Lean Product and Process Development and Set-Based Concurrent Engineering in the Dining Industry: the experience of an American-Asian fusion restaurant

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the implications of a culinary innovation process when adopting manufacturing industry concepts such as LPPD: Lean Product and Process Development. The action research structured in five steps (semi-structured interviews, process mapping, training, and implementation of a new process, process observation, and compilation/feedback of results) allowed the introduction of the LPPD in the culinary innovation process. Results showed that despite the innovation process of a restaurant being based on tacit knowledge, concepts from the manufacturing innovation process could be adopted. Findings can contribute to the multidisciplinary studies involving innovation, the hospitality industry, and the action research application on operations management.

Deflated Michelin

Receiving a Michelin star was once the ultimate culinary reward for the hard work and dedication that chefs have demonstrated in making their restaurants a success. However, for some of them, the stars seem more of a burden than a blessing. In recent years, several chefs have given up their Michelin status, closed the doors on their restaurants, and begun a new professional life away from haute cuisine. Many have opened up about the reasons leading them to neglect Michelin, the most prominent of them being the pressure involved in maintaining the stars, rather than obtaining them. Yet there are less obvious, but not less important, reasons to explain this behavior. In this article, we argue that chefs’ increasing reluctance to Michelin stardom is reflective of the shifts in today’s culinary profession and industry, triggered both by new attitudes in food consumption and media that increasingly influences ideas about what good food should be, mean, and look like. Drawing on the most prominent scholarly literature, writings by food journalists, and analysis of audiovisual materials, we show how the fine-dining industry is redefining itself outside the traditional systems of valuation and judgment.

Emotional Labor and Its Influence on Employees' Work and Personal Life in a Philippine Franchise Dining Industry Setting

Emotional labor involves an employee handling a wide range of his or her feelings and emotions on the job, interacting with a customer. Emotional awareness and control is necessary to maintain positive relationships with customers, and ensure continued income and profit for the company. Yet the majority of these emotions and feelings are fake, or what Hochschild (2012) defines either as surface acting or deep acting. This research paper sought to examine the effects of acting on a regular basis on the part of the employees of several international dining franchises in Cebu, Philippines, whether it leads to emotional exhaustion, stress, or it affects their productivity, relationship with co-workers and family, or influences their decision to quit their jobs. These employees work in upscale quick-service restaurants. A Likert-scale, 81-item questionnaire was sent out to 136 employees. A focus group discussion followed, to check for understanding and validity and reliability of the survey answers. Regression analysis was used to analyze and interpret the results.

Dining in Victoria, British Columbia: Vegetarianism and the Unaccommodating Restaurant Industry

This paper, a work-in-progress, uses the dining experiences of two vegetarians in Victoria, British Columbia to explore the unequal treatment they generally receive from Victoria's dining industry. Even though the participants felt that Victoria is a great place for vegetarians, findings from three interviews, four food menus, and my direct experience as a cook suggest that the restaurant industry—which is primarily geared towards non-vegetarians—treats diners in Victoria unequally, especially vegetarians. By identifying vegetarians as a distinct social group this project shows how inequality against vegetarians in Victoria operates. The thesis of the research project, however, cannot be generalized to include the larger body of vegetarians in Victoria because of the small sample group. This research project recognizes that far more interviews and further research are needed to verify its hypothesis.