skin and dollars

7/24/2019 Skin and Dollars

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; CA S E I:

F U N D I S K

Episode I

The setting is that of business school College of

Business is rated as on e to the top ten m anagement

schools in India, Because of its standing in the

management circles, the school attracts students of

good academic strength and caliber. Usually the

assortment of the students is made up of diverse

backgrounds, the most dominant being

engineering. Demographically, these students

usually

belong

to the m iddle class and attach a lot of

importance to careen It is for this reason, the

atmosphere is in the campus tends to be purely

academic. The premium attached on performance

drives the students to spend long hours in the

campus. The library and the computer centre

remain crowded.

The Strategic Management course meant for

the second year students is a coveted one. It is a

kind of course that trains students to develop a

holistic perspective towards business. The^

enthusiasm and en ergy that students exhibit in this

courseisusually veryhigh.This year thecoursehas

about hundred studen ts. The ratio between the boys

and girls is deliberately engineered by the

management so as to create a healthy competitive

atmosphere.

It is the approaching of the final placement

time brings both excitement and anxiety. The

students who make it in day zero or day one

celcbrate and the ones w ho take time generally pass

through

a

rough

time.

It is the time when everything

needs to

be

brushed up especially what was studied

in the first year wh ich appears a distantpast.In the

hostel the lights are not put out. The students burn

the midnight oil to do the maximum. The idea for

everyone is not to get placed bu t to get placed first

and in the first go with the best company.

Everybody, in a way, is a friend of everybody yet

there is an undercurrent as to how to devise

strategies

to

outmanoeuver the others.

Everybody in the campus seems to be

burdened with his

6r

her thoughts and concerns.

Typically these are co ncerned with placements. But

for

Ashok it is a

different

story. For

him

placement

is not the priority.: He has already secured a job

owing to his performance during his summer

internshift with one of the top consulting

companies. Academically, he has been a brilliant

student. His rankings in class have never slipped

give her company. But soon Renu began to loose her

natural flair and started looking a little uncomfortable.

"Maybe she is getting tired', thought Ashok. But it wasn't

the fatigue that was making her uncomfortable but a guy

who began to close in on her. He often breached so called

'personal space'. It was not only the proximate dancing

below thefirstfive What is bothering Ashok is that

the time seems to be flying? The trimesters have

zoomed past one after the other and he has not bee n

able to confess his feelings to Renu. He do es not

want to pass out w ithout having done so.

With an anxiety of

a

very

different

kind, Ash ok

approaches the lecture theatre. He is not one of the

cool dudes type for whom rejection holds no

significance. Cracking an examination has be en his

forte but approaching a girl and revealing feeling

appears to be a Herculean task fo r him. He wi she d

if this challenge also involved some kind of

mathematical modeling. But it can not Love for

him is different ball game and it was not his .

1 conscious choice. It had happened to him. > j

jp^ Reeling under in his own steam of thou ghts 1

Ashok opens the door of the lecture theatre ju st to

get hit by a freezing blow of breeze. No it w as n' t ]

actual blow of

ice

storm. "How come so ear ly for |

the class today?" questioned somebody? "O h you

Renu, just like that" replied Ashok. This wa s the

moment of truth. Without blinking his ey es h e I

approaches Renu and gets seated next to her. With J

this kind of proximity and being alone in the the atre 1

encourages him to say it all. Finally he musters

courage and pulls himself together and says it all

without losing a second. His expression of love

does not measure up to the style typically p ortra yed

in designer romances of movies produced by the

likes of

Yash

Chopra. "Why did you take so lo ng"

said

Renu.

"I always believed that you have spe cial

feelings for

me

which I also share for you and kept

waiting for your initiation" she continued.

For

both of them

this

wa s the day of their lives.

They could not have allowed it to pass by like tha t .

To make it special both of them decided to visit

FunDisk, a discotheque in a star hotel, in the

evening followed by a private dinner in the same

hotel.

Episode

II

FunDisk is a good hangout joint for young people.

It is known for its decor and the ambience.

Moreover it does not allow stag entry, only couples

are allowed. This in a way enhances comfort level,

ft is partly famous f or the fact that it is housed in a

starred hotel. Both Ashok and Renu are happy and

excited. They believed this evening is going to be

great. On the floor Renu rocked. Ashok could not

match

up

to her energy and skills. He simply tried to ^

that was upsetting Renu but his attempts to touch her on J

the pretext of dancing. This upset Ashok.

"Let's go out" said Ashok to Renu. He pulled Renu,^

and moved

out

of the FunDisk. "How about dinner?" Renu ,

asked.

4

W e'll have it elsewhere but d efinitely not her e" he

replied. Both of them slipped away form the disc.


2/4

Skin and ollars

Silverline is an upscale restaurant offering full service. It is housed in one of the malls

located next to a busy b usiness ce ntre in Ne w D elhi. Its location allow s it to attract a variety

of customers. The place combines a lot of sources of demand for restaurant services.

Cineplex is an at t ract ion for younger col lege-going crowd. There is no dearth of business

executives, as tal l skyscrapers surrounding the area are home to many mult inat ional and

Indian corporate offices. Further, it attracts foreign travellers who make a visit for business

or leisure purposes. Hunge r is one commo n factor that cuts across people fr om al l spheres

who visit this business centre of life.

, Th e services of the restaurant are based on time segm entatio n. On a typical wo rking day,

Si lverl ine off ers breakfast services fol low ed by lunch. In the evenings, i t caters to the coffe e

needs of customers fol lowed by dinner services. Like any other restaurant , lunch and dinner

are t imes of heavy rush and there is lean demand during breakfa st and even ing-co ffee hours.

As per market ing de partme nt 's suggest ions, this t ime-based segm entat ion wo rks bet ter for it

is based on cu stom er needs cycle . People who actually run the show, the kitchen s taff and the

ones who work in the customer service area, also feel happy. The initial lean periods before

lunch and dinner services allow them to 'get ready' to take on the challenges of peak hours.

This way 'they remain busy' during the entire day.

Si lverl ine is posi t ioned somewhere in-between narrow range special i ty and broad ful l

range restaurants. In terms of price and quality, it again occupies mid-price and mid-quality

position. This middle of the line position has been working well with the market. It usually

attracts no specific customer type. Apparently, the generalised appeal makes it attractive to

middle rung customers who seek acceptable qual i ty at reasonable price and do not have

special ised tastes. Some office-goers and some foreigners, who happen to stay in hotels

si tuated nearby, patronise the morning breakfast services. During the day, a mixed

assortment of customers get attracted to its lunch services. The scene tends to be no different

in the evenings. However, families on special outings use it for dining services.

Mr Sunder heads operat ions. Sunder has a team of nine working under him. Two of

them are Scott and Tushar who are ki tchen-in charge. They are qual ified chefs from a

reputed school . Two act as floor mana gers. Their prime respon sibi l ity con sists of managing

linkages and coordination between the kitchen and the floor requirements. They ensure that

five bearers welcome guests, assign seats, take orders, place orders in kitchen, serve guests,

manage special requests and show courtesy. The layout divides the total service area into

five zone s and each waiter is given responsibility for its ma nag em ent. Be side s this team , one

person mans the cash counter. He makes the bills and collects the payment. No other staff

works in the unit. Marketing and other functions operate from the head office located on top

of the restaurant premises.


3/4

As the restaurant fol lowed t ime-based segmentat ion, the menu clearly co mm unicated

the service timings. For instance, lunch service begins at 12:30 pm and ge ts over at 3:30 p m

followed by evening tea/coffee services that go upto 7:00 pm. This time-based service was

designed flinging careful deliberations between operations head Sunder and marketing

head Keshav. Both marketing head and operations head had agreed on this scheme because

of its perceived merit. From the marketing perspective, this scheme allowed customers to

know exactly what to look for from this restaurant at a particular time of the day. This

reduced confusion. Operationally, this was a much simpler way of running the internal

kitchen operations. As the range of services moved with time zones, the complexity of the

operations could be reduced and processes could be managed efficiently.

On the flip side, the people at the floor resisted this method of fu nction ing becau se the

range of items available to customers got reduced. People came in groups and some of

them often wanted to order items available during other times of the day. For instance,

many w anted co ffee after lunch but they were

refused.

Consequently, people, who serve the

custom ers directly, had to bear the brunt. But people in the back room like this arra nge me nt

for they did not have to stretch much to provide the range. Waiters are hired on a fixed

monthly salary. But the tips are a good opportunity for them to make extra money. This

way, they are encouraged to provide good service. Informally, it is communicated to them

that exceeding customer expectations is one way of delighting customers and a delighted

customer never forgets to appreciate good gestures. The tip is a token of their appreciation

of their genuine services. It has often been noticed that floor personnel go overboard to

please customers.

The restaurant uses high-tech internal camera system that records everything that

happe ns during th e course of a day. In order to avoid the fee ling that som eon e is con stantly

peering at people, the recordings are not direct ly observed. The Manage ment Board mee ts

once in a month to review the performance and often during the meeting, positions of

prevuals recording are screened. The screening is also done on those days when

exceptional incidents take place. These imply both posi t ive and negat ive happenings.

Instances of a custom er co mpla ining of poor service, or a staff* me mb er bein g ill treated by

a customer, or custo mer s going out of their way to pay com plime nts to the service -prov ider

are used as case studies for analysis and insights.

In one board meeting 'one day life' in the restaurant was screened. It was an ordinary

screening of events that happened on a particular day. At the end of the screening, one

Board member not iced something that he cal led out as an exception. He exclaimed,

"Excel lent service." "What happened Mr. Mahesh? " asked another member. "I not iced on e

of our waiters going out of the way to serve a foreigner, ' ' replied Mahesh. "Tell us what

exactly did you see," replied other members in a chorus. "I want all of you to see the

recordings again," he added. The recording screened again.

It was about 4 pm. The lunch hours had just got over. After the hustle bustle of the

heavy rush that restaurant had witnessed during lunch, things were getting back to normal.

Evening tea/coffee t ime had the comm enced. The glow board clearly announced the sam e

to patrons. Tables were being reset and cleaned. The litter on the floor was being removed.

There were very few customers in the service area. Only one waiter could manage the

entire show. On this understanding, all the other four waiters had retired to the backroom

for a break and Sun il was man aging the floor alone. Such w as allowed as long as it did no t

interfere with service qua lity. The floor managers made sure that justice was do ne on both

ends. Bearers got a breather and customer services also did not suffer.

Suddenly, the entrance door was banged open and a haggard foreigner appears. He

looks around to get a feci of the place, holds many carry bags stuffed with things. He

notices some thing and begins to turn towards the entrance again, but jus t be fore he does

_ __ _ Services Marketing


4/4

that, Sunil directs him to a table: "Please, this way, sir." Up on m aking him co mforta ble he

is served with water and the menu card is placed in his hands. Everything seems to be

prog ressing fine. "Th is guy is new to the country, probab ly a first-time visitor," Sunil tells

him self. As per the standard o perating p rocedures, custom ers are allowed up to ten min utes

to go throug h the menu and decide their order. They are not approached immed iately.

More than ten minu tes hav e passed, yet the foreigner seems to be engrossed in reading

the menu like a text book. Upon discerning the difficulty that the foreigner apparently

faced in decoding the menu items, Sunil approaches him.

"May I help you, Sir." asks Sunil.

"N o it 's all right. It 's pretty late in the day to be hav ing lun ch," replies the foreigner.

"Could I have butter chicken with r ice please?" he adds .

Upon hearing this, Sunil looks confused and is not able to decide what to say. He

kno ws that he .is a foreig ner who appe ars to be very hu ngry. He feels this is a brilliant

opportunity for him to satisfy him and win accolades. He is reminded of the marketing

dictum that a happy customer never leaves without a good tip.

"Le t me see, jus t give me a secon d," Sunil requests to the customer. "I ' ll be right b ack ,"

he adds . - *

Sunil rush es to the kitchen and approac hes Mr. Scott; one of the kitchen in-charges and '

explains the whole story. Scott smiles at Sunil.

"Wh at happened Scott ," asks Sunil .

"This customer is God-sent. I have C hicken

m s l

left in the container. It was coo ked

in excess of the required quantity. We can easily pass it on as butter chicken. I will add a

little butter to it. The foreigner wouldn't be able to know what he is eating," replies Scott.

"Yeah, he look s the type visiting India fo r the first tim e," concurs Sunil.

"This way I will save my skin, otherwise our head, Sunder, will eat up my head for

excess cooking and you can earn tips in dollars," argues Scott.

Sunil 's eyes glowed. The idea is quite tempting. The order is executed. At the end of

the session, the foreigne r, as expected , leaves five dollars in the bill folder. Be fore leaving

the restaurant, he bows and expresses his thanks to the staff.

At the end of the film, Mr. Mahesh reiterates what he had said in the begin ning . " Ou r

stal l has done a great job by creating a happy customer. Both these members, Sunil and

Scott should be complimented for what they have d one."

Skin and Dollars

skin and dollars

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