*This is a supplement post of the Analogous Immersion done by Alex Charron and Joe Krause in the perspective of Joe.
Date: 3/3/17
Type: Analogous Immersion
Location; Mishawaka Chick Fil A
Participants: Alexandra Charron and Joe Krause
The team visited the Mishawaka Chick Fil A (CFA) in order to gain knowledge regarding Chick Fil A’s catering and delivery process. The team spoke with Ron Taylor, the assistant manager of the Mishawaka branch.
Additionally, Alex researched the online ordering process, while Joe called the store to research the call in ordering process. It was a similar booking process accept an employee enters in the order information instead of the customer online.
Top Learnings:
- CFA will drop off food at a specific time and place and pick up the catering materials after the event.
- CFA prefers customers to return the catering materials after their event, but they will pick them up if necessary.
- CFA has a specific driver on staff, but will utilize other staff members if there are many orders on a given day.
- Logistically, CFA has a difficult time managing customer orders when big events, such as football tailgates, take place.
- CFA prefers customers to order at least 2 days in advance, but can still take orders 24 hours in advance.
Key Insights:
- Logistically, the Chick Fil A catering service could be compared to the transportation problems that patients face getting to appointments, especially during times of mass catering orders.
- Not limiting the number of potential drivers gives CFA excess capacity if there are a lot of orders that take place on a given day.
- CFA is able to manage transportation for customers, which proves that there is potential to solve transportation problems for patients getting to appointments.
*Photos of the team’s analogous immersion, along with additional data and Alex’s perspective, are displayed below on a blog post from Alex.