Hard Rock Cafe: Operations Management inServices
In its 48 years of existence, Hard Rock has grown from a modestLondon pub to a global power managing 163 restaurants, 23hotels/casinos, and live music venues. This puts Hard Rock firmlyin the service industry—a sector that employs over 75% of thepeople in the U.S. Hard Rock moved its world headquarters toOrlando, Florida, in 1988 and has expanded to more than 50locations throughout the U.S., serving over 100,000 meals each day.Hard Rock chefs are modifying the menu from classic American—burgers and chicken wings—to include higher-end items such asstuffed veal chops and lobster tails. Just as taste in musicchanges over time, so does Hard Rock Cafe, with new menus, layouts,memorabilia, services, and strategies.
At Orlando’s Universal Studios, a traditional touristdestination, Hard Rock Cafe serves over 3,500 meals each day. Thecafe employs about 400 people. Most are employed in the restaurant,but some work in the retail shop. Retail is now a standard andincreasingly prominent feature in Hard Rock Cafes (since close to48% of revenue comes from this source). Cafe employees includekitchen and wait staff, hostesses, and bartenders. Hard Rockemployees are not only competent in their job skills but are alsopassionate about music and have engaging personalities. Cafe staffis scheduled down to 15-minute intervals to meet seasonal and dailydemand changes in the tourist environment of Orlando. Surveys aredone on a regular basis to evaluate quality of food and service atthe cafe. Scores are rated on a 1-to-7 scale, and if the score isnot a 7, the food or service is a failure.
Hard Rock is adding a new emphasis on live music and isredesigning its restaurants to accommodate the changing tastes.Since Eric Clapton hung his guitar on the wall to mark hisfavourite bar stool, Hard Rock has become the world’s leadingcollector and exhibitor of rock ‘n’ roll memorabilia, with changingexhibits at its cafes throughout the world. The collection includes70,000 pieces, valued at $40 million. In keeping with the times,Hard Rock also maintains a Web site, www.hardrock.com, whichreceives more than 100,000 hits per week, and a weekly cabletelevision program on VH1. Hard Rock’s brand recognition, at 92%,is one of the highest in the world.
Source: Adapted from J. Heizer, B. Render, and C. Munson (2020)Operations Management: Sustainability and Supply Chain Management,Global Edition, 13/E, Pearson
In every successful brand such as Hard Rock, there must bestrong contributions and coordination among different functions tomake an operation successfully runs smoothly. Many of the decisionsmade by operations managers are dependent on information from theother functions. At the same time, other functions cannot becarried out properly without information from operations. Referringcase above, kindly answer the questions below:
How does Operations function contribute towards the successof Hard Rock operations?
Apply 5W1H writing strategy - Who, What, Where, When,Why, and How
explanation and give and example.
