By Loi Liang Tok (Head of Pizza Hut Malaysia)
The Food and Beverage industry is one of the fastest growing in the world with an average growth of 8% to 10% annually. Running in parallel is also shifting consumer expectations. This includes the rise of alternative fast casual dining options, mainstreaming of food delivery and increase in sustainability awareness, among others.
As such, it is essential for a brand like Pizza Hut to constantly upgrade our processes and quality controls to match customer expectations. This is not just limited to food quality but operations, service and store maintenance.
The brand has over six decades of heritage, and we understand that incorporation of innovation and technology is required to ensure continuous quality for our customers.
Over the last decade, we have been making small changes such as altering store layouts to optimize working space and processes in our restaurants nationwide. However, the last three years has truly been a time of innovation for the brand, in and outside our stores.
OPERATING THE OPERATIONS
In 2021, Pizza Hut began incorporating the Hutbot app in our restaurant operations. Hutbot is an intelligent mobile app built to aid our store managers in running a restaurant.
A key section on the app is “My routines” which is a combination of checklists and tasks required to run a shift in the restaurant including set up, preparation, handover and closing. In addition, routine checks are performed on product temperature and quality, equipment condition which includes temperature and cleanliness, food safety standards, as well as monitoring of team members’ health and hygiene. The app also allows users to view current and historic scorecards, check the leaderboard and allow remote monitoring of routines of individual outlets.
Previously, these daily operations and food safety checks were completed using printed forms which can only be verified by Area Managers during their store visits. With the Hutbot, we not only save printing costs but improve sustainability and overall efficiency.
SUSTAINABILITY AT THE FOREFRONT
In 2022, in an initiative to improve restaurant efficiency, better our stock management and reduce wastage, we implemented a
n integrated digital food inventory management system. The system not only captures stock orders and delivery records but tracks them.
The application in addition to preventing orders getting lost in transit, serves as an integrated platform for suppliers to “pick up” their orders and for area managers to monitor the process remotely. Most importantly, with the application, area managers can monitor ordering patterns to then minimise over ordering, thus preventing food wastage.
BUILDING THE AMBIANCE
For our customers to have the best dining experience, the ambiance of our restaurants plays a huge role. On the outside, this includes everything from comfortable seating to functioning lighting and air conditioning. Inside the kitchen, it is also essential that all the equipment undergo regular scheduled maintenance to ensure products are of best quality with the highest safety standards.
Previously, when repairs were needed, the manager was required to contact the relevant vendor to come by and do the repairs. Due to the manual process, the response and repair times were not systematically captured, thus making it difficult to measure and track the performance of the equipment and maintenance team.
Now, there is an online system called the Maintenance Helpdesk for outlets to report and process every repair and maintenance request. This system records and tracks every request while measuring the response time and performance of the maintenance team as well as data on the assets and or equipment in the restaurants. This in turn eases the measurement of KPIs thus improving their service to ultimately provide the best dining environment for the customer and optimize the performance and life span of the equipment.
CUSTOMER FIRST
Ultimately, our innovation goal is to give our customers the best service to ensure they have the best dining experience with us, be it at the store or at home. With that in mind, Pizza Hut is also in the process of implementing a SMART kitchen system which tracks a customer’s order from the placing of the order to its delivery.
The clock first starts when the pizza is first being made. Should the order be for delivery, the team members can use the system to see how many riders are at their store. Only when there are more than three riders on location will the prepared pizza go into the oven. This is to ensure that the pizza arrives hot and fresh for our customers instead of sitting at the counter while awaiting a rider to take it to them.
The best part of this system is that it allows the customers to track their pizzas too, giving them a better idea of the preparation process and expected delivery time.
At Pizza Hut, we believe this is only the beginning and we will continue innovating and improving to give our customers impeccable quality.