is likely to improve significantly considering that some of the employees who formerly worked at the counters may be deployed to the back staff and help in processing of orders. The resultant order processing flow chart at the stores would be as indicated in figure 3.
Figure 3 : the order processing flow chart that would come with the adoption of digital ordering technology
The most important merit of the proposed solutions to the ordering process is that it would simplify the procedures involved. The advantage means that the new strategy would reduce the time taken in order processing, which might allow the stores to process more orders during peak hours. When the process is repeated for some time, it is likely that it may lead to more profitability for the company. The new technologies would also reduce commotion that is often experienced at fast food stored when the demand exceeds the rate of service delivery, such as during the peak hours. The new technologies suggested would also reduce the costs of operations of the firm, especially reducing the labor intensive models of operation that are always associated with conventional sales strategies. While it may not be possible to have specific cost reduction estimates, it plausible, borrowing from case studies of companies such as Starbucks, that the firm may release up to twenty percent reduction in its costs of operation.
Solution Justification
The firm may want to adopt interactive touch screens that would be synced with mobile applications. The rationale for this proposal is that the combination would increase the number of orders that are placed at ago, and help in meeting the demand levels that come with busy hours. The company may also be in a prime position to attract more clients, especially the youth who like to experiment with new technologies. The proposal also respects the societal value of autonomy that America appears to foster among its youthful populations. The proposal is feasible considering that some firms in the industry have already adopted it although they are yet to report the identified benefits. The implementation of the proposed solution would take six months considering that the company would have to look for the best vendors of the technologies, redesign its stores, fit in the new technologies, and experiment with the technologies at selected stores before they adopt them.
References
Ayalew, R. (2011). Consumer behaviour in Apple's App Store. Retrieved from http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2%3A476799&dswid=2865
Croxton, K. L. (2013). The order fulfillment process. The International Journal of Logistics Management , 14 (1), 19-32.
Lee, T. R., Hsu, Y. H., Chain-Yao, C., & Hilletofth, P. (2014). Managing the customer waiting problem in fast food restaurants in Taiwan through reengineering of the app ordering process. In Technology Innovation and Industrial Management (TIIM) (pp. 40-48).
Mechling, L. C., & Cronin, B. (2016). Computer-based video instruction to teach the use of augmentative and alternative communication devices for ordering at fast-food restaurants. The Journal of Special Education , 39 (4), 234-245.
Mueller, R. J. (2017). U.S. Patent No. 5,128,862 . Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Schlosser, E. (2012). Fast food nation: The dark side of the all-American meal . Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Smith, A. K., Bolton, R. N., & Wagner, J. (2016). A model of customer satisfaction with service encounters involving failure and recovery. Journal of marketing research , 356-372.
Strom, S. (2017). McDonald’s Introduces Screen Ordering and Table Service . Nytimes.com . Retrieved 29 November 2018, from https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/18/business/mcdonalds-introduces-screen-ordering-and-table-service.html
