Hurry up and Wait..
Having youngsters, we are often privileged to get to tour a lot of businesses on emergency potty runs. One such "tour" was at the Red Lobster restaurant as we waited the seemingly compulsory 30 minutes for a table. We where there before 5 PM, and had waited for 15 or 20 minutes by the time Nathan and I walked through the dining area.
It was 2/3rds or so empty.
Initially I was a bit annoyed, but then I thought it through.
If everyone who came at 5 got to sit down right away, then the kitchen would have to prepare 300 meals all at once. The wait staff would have to take 300 orders all at once. The bussers would have to bus and wash 300 plates all at once.
Of course this wouldn't work, and so most folks would wind up sitting at the table and stewing for 30 to 50 minutes before their food arrived.
Modern manufacturing is very lean. Parts cost money, and there is no sense building a pile of parts before you need them. When there is a problem on a lean line, usually only a few parts can be built defectively before the problem is discovered. If you are building parts and putting them on the shelf, then sometimes hundreds of parts can be built defectively before the problem is discovered.
The restaurant is no different. There is no sense bringing people in to wait at their tables rather than having them wait in the bar or the lobby. If the wait is too long at a restaurant and I don't stay, I walk away sad, but I still have my craving to fill another day. There is a perception that the food is good enough that people are willing to wait for it. On the other hand, if I get seated, place my order and wait for 50 minutes, I walk away angry, and do not want to go back.
I suspect the mad scientists at Red Lobster headquarters have it all figured out. They probably let people in to be seated at almost the exact rate that meals are being cooked.
