FTV: Rising Trajectory in Operations Management Analysis - Essay Sample

Introduction

Fig Tree Ventures (FTV) is a multi-brand restaurant company that produces its own original food and beverage. The company also offers hospitality services that are reportedly up to the mark. FTV initiated its operations with a single outlet, which has developed into four other outlets in the last decade. This assertion implies that the company is one poised on a rising trajectory and one relevant in analyzing operations management in contemporary organizations. This company is situated in the Middle East with its major outlets comprising of Café Hanin, Little Italy, Majnoon Qahwa, and Foodsmith. Like many other organizations, this company holds functions relative to Operations, Finance, and Marketing.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

The operations start with the supply chain initiating the delivery of raw materials to the major warehouse. These un-prepared products are then delivered to individual outlets, vis-à-vis their requirements in coordination with the outlet manager, Head Chef, executive chef, and operations manager. The warehouse manager and Cost Control Department offer oversight and supervision of the entire process to ensure that the goods are delivered precisely in terms of quantity and usability. I have served as a Cost Control Department Manager for four years, and I am well versed in all operations in this department.

When the products arrive in the individual outlets, the Head Chef and the Manager verify and ascertain that the delivered quantities are synonymous with the ones prescribed in the transfer form. They also confirm the quality and usability of the products. They then proceed to prepare the items based on the preset recipes keeping a keen eye on the stock levels to ensure they contain a proper PAR level. There is a Food Safety Department which ensures the appropriate handling of all products by the food preparation personnel vis-à-vis cleanliness and hygiene. The handling should adhere to all HACCAP guidelines (Khadka & Maharjan, 2017).

The accounting department ensures timely transactions between the company and its suppliers of raw materials. It keeps an analysis on the credit line and also ensures a regular update of financial transactions on the general ledger to be eventually submitted to the finance department. The finance department then prepares all reports and statements, determine profit and loss, identify any extraordinary numbers deserving review (with accounting or on-the-ground operations). It also issues cheques and offers definitive information regarding cash payments that should be made based on the available cash-on-hand. The cost controllers observe the inventory and ensure adherence to the set recipes. FTV mostly does its marketing by developing new outlets to attract new customers. Additionally, the company conducts promotional activities to enchant old customers at the same time attracting new ones. The hallmark of FTV’s marketing is to offer exceptional service to ensure it retains all its customers.

Impacts of Location Strategy on the Excellence of the Company

A location strategy usually identifies a company’s needs and objectives to help pinpoint an optimal location for the business. In selecting the appropriate location, Fig Tree Ventures (FTV) based its selection in an area that will minimize costs at the same time providing maximum income. FTV is a business that offers essential services to customers, which are also fully inclusive. Everyone needs food, meaning any location would be suitable for this business. The owners of FTV decided to center their main branch in an area with massive human traffic to gain the upper hand in as far as the customer market is a concern. FTV’s first and central outlet, Café Hanin, is located beside a major road within which there is a junction for various roads. Many people are traveling on this route and will definitely stop by the restaurant to get a meal or refreshment.

The selected area also provides essential amenities for anyone who wants to use the hotel. Close to the hotel is a gas station where car owners can park their vehicles as they access the restaurant to satisfy their personal needs. Many individuals would appreciate having an area where they can place their vehicles, knowing it will be handled with the utmost care (Hyder & Lussier, 2016). FTV also considered the fact the major road will ensure consistent traffic of individuals to the restaurant. Well-developed infrastructure makes the area easily accessible, meaning there is no point in time when the restaurant will lack customers. This factor has enabled FTV to generate daily revenue that has hugely assisted in settling all its business loans and providing capital to erect other outlets. Areas with high traffic are usually associated with exorbitant rent charges; however, FTV doesn’t suffer this expense as it owns the premise in which it operates.

Human resources are essential in a business in several areas that range from strategic management to company reputation. FTV’s human resources comprise mostly of restaurant employees and human resource officials. The company boasts of a highly effective applicant tracking system to enable them to recruit the crème de la crème in the food and beverage industry. In its website, it attributes part of its success to reliable and exceptional experience by those involved in all its operations. FTV has also been remarkably deft in strengthening the employer-employee relationship. The HR management conducts regular training for that effect to improve employee skills and ensure they possess adept personnel.

The management also initiates regular mechanisms to help foster employee satisfaction, which in turn rewards them with incredible output. They include employees in decision-making and in providing input on how the management can improve employee satisfaction. Resultantly, all employees have developed a strong commitment to the company’s goals and mission (Doppelt, 2017). The company notes how impassioned employees are in developing unique concepts, which is a key organizational vision. The employees have also developed a strong work ethic, which ranks as a crucial tool in strengthening the reputation of the company.

Supply Chain Management

An effective supply chain starts with having the right people in your train of success. According to a survey conducted by Deloitte, seventy-nine percent of companies with effective supply chains outperform their competitors by achieving a growth in revenue that is above average for their respective industries. FTV has numerous employees who are all devoted to its work ethics and carry FTV’s visions as their own. This company’s supply chain links, suppliers, distributors, logistic providers, employees, and customers. The initial stakeholders in this chain are the suppliers whose service offers the foundation for the very existence of Fig Tree Ventures. This company depends on highly qualified suppliers who meet all their expectations consistently. These suppliers provide exceptional customer service that is built on precise metrics and the active support of sustainable development. If the suppliers fail to execute their responsibilities as expected, the whole chain is handicapped, meaning the business suffers a potential downward movement.

The raw materials from the central warehouse have to be transported to the various outlets; this is where the distributors come in. The distribution channel of FTV extends to the transportation of the final products to the ultimate consumers. In the current economic environment, many customers like to order commodities from the comfort of their living rooms and have them delivered to their doorsteps (Schiemann et al., 2018). FTV fulfills this business gap and has its own distributors who provide flexibility allowing the business to attend to markets beyond its locality. FTV relies on two fundamental sections of logistics to strengthen its supply chain. The production logistics offer services relative to layout planning, control, organizational concepts, and production planning. The distribution logistics ensure the products reach the various outlets and final consumers. It encompasses transportation, warehousing, and order processing.

The disengagement of even a single link of the supply chain could have ghastly risks on the whole supply process. FTV trains its employees frequently to have them involved in the supply chain process. Consequently, employees feel valued and exhaustively work towards the company’s success (Quarshie et al., 2016). A chain is factually known to contain two end links. The customers are the end-link in the supply chain and hugely affect the supplier’s decision. The goal of FTV is to provide exquisite food concepts in its region that have a global appeal to customers of all countries. This objective to meet customer needs is what underscores the importance of employees in the supply chain.

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) System

Fig Tree Ventures is a multi-brand organization that has numerous outlets with all the individual outlets having many departments. The departments in the various outlets include administration, sales, marketing, finance, logistics, inventory, customer service, human resources, production, etc. All the outlets and departments depend on communication with each other to ensure reliable productivity and achievement of all the company’s objectives (Chatzoglou et al., 2016). There is very little interaction between the departments on a real-time basis, meaning a modern form of communication has to be in place. Additionally, the extraction of information from relevant departments through calls and texts is not only laborious but could also duplicate the data. To counter this effect, FTV has its self-tailored enterprise resource planning (ERP) system that is central to all the company’s operations.

The system used by FTV is centralized to enable easy access to relevant information by the involved stakeholders. If, for instance, a customer places an order for a meal, the sales department can easily access the inventory checklist to verify the availability of the meal (Davis & Comeau, 2020). If the meal is absent, the inventory department can easily communicate with the production department to provide materials necessary for the preparation of the ordered recipe. The conclusion is that there exists a central database that is shared across all departments.

FTV’s ERP system is user-friendly to make it easy for every organizational member to operate. It is not one that only appeals to programmers, but it has a manageable interface for every member of the company, including the most junior employee. The system is also a customized one that only addresses the particular operational needs of FVT. Additionally, this company has improved its ERP system to utilize cloud storage. The system is also deployable on mobile phones to enable sales assistants...