2014 Masters: How Weather Affects Concessions and Masters Merchandise Inventories TAGS: 2014 | augusta | augusta national | blitz | club | concessions | consulting | continuous improvement | eisenhower tree | food | georgia | golf | inventory | lean | masters | merchandise | operations | process | sports | waste | weather Typically springtime weather in all parts of the country is crazy and hard to predict, but the last three years have seen upwards of 90-degree temperatures during The Masters Tournament …Continue reading →

Around The Bases: Super Bowl Concessions Edition TAGS: adam silver | baltimore ravens | basketball | blitz | cheerleaders | concessions | consulting | david stern | day | delaware north | denver broncos | elvis dumervil | food | groundhog | lean | nba | new york | northwestern | phil | pro bowl | punxsutawney | respect for people | roger goodell | seattle seahawks | secaucus | security | service | standardized work | subway | super bowl | train | unionize The concessions available at the Super Bowl will be fantastic, and the outsourced food service provider Delaware North is preparing for the onslaught of concessions demand. The Buffalo, N.Y., company …Continue reading →

Some Lean Thoughts From the Road TAGS: 5S | airblade | airlines | aisle | american | atlanta | augusta | baggage | bathroom | blitz | board | business | carry on | chicken wrap | class | consulting | continuous improvement | delta | dyson | el paso | fees | food | georgia | hotel | iron | ironing board | kaizen | lean | luggage | military | mountain | new jersey | newark | operations | pilot precise | process | santa fe | set in order | sink | soap | sports | straighten | texas | ticketing | transparency | window | zone Having spent significant time on the road the last month or so, I’ve come across many more opportunities for Kaizen or places where Lean thinking is applied well. ~~~~~~~ Airport …Continue reading →

Spike TV’s Bar Rescue and Optimizing Restaurants and Nightclub Operations TAGS: 5S | act | bar rescue | business | check | cleaning | consulting | do | effort | food | genchi genbutsu | implementation | improvement | jon taffer | kaizen | kanban | lean blitz | lean tools | operations | pdca | plan | process | set in order | shine | six sigma | sort | spike tv | sports | staff | stress test | transformation Happy Labor Day! Between baseball games, grilling out, running, and kicking off the college football season I was introduced to a show on Spike TV called Bar Rescue, and I’m …Continue reading →

ESPN Outside the Lines: “What’s Lurking In Your Stadium Food?” TAGS: ballpark | blitz | cleaning | concession | consulting | defects | department | droppings | espn | food | health | indianapolis | lavigne | lean | mice | negligence | operations | optimization | organization | paula | principles | process | spoil | spoilage | sports | stadium | stand | standardized | super bowl | twitter | violations | what's lurking in your stadium food A couple years back ESPN’s Paula Lavigne came out with a startling report about some of the health department findings in various concession stands at major ballparks and stadiums across …Continue reading →

The Toyota Way Principle #11: Challenging Your Extended Network TAGS: applebee's | application | blitz | challenge | check-in | chili's | consulting | customers | director | food | kitchen | lean | manager | menu | operations | optimize | order | partners | process | request | restaurant | server | six sigma | sports | stockout | store | suppliers | toyota | way (This is part of a series of posts examining the 14 principles from The Toyota Way. Today we’re looking at The Toyota Way principle 11.) One of the projects I’m working on today …Continue reading →

Safety, Common Sense, Product Recalls, and Poor Lennox TAGS: agenda | ambiguity | ants | belfast | bison | blitz | blog | bulldog | celebrity | city | cogburn | common | company | consulting | council | diamond | dna | dog | dog warden | domestic | educate | evidence | facebook | facts | feelings | food | foods | foster | french | gaston | gray area | high prairie | honest | huans | humanity | humans | judgment | labrador | lean | legal | lennox | life | lot number | manufacturing | matchbox | minimize | neutral | northern ireland | notice | objectivity | observations | operations | opinions | outbreak | page | pet | peter | petition | philosophy | pink slime | politics | process | processing | production | puppy | recall | relate | rescue | resemble | rob | robinson | rooster | safety | salmonella | save | sense | six sigma | south carolina | spiteful | sports | stillwell | stilwell | subjectivity | supercede | supply | system | taste of the wild | thomas | toyota | tractor | twenty | twitter | venison | victoria | way Through sharing of ideas and content in the Lean Blitz blog, on Facebook, and on Twitter, I do my best to follow some guiding principles and philosophies – present facts …Continue reading →

Worst Case Scenario for All-You-Can-Eat Events TAGS: advance | all you can eat | augusta | AYCE | baseball | batching | blitz | burgers | defects | facebook | feed your face | food | game time | greenjackets | inventory | lean | monday | operations | optimization | performance | postpone | process | rain | rainout | reduction | scrap | six sigma | sports | standardized work | trash | waiting | wasted | wastes | zero I have a more in-depth analysis of this type of event coming later, but a worst-case scenario has come to light today. The Augusta GreenJackets minor league team have introduced …Continue reading →

The #Masters: Masters Concessions and Concessions Stands TAGS: 2012 | abundant | augusta | band | beer | blitz | booster | bubba | cargo | cart | cashier | cheap | checkout | chips | club | concessions | consume | continuous flow | domestic | flow | food | football | golf | green | import | inventory | jacket | kanban | lean | masters | national | operations | patrons | people | pre-packaged | prices | process | pull | quantities | resource | speed | sports | supply | sweets | tournament | waste | watson (This is the final post on the observed business operations of the 2012 Masters at Augusta National Golf Club.) I am absolutely infatuated with the speed at which customers are …Continue reading →

Lean is Good Customer Service TAGS: alyson footer | alyson's footnotes | astros | beer | blitz | concession stand | cycle time | discounts | food | houston | inventory | jim crane | lean | minute maid park | operations | processes | six sigma | sports | stockouts | waste | water Yesterday, new Houston Astros owner Jim Crane announced some sweeping fan-friendly changes at Minute Maid Park that included: Cheaper tickets, some with food/merchandise credits Ticket plan rebates Beer specials all …Continue reading →

8 Wastes – Overprocessing TAGS: bathroom | buff | candy bar | custodian | envelope | food | fortify | groundskeeper | hair | hot dogs | lean | manipulate | mickey mouse | natural | overprocessing | overzealous | packaging | paint | painting | security software | shine | spam | stadium | standardized work | t-shirt | ticket | ticket sales | walt disney world (This is the second in a series of deeper dives into the 8 lean wastes.) “Overprocessing” in the food world refers to the continual changing/adding/fortifying/manipulating of materials that takes it …Continue reading →