Center Parcs
Center Parcs – Food and Beverage
Center Parcs is synonymous with family time. A place where lifelong memories are made and stories that will be told for many years begin. Every year, they welcome millions of guests – some are old friends, and some are exploring Center Parcs for the very first time. Alongside spending time in a lodge, or joining many of the activities available in a wonderful woodland setting, relaxing over a family meal and gathering to watch the biggest sporting events is also an important part of the fun.
Like most food and beverage outlets, those at Center Parcs experience peaks in demand at key times of the week and across the day. An ongoing desire to deliver great guest service coincided with a project to implement a new colleague scheduling tool into the food and beverage operation. In order to optimise team member shifts required at a restaurant at any one time, the tool must know how long individual tasks take. The Center Parcs team asked us to help them measure how long core tasks take, spot opportunities to improve productivity and delight even more guests at peak times.
Once we understood what mattered to Center Parcs and their guests through visiting Sports Café and Huck’s American Bar and Grill restaurants, we spent time at three of their villages. Our expert analysts timed processes and spotted additional opportunities that would not explicitly show up in the data they captured. The results were reported back in a discussion forum with representatives from different parts of the operation.
We used four different study methods
1. We accurately timed tasks
We measured how long it took to complete restaurant tasks, from welcoming and seating guests, to the all-important kitchen deep cleans too. Then we produced average figures for each task so Center Parcs understood how many work hours they needed to meet their sales forecasts.
2. We quantified time spent serving customers
We looked at how teams split their time across different types of activities and grouped them into three categories:
- Tasks that directly served guests, such as serving drinks and taking orders
- Tasks that indirectly supported guests, such as cleaning or food preparation tasks
- Time spent not working – taking breaks or waiting for guests, for example
We measured different days of the week and times of day – including the super busy big match times at the Sports Café – using a method called Rated Activity Sampling. It measures the pace of work across a shift, and it’s a chance to obtain an external perspective by comparing benchmark percentages against other similar food and beverage brands.
3. We watched and listened
Drawing on our knowledge and experience of other outlets and industries, we made observations during our time spent in the villages, taking note of opportunities for improvement around things like layout, equipment, and ways of working. We spotted examples of best practice to share with all the villages and identified some quick wins where small changes would free up more time for guests.
4. We built a workload model
The workload model combines specific features of each restaurant, with times per task and expected trade volumes in order to calculate the hours needed to meet the demand in each restaurant. The model output feeds the new colleague scheduling tool and provides a consistent evidence-based approach for each village and restaurant to work from.
How did it help?
We know how important it is to provide practical next steps, rather than just handing over a heap of data. We conducted an in-depth handover with the Center Parcs Project Team and provided them with all the data we gathered, together with our specialist analysis that surfaced clear advice on quick wins and longer-term strategy.
To align the priorities of delivering a consistent guest experience with running an efficient operation, insights for the data and observations collected included:
- The resource levels versus demand were uneven across villages and better tailoring to demand would be good for guests and the business. The workload model provided the detail to level up resources
- We highlighted quick wins relating to kitchen layouts and even the introduction of low-cost chip funnels to shave seconds off food production – and anyone waiting for a meal with a hungry toddler knows how much seconds matter!
- Some of the technology used by the team was slowing them down. Till systems were slow and didn’t use the latest mobile technology, and the table booking system was not ideal for guests or the team
- The teams were delighted we’d spent time with them. They shared information on what prevented them from spending more time with guests and we were able to measure their impact to create a compelling business case for change. For example, we found that colleagues preferred to use the fixed tills rather than handheld devices, meaning service was slower as they walked between till units. By optimising the handheld displays so they were easier for the colleagues, their efficiency could be improved and therefore service was sped up. We supported Center Parcs with their work to efficiently delight millions of guests each year. They have found our evidence-based insights so useful they have asked us to partner with them in projects on other parts of their operation too
Feedback from Center Parcs
“Working with ReThink has allowed us to have expert support in improving productivity within our food and beverage departments. These improvements will benefit our guests, colleagues and the business as we progress. Practical advice, supported by data-driven evidence presented in a compelling way, has taken our project from a desired outcome to reality” – Paul Stewart, Deputy Village Director Operations Support at Center Parcs UK and Ireland
To find out more about how we can help your business, get in touch with us at [email protected] or on 07983 427670.