Hungry And Not Satisfied, There Is Hope

Lets Face it, we’ve all had this happen to us all where we’ve stood in line at the Cougareat and because of the length of time it took to get our food, we were late. Something has to be done about this hunger problem. Which results in long lines and short tempers. What it all boils down to is that many of the workers are unskilled, or not properly trained, and the food is not fresh.
So first thing that contributes to long lines at the Cougereat is the fact that they use frozen food and not fresh, this delays the process of us getting the food, because it has to thaw and all the other things that happen. All the food that comes in is not recently fresh. It usually comes in dry cans or frozen. I know this due to the fact that I worked in the food commissary of the Cougareat. My sole responsibility was to check in all the food orders of the restaurants and then send them up. Food sits on shelves for weeks (may be slight exaggeration for effect). And when it does come up to the main floor there isn’t enough space for all the restaurants food items which creates over stocking and puts the food in unusual area’s, it’s all up to standards and clean, and there isn’t any health ethics or laws being broken, but due to the fact that they have to pack the food in it makes it harder and more time consuming to get the food onto the stoves.
The 2nd issue is that many of the workers are untrained or slightly trained. If you notice they’ll hire just about anyone who wants a job, regardless whether they can do it or not. So with little or no training and lack of product knowledge meets customers and their needs, it equals dissatisfaction. Just the other day I decided to get lunch, I saw that the upstairs had long lines so I proceeded to the bowling alley where there is a little snack bar (apparently the freshman don’t know about it yet so it has really no lines). As I expected no line, I order and then talk on the phone. I had an hour till my next class and I needed to go talk to a teacher so I thought 15 minutes maybe 20 if their slow won’t delay me. Thinking that it’s going to be all right because there are 3 workers on shirt preparing food. I call a friend. 40 minutes go by and still my order isn’t done. I had ordered my food at 1:05 and received my food at 2:10. 65 minutes to make a burger. By the time I got my food there were a fairly large group of people at the counter very hungry and not satisfied. One irate student had a lot to say about it, “If I knew it was going to take this long I would have gone to a nice restaurant,”
Naturally those at the Cougareat would argue that 1st it is expensive to ship in fresh food daily, and 2nd they would argue that they don’t have enough employees so they have to hire as many as they can due to the fact about half quit a week after they start. So they have to “train” them fast.
Those are all reasonable arguments except the fact that many restaurants ship their food in fresh, such as Hires big H, In N Out Burger, and Lucky Buns. Those companies are doing fine. They’re still getting them at wholesale prices so they will still make a profit. And about their employees the solution is simple there needs to be a greater training program as well as make it longer. The certification process needs to be stricter just a bit. You know “raise the Bar.” There needs to be a process of preparing the food that the new employees are trained on so that they know how to process the food faster and more effectively. Have the trainees watch and observe those who know the tactics for speedy service. There needs to be an observational training period. Even if it’s an hour when someone sees how to do it fast they too can do what they see. Have them start working shifts other than prime time hours, at least for the first one or two times when they’ve finished their observational part of training. These simple yet profound ideas will increase productivity. The more people you can get through your line in a friendly manner the more profit you will have. So many customers are being lost due to long lines. I hate to see this happen. Have incentives for employees to be fast. With games and competitions against other stores or them selves.
With these two suggestions I know that the service at the Cougareat will become even greater. They’ve done the best they know how. Lets hope that they will continue to be innovative in finding newer ways to help the customer most. Thank you for listening