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ASHESI UNIVERSITY COLLEGE
Application of Information Technology (MIS) to Restaurants in Ghana: a
case study of selected restaurants in Tema, Ghana
LOIS NAA LAMILEY AKOTO-LAMPTEY
2012
ii
ASHESI UNIVERSITY COLLEGE
Application of Information Technology (MIS) to Restaurants in Ghana: a
case study of selected restaurants in Tema, Ghana
BY
LOIS NAA LAMILEY AKOTO-LAMPTEY
Thesis submitted to the Department of Management Information Systems,
Ashesi University College.
In partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of a Bachelor of Science
Degree in Management Information Systems
May 2012
iii
DECLARATION
I hereby declare that this dissertation is the result of my own original
work and that no part of it has been presented for another degree in this
university or elsewhere.
Candidates Signature: ......................................................................
Candidates Name: ...........................................................................
Date: .............................................................................................
I hereby declare that the preparation and presentation of the thesis were
supervised in accordance with the guidelines on supervision of thesis laid down
by Ashesi University College.
Supervisors Signature: .....................................................................
Supervisors Name: ...........................................................................
Date: ...............................................................................................
iv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to say a big thank you to my parents, Victor and Josephine
Akoto-Lamptey, my supervisor Dr. Esi Ansah, Mrs. Josephine Djan and Dr.
Richard Douglass for helping me throughout my thesis project. I would also like
to thank Mirabake Restaurant, Chearis Restaurant, Papaye Restaurant, Southern
Fried Chicken Restaurant, 3 Seasons Restaurant, Bar & Coffee and the Point Bar
and Restaurant, all in Tema for allowing me to use their restaurants for my
research.
v
Abstract
Information Technology is used today by a lot of companies in different
industries around the world. Information Technology is applied in areas such as
supermarkets, hotel industry, banks and other financial institutions. In Ghana,
some restaurants use information technology but recording of orders and
inventory items for example, are still handwritten. These restaurants can use an
Information Technology tool instead of the manual way of recording data. The
researcher designed a criteria for determining the level of Information
Technology a restaurant uses as well as a diagram to determine the relationship
between service quality and information technology.
This study is about applying a service quality model called the Information
Technology (IT) Alignment Model to restaurants. The aim of this paper is to
know how restaurants in Tema use Management Information Systems (MIS) in
their daily operations to improve service quality.
Keywords: Service Quality, IT Alignment Model, Management Information
Systems, Information Systems, Casual Dining Restaurants
vi
Contents
Abstract .............................................................................................................................................. v
CHAPTER ONE - INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................... 1
1.1 Research Problem ............................................................................................................ 2
1.2 Rationale of Study ............................................................................................................ 5
1.3 Conceptual Framework .................................................................................................. 5
1.4 Objective of the Study ................................................................................................... 7
1.5 Research Question ........................................................................................................... 8
1.6 Research Proposition ....................................................................................................... 8
1.7 Significance of the Study .............................................................................................. 8
1.8 Organization of the Study ............................................................................................. 9
CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW ......................................................................... 11
2.1 Information Systems .................................................................................................... 11
2.2 Service Quality ................................................................................................................ 14
2.3 Service Quality Models ................................................................................................. 16
2.4 Service Quality & Information Technology ........................................................... 20
2.5 The Food Service Industry in Ghana ...................................................................... 22
2.6 Casual Dining Restaurants .......................................................................................... 23
2.7 Restaurants and Information Technology ............................................................. 23
2.8 Summary of Literature Review ................................................................................. 25
CHAPTER THREE - METHODOLOGY .................................................................................. 26
3.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 26
3.2 Research Proposition ..................................................................................................... 27
3.3 Research Design ............................................................................................................. 27
3.4 Operational Definitions ................................................................................................. 28
3.5 Sample Frame ................................................................................................................. 29
3.6 Data Collection Procedures ......................................................................................... 32
3.7 Limitations ......................................................................................................................... 32
CHAPTER FOUR FINDINGS AND DATA ANALYSIS .............................................. 34
4.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 34
4.2 Demographic Data ......................................................................................................... 35
4.3 Findings .............................................................................................................................. 38
4.3.1 Level of Information Technology .......................................................................... 38
4.3.2 Reliability & Responsiveness .................................................................................. 40
4.3.3 Link between Information Technology & Service Quality ........................... 42
4.3.4 Additional Findings ..................................................................................................... 43
4.4 Discussion & Analysis ................................................................................................... 44
4.4.1 Responses from Managers and Wait staff ........................................................ 45
4.4.2 Responses from Customers .................................................................................... 46
4.5 Validity and Reliability of the study ......................................................................... 46
CHAPTER FIVE - CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION ................................... 47
vii
REFERENCES .................................................................................................................................. 50
APPENDIX A .................................................................................................................................. 53
APPENDIX B .................................................................................................................................. 54
APPENDIX C ................................................................................................................................... 56
APPENDIX D .................................................................................................................................. 58
APPENDIX E ................................................................................................................................... 59
APPENDIX F ................................................................................................................................... 61
APPENDIX G .................................................................................................................................. 62
List of Figures Figure 1: Bar chart showing how restaurants store orders ............................................................. 3
Figure 2: Pie chart showing responses wait staff on how the restaurants track supplies in
inventory ............................................................................................................................................................. 4
Figure 3: Service Quality & Information Technology ......................................................................... 7
Figure 4: Diagram of the IT Alignment Model .................................................................................... 19
Figure 5: Cognitive Map of Theoretical Framework .......................................................................... 26
Figure 6: Reliability rating for each restaurant category ................................................................ 40
Figure 7: Responsiveness rating of each restaurant category ..................................................... 41
Figure 8: Graph showing level of Service Quality & Information Technology ........................ 42
Figure 9: How the Mobile application works ........................................................................................ 48
List of Tables
Table 1: The use of Information Technology (IT) in Restaurants ............................................... 12
Table 2: Ratings for a restaurant ............................................................................................................ 13
Table 3: Service Quality Models ............................................................................................................... 16
Table 4: Number of Participants .............................................................................................................. 31
Table 5: Number of Participants used for the study ........................................................................ 35
Table 6: Demographic Data - Wait Staff ............................................................................................... 36
Table 7: Demographic Data - Customers ............................................................................................. 37
Table 8: Level of Information Technology for each restaurant used for the study .............. 38
1
CHAPTER ONE - INTRODUCTION
The purpose of a business is to gain and keep
customers- Fred Smith (Gomes, 1996).
The above quote means that any firm running its business must be
concerned about how it runs its operations to gain, maintain old
customers and attract new customers. The firm must ensure that its
internal operations always help to improve upon its service quality. Some
of its internal operations may include managing data, keeping track of
sales and attending to customer needs.
The application of Information Technology (IT) to firms such as
banks has helped improve upon their services. Customers can use
Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) to withdraw money instead of joining
long queues inside banking halls. They can also check their account
balance and make transactions online instead of going to the bank
(Meuter et al, 2000). The hotel industry also makes extensive use of IT.
With IT, hotels are able to keep data on their customers. That is, the
number of days the customer spent at the hotel, food ordered and laundry
services provided. As a result, it is easy to keep data on customers
orders at the restaurants in the hotels, bookings for conference rooms,
business meetings, parties, weddings and other social functions.
Supermarkets also make use of IT in recording their daily sales. A
bar code scanner makes it easier to record items bought daily and to
check inventories as well. Most of such supermarkets also use the
electronic article surveillance at each exit door and this helps in detecting
2
which items have been stolen from the store. The electronic article
surveillance is a technique that is used to prevent shoplifting. The
supermarkets place special tags on each item, if someone steals an item
the alarm goes off because the tag has not been deactivated. Most
supermarkets in the United States of America use this system and are
able to detect if items not paid for are taken out of the store by a
customer. Supermarkets have moved from the normal calculator to the
use of computers where they can store data more quickly and also take
out the drudge of keying in items manually.
1.1 Research Problem
There are restaurants in Ghana that apply Information Technology
(IT) in their operations. An informal observation done by the researcher
in December 2011 showed that some of the restaurants such as Papaye,
Mr. Biggs and Osu Food Court, use Point of Sale (POS) systems in
recording their orders and calculating sales made in a day. The system
also generates receipts for the restaurants. A customers order is taken
after he goes through the menu. The problem however is that, the order
is handwritten and sent to the wait staff who enters the orders onto the
POS system. The orders are handwritten because they do not have any
tool they can use to record their orders. The wait staff prints a receipt
which is sent to the kitchen. Although these restaurants use IT, they still
manually write down the orders before entering them into the POS
system. Due to the fact that orders are manually done, it becomes
difficult to track data collected. There is also the issue of restaurants not
3
recording and tracking their inventory. This affects their operations
because anytime a customer comes to the restaurant and a particular
ingredient needed to make a dish is not available the customer must
make another order.
An interview with the manager of the Point Bar and Restaurant in
Tema in October 2011 revealed that recording of orders is done manually
and items in inventory are not recorded at all. There is a store keeper
who ensures that there are enough items in inventory. At the end of each
day, the orders are recorded in a book, and this she said, is very tedious.
Figure 1: Bar chart showing how restaurants store orders
This project conducted a survey in five casual dining restaurants in
February and March 2012 in Tema to find out how they record their data.
The questionnaires the wait staff answered showed that there are some
54.5
45.5
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Order Book POS
Pe
rce
nt
Method of Recording Data
Storing Orders Collected in a Day
key
Orderbook
POS
4
restaurants still manually writing down orders as well as inventory items.
About 54.5% of the wait staff said the restaurants they work in, manually
record orders in a book while 45.5% said they use a Point of Sale (POS)
system as shown in Figure 1.
Figure 2: Pie chart showing responses wait staff on how the
restaurants track supplies in inventory
Responses from the wait staff on how the restaurants keep data on
inventory revealed that, 55% of the wait staff stated they record their
inventory manually in a book and 18% use a software based inventory
system as shown in Figure 2. Other responses revealed that 14% keep
track of some supplies with the help of receipts, 9% did not know if the
restaurant used an inventory system or not and 4% said they do not keep
track of their supplies at all.
Software Inventory
system
18%
Book55%
Do not track supplies
4%
Do not know9%
Receipts
14%
Wait staff response on how the restaurants track their supplies
5
1.2 Rationale of Study
The use of Information Technology (IT) helps firms in making their
services much better and makes work easier. The application of IT could
be in the form of using the internet to advertise a firms services,
managing data with technology, online ordering and communicating with
customers through the internet among other services. In view of this,
applying IT to restaurants could also improve their service quality.
A firms use of IT to manage its data has the potential to improve
its service quality as well as its decision making processes. For instance,
a restaurant which maintains a database of all orders that its customers
make, may be better informed about the meals that customers order
most. This will help the restaurants management keep track of its
supplies and inventory, and know what extra items management needs to
procure. Some restaurants in Ghana use the Point of Sale (POS) System
for managing sales. With this system, it is easy to collect information on
sales and orders made.
A firm must be concerned about how it manages its operations
because poor management has an effect on its revenue. This affects the
service quality, decreases a firms revenue and the firms cost increases.
Therefore, good service quality is better than a poor one (Ravichandran &
Rai, 2000).
1.3 Conceptual Framework
The conceptual framework of this study is the IT Alignment Model of
service quality. Service quality, as defined by Lewis and Booms (1983), is
6
a measure of how well the service delivered matches customer
expectations. Parasuraman, Berry and Zeithaml (1991) described service
quality as a comparison between desired service and perceived service,
not what the service provider would offer (Parasuraman et al, 1985).
The IT Alignment Model is a model created by Berkley and Gupta in
1994 and is about using Information Systems (IS) applications to improve
service quality determinants which affect the services of a firm. The
model focuses on seven of the service quality determinants which are
reliability, responsiveness, competence, access, communications, security,
understanding and knowing the customer (Vrat, Seth & Deshmukh, 2004).
Berkley and Gupta (1994) advise that firms must link the right IT
application they choose for their operations as well as focusing on service
quality determinants that helps a firm gain competitive advantage over its
competitors. Therefore aligning the information systems application
chosen with the service quality determinants helps the firm improve upon
its service quality which is very essential in every service industry.
7
Figure 3: Service Quality & Information Technology
Figure 3 shows the relationship between the level of IT application and
service quality. The figure designed by the researcher shows four
different quadrants that shows the relationship between service quality
and Information Technology. This was used to categorize the selected
restaurants for the study. Findings helped determine what level of IT
application yields optimal service quality. The data gathered will help to
derive a function of the level of IT application with respect to service
quality.
1.4 Objective of the Study
The main objective of this study was to determine the use of
Management Information Systems (MIS) in improving service quality in
High level of Information Technology
Low level of
Information
Technology
Bad Service Quality
Good Service Quality
I II
III IV
8
the selected restaurants. The study found out the possible ways MIS
could be used to improve service quality of a restaurant. The second
objective was to design an application that will help in improving service
quality of the selected restaurants.
1.5 Research Question
It is important to know and understand how restaurants apply MIS
to their daily operations, how it helps improve upon their service quality
and how they can improve upon their existing use of MIS. The research
question for this study is:
How do restaurants in Tema use MIS in their daily operations to
improve upon their service quality?
1.6 Research Proposition
The study focuses on the application of MIS to restaurants operations.
The study applies the IT Alignment Model to restaurants and therefore
expects to find that:
The application of Management Information Systems will lead to
positive perceptions of service quality.
1.7 Significance of the Study
The application of the IT Alignment Model to restaurants is a study
that will add up to other research done about the use of information
technology to other areas such as the financial sector. In Ghana, there
are hotel restaurants, fine dining restaurants, food vendors, casual dining
9
restaurants and traditional restaurants but for this study, casual dining
restaurants will be used. Casual dining is a concept that was introduced
by entrepreneur Norman Brinker, who is known to be the father of
casual dining. A casual dining restaurant is a type of restaurant that falls
between fast food establishments and fine dining restaurants (Holley,
2009).
This study seeks to assert that the use of MIS if applied well can
help boost their revenue and minimize their costs. Although the initial
cost of using MIS could be high, in the long run it could pay off. The
benefits of MIS are that it helps in better planning, decision making,
tracking issues and monitoring of a firms operations.
1.8 Organization of the Study
Chapter 2: Literature Review
The literature review of the study analyzes research on the role of
information technology in service quality and the IT Alignment Model.
Chapter 3: Methodology
The Methodology section describes what research samples,
research design and research instrument was used. It describes how data
was collected, the kind of questions asked at interviews and the type of
questionnaires in relation to the study.
10
Chapter 4: Findings & Data Analysis
This section shows the data analyzed from the interviews and
questionnaires. The data collected helped find out how effectively the
casual dining restaurants applied information technology in their
operations. Content analysis was used to analyse the data collected and
the tools used in the analysis were Microsoft Excel and Statistical Package
for the Social Sciences (SPSS).
Chapter 5: Conclusion & Recommendation
Solutions were recommended based on the data received and also
based on how using Management Information Systems can help improve
the operations of a casual dining restaurant. A mobile application was
designed to record both inventory and orders of a restaurant.
11
CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Information Systems
Information Systems (IS) consist of procedures, hardware and
software that function together to achieve the purpose of information
management. Information management involves gathering data and
processing the data collected into accurate and usable information which
will help in decision making processes, problem solving and control
(Szymanski et al, 1995).
There are different aspects of information system applications.
These are the operational processing systems, management information
systems, decision-support systems, executive support systems, expert
systems and office information systems. The study focused on the
Management Information Systems of the IS Application. Management
Information Systems (MIS) is the organization of data within the
organization with the help of an information technology tool. MIS helps
not only the internal operations of an organization but makes its external
operations more efficient and beneficial. It helps with problem solving,
control and decision making of the organization, and provides data needed
in the form of management reports (Szymanski et al, 1995).
Although information system is usually used for quality control, it is
also used for improving certain dimensions of service quality. The use of
information systems therefore helps improve certain service quality
dimensions a firm uses and this helps the firm get a competitive edge
over its rivals (Siameti & Kakouris, 2009). For this study, a criteria was
created and used in determining the level of IT of casual dining
12
restaurants in Tema. This helped categorize the restaurants into ones
that apply either a high, a low level of IT or none at all. Table 1 as shown
below is a criterion the researcher created to show the different levels of
how information technology is used in a restaurant.
Table 1: The use of Information Technology (IT) in Restaurants
NON-IT BASIC INTERMEDIATE ADVANCED
PR
E-S
ER
VIC
E
Inventory/ Supply
Management
May or may not record and track
items in inventory
Manually record
items in inventory
Have an MIS tool for recording &
tracking inventory
Use MIS tool to store &
track items in inventory
Communication
Do not have a
website Can call to order
Do not have a
website Can call to
order
Have a website
Can call to order
Have a website
Can order
online & can also call to order
Displaying Menu
No menu but food available is
said by word of mouth
Give out
printed menu
Give out printed
menu or use a pictorial board
Have a tool to display
orders on menu
Storing order
information
Write orders into
a book
Write orders in
to a book
Use MIS tool in recording &
storing orders
Use MIS tool in recording &
storing orders
DU
RIN
G
SER
VIC
E Receiving orders
in kitchen
Send manually written orders to
kitchen
Send manually written
orders to kitchen
Send receipts to
kitchen
Kitchen screen receives
orders
Alerting wait staff of food
ready No tool
No tool / use a bell
Use a bell MIS tool
PO
ST S
ER
VIC
E
Issuing of
receipts
Do not give out
receipts
Write
receipts
Write receipts or
may print out receipts
Print out
receipts
Payment Cash payment Cash
payment
Cash payment or
Use MIS tool in
processing payments
Pay in cash or use MIS tool in
processing payment
The criteria has different levels which are Non-IT, basic,
intermediate and advanced. The advanced restaurant shows how a
restaurant uses information technology tools such as an order system,
13
inventory system, receipt system, online ordering and system in the
kitchen to display orders of customers in its operations. The intermediate
restaurant shows a restaurant that uses some level of information
technology but not as much as the advanced restaurant. The basic
restaurant shows a restaurant that has a very low level of information
technology and mostly records its data manually. The Non-IT restaurant
is one that does not use any form of information technology at all.
Table 2: Ratings for a restaurant
Type of system Ratings Type Ratings
Inventory System 1 Non-IT 0
Communication system 2 Basic 1-3
System to display menu 1 Intermediate 4-6
System for storing orders
1 Advanced 7-9
System for receiving orders in kitchen
1
System to alert wait
staff 1
Receipt system 1
Payment System
1
Total 9
Ratings were designed to determine the level of IT a casual dining
restaurant uses. From table 2, a basic restaurant has a rating from 1 to
3. A restaurant using an intermediate level of IT has a rating from 4 to 6
and a restaurant using an advanced level of IT has a rating of 7 to 9. The
rating of zero shows a restaurant that does not use IT at all.
The inventory system, system to display menu, system for storing
orders, system for receiving orders in kitchen, system to alert wait staff,
14
receipt system and payment system received a rating of one. The
communication system has a rating of two because it checks whether a
restaurant uses both an online ordering system and a telephone ordering
as well. The casual dining restaurants will be assessed on whether they
use information technology in their chain of processes.
2.2 Service Quality
There are different definitions on service quality given by different
scholars. David A. Garvin (1984) described service quality as excellence
while Ruth N. Bolton and James H. Drew (1991) described service quality
as value. On the other hand, Parasuraman et al (1986) defined it as
meeting customer expectations while Chase and Tansik (1983) defined
quality as the conformance to specifications. Lewis and Booms (1983)
described service quality as a measure of how well the service level
delivered matches customer expectations. Smith and Houston described
service quality as the satisfaction with services related to confirmation or
disconfirmation of expectations (Parasuraman et al, 1985).
According to Gronroos (1982), service quality is the outcome of an
evaluation process where the customer compares his expectations with
the service he perceived he has received. Parasuraman, Berry and
Zeithaml (1991) contend that service quality refers to the comparison
between desired service and perceived service, not what the service
provider would offer. Zeithaml (1988) treats perceived service quality as
a beneficial attribute and defines it as the consumer's judgment of a
product's overall excellence or superiority (Ueltschy & Krampf, 2001).
15
Service quality can be defined also as the measure of the extent to
which the service delivered meets the customers expectations
(Ghobadian et al, 1993). Services in general are very difficult to measure
as compared to measuring goods. Both service outcome and the service
process influence the perception of quality. Services are seen as
performances, where their production and consumption cannot be
separated. Unlike tangible goods, services vary from person to person
and from context to context (Ansah, 2008, p. 48).
For this study, service quality will be described from the customers
perspective and from the service providers perspective. Service quality
therefore, is about meeting certain standardized specifications and
customers expectations. With service quality, the customer is always
involved and cannot be left out.
Service Quality Determinants
According to Ghobadian, Speller and Jones (1993), there are about
eleven determinants of service quality. These are reliability,
responsiveness, customization, credibility, competence, accessibility,
courtesy, security, communication, tangibles and understanding. The IT
Alignment Model focuses on seven of these service determinants. These
are reliability, responsiveness, competence, access, communication,
security, understanding and knowing the customer.
Reliability is about the firm honouring its promises. Responsiveness
has to do with timeliness of service that is how quick things are done.
Competence refers to having the right skills as well as knowledge to
perform the service. Access means the customer can easily come into
16
contact with the firm. Communication refers to talking to the customers
in a manner in which they will listen carefully and understand. Security is
where the firm can assure the customer that the firm can be trusted.
Understanding and knowing the customer, is about the firm understanding
its customers needs and requirements (Parasuraman et al, 1985).
2.3 Service Quality Models
There are about 19 service quality models that talk about
consumers perception of quality, the use of technology to a firms
operations, the performance of a firm, the expectations of overall service
quality and customer satisfaction, measuring the internal service quality of
a firm and other factors (Vrat et al, 2004). Some of these models are
shown in the table 3 below.
Table 3: Service Quality Models
Service Quality Model Author
The Gap model Parasuraman et al.,
1985
Model of Perceived Service Quality & Satisfaction Spreng & Mackoy, 1996
Ideal Value Model of Service Quality Mattsson, 1992
Attribute and Overall Affect Model Dabholkar, 1996
Performance Only Model Cronin & Taylor, 1992
Internet Banking Model Broderick &
Vachirapornpuk, 2002
IT-Based Model Zhu et al., 2002
IT Alignment Model Berkley & Gupta, 1994
Model of E-service Quality Santos, 2003
Some of the information technology (IT) models of service quality
are the Internet Banking Model, IT Alignment Model, Model of E-Service
Quality, Attribute and Overall Affect Model and the IT-based model. The
Attribute and Overall Affect Model is a model based on what consumers
expect and their feelings towards the use of IT are. The IT Alignment
17
model is based on the use of seven service quality determinants and
Information Systems application in improving service quality. The IT-
based model finds the relationship between customers perceptions of
service quality and IT-based services. The model of e-service quality
shows the fact that the use of the web site for certain services help the
customer gain easy access to information and communication between the
customer and the service provider (Vrat et al, 2005).
The IT Alignment Model
This study focused on the IT Alignment Model, which is a model
created by Berkley and Gupta in 1994. The IT Alignment Model is a
model that describes in detail where IT has been used or could be used
to improve specific service quality dimensions including reliability,
responsiveness, competence, access, communication, security,
understanding and knowing the customer (Vrat et al, 2004).
The IT Alignment model describes how a firm can align information
system applications to its service strategies. The service strategy refers
to the use of seven of the service quality determinants which are
reliability, responsiveness, competence, access, communication, security,
understanding and knowing the customer. For this study, only two of the
determinants that is, responsiveness and reliability, will be used. This is
because these determinants are easy to measure with the operations of a
restaurant.
The model helps a firm not to only use information technology to
improve productivity, but also to improve its customer service and
customer loyalty. Therefore, it is important for a firm to manage its
18
information system applications closely with service quality (Nimako &
Azumah, 2009). The IT alignment model was developed from case
study data that maps key service quality dimensions to the required
information technologies. This model allows managers to determine the
information technology most appropriate for improving service quality
(Berkley & Gupta, 1994, p. 109).
According to Berkley and Gupta (1994), a firm must invest in IT in
areas that will improve upon their competitive position. Service quality
must also be aligned and coordinated with information systems in order to
achieve this.
Information technologies can be used to improve
performance along seven different service quality dimensions.
The basic premise of the framework developed here is that it is
essential for companies to understand their information needs
for delivering quality service, and then develop an IS strategy
that drives and is in turn driven by their service strategy
(Berkley & Gupta, 1994, p. 119).
19
Figure 4: Diagram of the IT Alignment Model
Source: Berkley & Gupta, 1994, p. 120
The diagram of the IT Alignment model, as shown in figure 4, is
made up of the Service Strategy, Information Systems (IS) Applications,
IS Strategy and Architecture, Information Requirements and Service
Delivery System. The model illustrates the process of aligning service
and information strategies. Such a framework is essential for companies
to realize the complete benefits of using information systems for
delivering improved quality in service (Berkley & Gupta, 1994, p. 119).
The model does not have a strict starting and ending point. On the
diagram a starting point marked by a star was put on the Information
Requirements box.
The model states that a firm needs to understand and know the
right information requirements for its operations which will also affect the
Improving service quality with IT
Service Strategy
Reliability Communication Responsiveness Security Competence Understanding
Access the customer
IS Applications
Service Delivery
System
Information
Requirements
IS Strategy and
Architecture
Alignment Process
20
firms decision making process (Berkley & Gupta, 1995). For example,
information requirements for a restaurant are the orders, receipts,
customers information and meeting customer expectations. This makes it
easier to know the right IS strategy, architecture and applications the firm
must employ. Whatever the firm chooses helps to improve the service
strategies, the firm uses in its daily operations. The service strategies are
the service determinants such as reliability, communication and access.
At the end of the day the firms service delivery system is affected and the
alignment process continues in this cycle. According to the model when IT
is applied to a firm, it affects the services it offers to customers and the
firms service quality is improved as well.
2.4 Service Quality & Information Technology
Information systems applications such as property management
systems, restaurant management systems, and guest-service interface
applications have had a major impact on the overall service quality of
luxury hotels. These luxury hotels have an improvement in their guest
satisfaction and have earned customer loyalty as a result of the use of
information technology (Ham, 2007).
Firms that are able to apply information technology (IT) such as e-
service quality have a competitive advantage and an edge over their rivals
in the industry. This therefore leads to better business performance.
Service quality together with IT has influenced customer satisfaction as
well as banks financial performance (Ombati et al, 2010).
21
Technology-facilitated transactions are one of the information
system applications that make businesses move faster. An example of a
technology-facilitated transaction is Self-Service Technology (SST). SST
involves the customer providing service to himself without direct contact
with the service employee. There is no form of interpersonal contact
between the customer and the service employee. Examples of SST are
the Automated Teller Machines (ATMs), Automated Hotel Checkout,
banking by telephone and services over the internet (Meuter, 2000).
Supermarkets in some countries including the United States of America
use SST in their operations. Instead of customers joining long queues,
they can walk up to a machine that enables them to scan the bar codes of
the items into the system and the SST calculates their total prices of all
the items they bought. The customer can then swipe a debit or credit
card as a form of payment and the machine issues a receipt to the
customer. This procedure helps reduce the long waiting times and queues
supermarkets face when there are a lot of customers.
On the other hand, Dabholkar (1992) suggested that SST systems
must be in such a way that while the customer interacts with the system,
it must provide what the customers needs and not something else. It
must be able to meet the customers expectations as well (Meuter, 2000).
This means that the customer must find the system user-friendly and
understandable. The system must be designed in such a way that the
customer will not find it complex and will be beneficial to the service
provider and the customer.
It has been observed that improved quality is a most important
output of Information Systems (IS) or that IS has substantially improved
22
service sector performance (Bharati & Berg, 2003, p.4). A study in the
United States of America was done to find how information systems
impact service quality in the electric utility industry. According to
Zeithaml et al (1990), methods used in understanding how information
systems impact on service quality is by measuring perceptions of
information systems practitioners as against service quality dimensions.
Information systems have an impact at different levels (Bharati & Berg,
2003).
In relation to this study, most research done shows that
Information Technology helps improve the service quality of a firm. This
study seeks to find out how restaurants in Tema use Management
Information Systems in their operations to improve upon their service
quality.
2.5 The Food Service Industry in Ghana
Ashitey (2008) classifies three sub-sectors in the food industry.
These are hotels and resorts, restaurants/fast foods and institutional
contracts. The Hotels and Resorts are divided into the 5-star, 4-star, 3-
star, 2-star, 1-star and guest houses. Hotels in Ghana are the third most
popular place for buying food. Restaurants/Fast foods are the fastest
growing sector in Ghana. There are three segments of the fast foods,
which are the indigenous brands, international franchise brands and the
myriad of single, neighbourhood outlets. The Institutional contracts are
the smallest in the food service sector. Institutional contracts are food
service providers who provide catering services for social events such as
23
weddings, parties, and funerals (Ashitey, 2008). Institutional contracts
also provide catering services for companies as well.
In Ghana, there are different types of restaurants. Some of these
are the local restaurants known as chopbars, bar and restaurants, hotel
restaurants, fast food restaurants, fine dining restaurants, theme
restaurants and casual dining restaurants. In Ghana, some restaurants
such as the chopbars tend not to use technology in their operations while
some such as the casual dining, fast food restaurants and the hotel
restaurants tend to use technology in their operations. The type of
restaurant that will be used for this study will be casual dining
restaurants.
2.6 Casual Dining Restaurants
Casual dining restaurants are restaurants that fall between fast
foods and fine dining restaurants. Such restaurants normally have
moderately-priced food. The father of casual dining is Entrepreneur
Norman Eugene Brinker. Norman Brinker was an innovative restaurant
entrepreneur who shaped Americans' eating-out habits by exploiting a
niche between fast-food and upscale restaurants (Holley, 2009).
2.7 Restaurants and Information Technology
There has been a shift from the use of the cash register to the use
of online reservation systems and automated ordering systems.
Restaurants in the USA that use the post order system (POS) avoid
24
writing orders and hand delivering them to the kitchen for the chefs to
prepare what the customer wants. The POS therefore saves the
restaurant a lot of time and makes the delivery of orders much faster.
The POS is designed to store the restaurants menu items with their
corresponding prices. With the application of information systems,
restaurants are able to gain information that aids in their decision making
process and other managerial activities as well (Koutroumanis, 2011).
The use of information systems for restaurant operations has a lot
of benefits such as creating reports that gives a summary of the daily
sales made as well as knowing the performance of employees working in
shifts (Love & Hoey, 1990). It is possible to determine the performance of
employees working within a particular period through the sales made.
Management can also tell the number of orders that were made in a
particular period. The reports can help the managers in making certain
decisions for the restaurant.
A restaurant using the right kind of Information Technology (IT)
application that suits its operations in addition to revenue management
principles will have a great improvement in its revenue and profits. The
restaurant must not worry so much about the cost it brings because the
revenue the restaurant makes can offset the cost it will incur. The use of
IT helps reduce waiting times, encourages better management of dining
and consumers too have easy access in making orders and making
reservations. The restaurant also benefits from the use of IT because
there is increase in service delivery and the restaurant is able to serve
more customers. The restaurants service quality increases, customers
are satisfied and they tend to come back to enjoy the services of the
25
restaurant. Therefore a restaurant must use the appropriate IT for its
operations, in order to provide better services to its customers (Kimes,
2008).
A restaurant in London, United Kingdom (UK) called Inamo, applies
information technology in an interesting way. It has a touch pad-
projection system on each table in the restaurant, which allows customers
to automatically send food orders to the kitchen. There is a waiter
assigned to each table to help a customer use the system correctly.
During the time the customer waits for his food, the customer can choose
to play games or watch how the food is prepared (Fermoso, 2009).
2.8 Summary of Literature Review
In conclusion, from the literature gathered, Berkley and Gupta
(1994) as well as Kimes (2008) made the claim that information systems
must be aligned with a firms operations and also a firm must choose the
right information systems applications that match with their operations. A
structured approach like the IT Alignment Model could help a restaurant
make the right decisions for its operations.
26
CHAPTER THREE - METHODOLOGY
3.1 Introduction
The IT Alignment model is a model that uses Information
Technology (IT) to improve the service quality determinants. The
objective of the study is to find out how Management Information
Systems (MIS) is used by restaurants. For this study only two of the
determinants were used and these are responsiveness and reliability. This
study takes a qualitative approach using interviews, questionnaires and
made a case study of five different casual dining restaurants in Tema.
Figure 5: Cognitive Map of Theoretical Framework
The cognitive map as shown in Figure 5, shows the concepts
involved in this study. From the diagram when Information Technology is
applied to a restaurants operations, it affects the service quality
determinants that the restaurant uses. This also affects and impacts the
overall service quality of the firm. Whether the restaurant uses a higher
or lower level of Information Technology also affects the service quality of
the restaurant. Just like the IT Alignment Model, it is better to use an
Start
Select appropriate MIS application tools
Apply to restaurants operations
Measure Service Quality Determinants
Improve Delivery & Service Quality
End
27
information technology that best suits a restaurants operations and this
prevents a lot of problems that could arise for using the wrong information
technology tools.
3.2 Research Proposition
The study focuses on the use of information technology (IT),
specifically the use of MIS to restaurants operations. The study applies
the IT Alignment Model to restaurants and expects to find that:
The application of Management Information Systems will lead to
positive perceptions of service quality.
3.3 Research Design
For this study the methods selected were interview questions and
questionnaires. Interview questions, as shown in Appendix A, were used
to gain information about the restaurants use of information technology,
the managers experience working at the restaurant and some of the
challenges they face as managers of the restaurants. The interview
questions had both structured and unstructured questions.
Questionnaires as shown in Appendix B & C were used to get
responses from the wait staff and customers. Open-ended questions were
used in order for participants to give further explanation to the answers
they provide. The information needed from the wait staff was to know
whether the restaurant uses any MIS tools and how they benefit from the
use of MIS. The information needed from customers was to find out how
they perceive the service quality the restaurant delivers to them.
28
3.4 Operational Definitions
For this study, the main variables used are service quality and
information technology. Service quality has been defined by a lot of
researchers in different ways but for this study, the researcher defines
service quality as meeting certain standardized specifications and
customers expectations. Information Technology can be described as the
use of computers in producing, storing and communicating data
(Szymanski et al, 1995).
The independent variables under service quality that were focused
on are responsiveness and reliability. Responsiveness is a determinant
that looks at the speed and how fast a service is done while reliability has
to do with what the service provider promises to offer (Ghobadian et al,
1993). The study measured these two variables by finding out from the
customers how they perceive whether a casual dining restaurant is good
at this or not.
The independent variable for information technology that was
focused on is management information systems. This was measured by
finding out from the managers and the wait staff, the kind of information
technology tools a casual dining restaurant uses.
29
Unit of Analysis: Individuals - Managers, Wait staff and Customers
The individuals within the restaurants targeted were the wait staff,
customers and the manager of each restaurant. These individuals were
selected because the managers and wait staff had information about the
casual dining restaurants they work in. The customers, on the other
hand, were also targeted because they could provide information about
how they perceive the service quality of the restaurant.
The researcher interviewed the managers in the restaurants and
the interviews lasted for about 30 minutes. Questionnaires were
distributed to the wait staff during their break times and early in the
mornings as well. Questionnaires were also distributed to the customers
during the afternoons when a lot of customers visited the restaurants.
The distribution and waiting for the filled questionnaires took about two
and half hours.
3.5 Sample Frame
For the sample frame, Tema was the selected area chosen for the
study because Tema has a lot of casual dining restaurants. The casual
dining restaurants that were included in the study are Chearis Restaurant,
Mirabake Restaurant, Southern Fried Chicken Restaurant, Papaye
Restaurant and 3 Seasons Continental Restaurant, Bar & Coffee.
30
Profiles of the Casual Dining Restaurants
Chearis Restaurant
Chearis Restaurant is a restaurant located in Community 9, Tema
and has been operating for three years now. It is a small restaurant and
currently has two wait staff. The restaurant serves three main dishes
which are mostly rice dishes.
Mirabake Restaurant
Mirabake restaurant has been running for four years and is located
in Community 2, Tema. The restaurant has six wait staff. It is a small
restaurant that serves four different types of dishes and sells alcoholic and
non-alcoholic drinks as well.
3 Seasons Continental Restaurant, Bar & Coffee
The restaurant is also located in Tema and has been in existence for
one and half years now and has six wait staff. The restaurant mostly
serves Italian, Chinese and American dishes. It also sells pizza, ice
cream, alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. Due to the type of food served,
the restaurant attracts more expatriates than Ghanaians.
Southern Fried Chicken Restaurant
The restaurant started its operations in Tema in 1994 and is located
at the Tema roundabout after the motorway. Southern Fried Chicken
Restaurant has 18 wait staff. It has three other branches in Community
One, a suburb of Tema, and Cantonments and Burma Camp, both located
31
in Accra. The restaurant sells pizza, ice cream, drinks, burgers, local
dishes and continental dishes.
Papaye Restaurant
Papaye Restaurant is located in Tema on the Spintex road and has
other two branches in Accra Central and Osu. The restaurant has been
operating for about ten years now and has ten wait staff currently working
in the restaurant. The restaurant serves fried rice with chicken and fries
with chicken, as well as drinks.
Sampling Strategy & Demographic Data on Sample
Table 4: Number of Participants
Participants
Mirabake
Restaurant
Chearis
Restaurant
Papaye
Restaurant
Southern
Fried
Chicken
Restaurant
3 Seasons
Continental
Restaurant,
Bar & Coffee
Customers 10 10 10 10 10
Manager 1 1 1 1 1
Wait staff 5 5 5 5 5
Total 16 16 16 16 16
The purposive sampling is the sampling strategy that was used for
this study. Table 4 shows the number of participants that the researcher
targeted for the study. Apart from the manager who was interviewed, 5
of the wait staff were handed questionnaires to fill as well as 10
customers that came to the restaurant. Customers were selected during
the afternoons because this was the time a lot of customers visit the
restaurants. 10 customers were targeted because in the afternoons,
about 8 to 14 customers visit the casual dining restaurants in Tema during
this period. Five wait staff were selected because most casual dining
32
restaurants in Tema take a smaller number of waiters and waitresses to
work with. For instance, Chearis Restaurant had only two wait staff
because those previously hired were not dedicated to their work. The
manager decided to have just two instead of a large number of wait staff.
3.6 Data Collection Procedures
Before the data collection was done at a restaurant, permission was
sought first from the manager of the restaurant to conduct the research.
Interviews were held in the restaurants with the managers and the
questionnaires were given out to the wait staff during their break times.
For wait staff who could not read and write, the researcher had to write
down the answers for them. Customers were given questionnaires while
they waited for their food to be served to them.
The type of data analysis used was content analysis. The study
took a qualitative approach and analyzed the main issues raised from the
interview responses of the managers and the questionnaires that were
filled by the wait staff and customers. The managers were given a copy of
the findings so that they know what their customers perceive of the
restaurants service quality.
3.7 Limitations
Some of the restaurants selected for the study did not want to
participate in the research. Some of the managers were quite
unwelcoming and rude to the researcher because they felt the researcher
was working with their competitors. Therefore, it reduced the number of
33
restaurants that the researcher intended to use. The researcher had to
search for other casual dining restaurants who were interested in
participating in the study.
There were customers who did not want to fill the questionnaires
because they felt it was not necessary. Some of the restaurants had wait
staff who could not read and did not understand English too well. In such
cases the researcher had to interview them in order to write down the
answers they provide on the questionnaire.
The researcher wanted to use seven casual dining restaurants and
ended up with five. One restaurant did not allow the researcher to
distribute questionnaires to customers and wait staff, because the
management did not want customers rating the restaurant and giving bad
comments. However, the researcher got the chance to interview the
manager.
34
CHAPTER FOUR FINDINGS AND DATA ANALYSIS
4.1 Introduction
The data collection for this study was done in February and March
2012. The casual dining restaurants that were used for this study are
Chearis Restaurant, Mirabake Restaurant, 3 Seasons Continental
Restaurant, Bar & Coffee, Southern Fried Chicken Restaurant and Papaye
Restaurant. The managers were interviewed while the wait staff and
customers were given questionnaires to fill in each restaurant.
The research question for the study is:
How do restaurants in Tema use MIS in their daily operations to
improve upon their service quality?
and the research objectives for the study are:
To determine the use of Management Information Systems
(MIS) to improve service quality in the selected restaurants.
To design an application that will help in improving service
quality of the selected restaurants
35
4.2 Demographic Data
Table 5: Number of Participants used for the study
Participants
Mirabake
Restaurant
Chearis
Restaurant
3 Seasons
Continental
Restaurant, Bar & Coffee
Papaye
Restaurant
Southern
Fried Chicken
Restaurant
Total
Customers 9 3 8 10 6 36
Manager 1 1 1 1 1 5
Wait staff 5 2 5 5 5 22
Total 15 6 14 16 12 63
Table 5 shows a table of the casual dining restaurants used for the
study as well as the number of participants. The researcher intended to
interview the managers of each restaurant, five wait staff and ten
customers but this was not possible for some of the casual dining
restaurants since Chearis Restaurant had only two wait staff and did not
get all the customers needed to fill the questionnaire.
Mirabake Restaurant had only nine customers filling the
questionnaires, Southern Fried Chicken Restaurant had six customers
filling the questionnaires and 3 Seasons Continental Restaurant, Bar &
Coffee had only eight customers filling the questionnaires. This is because
some of the customers were not willing to fill the questionnaires. The
researcher was able to get ten customers at the Papaye restaurant
answering the questionnaires.
36
Table 6: Demographic Data - Wait Staff
ATTRIBUTES CATEGORY NUMBER OF
PARTICIPANTS %
Gender Female 18 81.8
Male 4 18.2
Occupation Full time worker 21 95.5
Part time worker 1 4.5
Educational
Level
Basic level 4 18.2
Secondary level 12 54.5
Vocational level 1 4.5
Tertiary level 2 9.1
Did not provide answer 3 13.6
Age Category
10-19 2 9.1
20-29 11 50
30-39 5 22.7
40-49 2 9.1
Did not provide answer 2 9.1
Table 6 shows the demographic data on the wait staff. A total of 22
wait staff filled the questionnaires distributed to the five casual dining
restaurants. There were more female wait staff than males that filled the
questionnaires and 95.5% of the wait staff were full time workers. With
the educational level of the wait staff, 54.5% of the wait staff had their
education up to the secondary level. Majority of this number were from
the Southern Fried Chicken Restaurant and the Mirabake restaurant while
a less number worked at Papaye Restaurant, Chearis Restaurant and 3
Seasons Restaurant, Bar & Coffee. The wait staff had about 50% of them
in the 20-29 age group and 22.7% in the 30-39 age group.
37
Table 7: Demographic Data - Customers
Table 7 shows the demographic data on the customers. A total of
36 customers filled the questionnaires that were distributed in the five
casual dining restaurants. Out of this number 52.8% of the customers
were females. This shows more women filled the questionnaires than
males. The customers who were workers were 66.7% and majority of
these workers filled the questionnaires at Mirabake Restaurant, Papaye
Restaurant and Southern Fried Chicken Restaurant. Customers who were
in the 20-29 age category were 52.8% and 19.4% of the customers were
in the 30-39 age category.
ATTRIBUTES CATEGORY NUMBER OF
PARTICIPANTS %
Gender
Female 19 52.8
Male 16 44.4
Did not provide an answer
1 2.8
Occupation
Worker 24 66.7
Student 9 25
Worker & Student 1 2.8
Other 1 2.8
Did not provide an
answer 1 2.8
Age Category
10-19 1 2.8
20-29 19 52.8
30-39 7 19.4
40-49 5 13.9
50-59 1 2.8
Did not provide an answer
3 8.3
38
4.3 Findings
4.3.1 Level of Information Technology
Table 8: Level of Information Technology for each restaurant used
for the study
Restaurant Rating Non-IT Basic Intermediate Advanced
Chearis Restaurant 0 X
Mirabake Restaurant 0 X
Papaye Restaurant 5 X
Southern Fried Chicken Restaurant
4 X
3 Seasons Continental Restaurant, Bar & Coffee
2 X
Based on the ratings the researcher designed, the researcher was
able to determine the level of technology for each casual dining restaurant
used for the study. Table 8 shows the ratings of each of the casual dining
restaurants and the category they fall into. Chearis Restaurant and
Mirabake Restaurant were in the Non-IT category when it came to the use
of IT. 3 Seasons Continental Restaurant, Bar & Coffee is in the basic
category although it has a system for recording orders and a system to
alert wait staff when food is prepared. The Papaye Restaurant and
Southern Fried Chicken Restaurant both fell in the intermediate category.
This is because Papaye Restaurant has an inventory system, Point of Sale
system, system to receive orders in the kitchen and a system to print out
receipt. Southern Fried Chicken Restaurant uses a POS system, has a
receipt system, customers can order by phone and have a system to
display their menu.
39
At the pre-service level of the Non-IT Restaurants, that is Mirabake
Restaurant and Chearis Restaurant, customers can call to order, the
restaurants record orders manually and do not record their inventory
items. During service for the Non-IT Restaurants, orders are sent to the
kitchen using order sheets. The Non-IT Restaurants do not have a system
for alerting the wait staff anytime a customers food is ready but have to
coordinate with the kitchen staff in order to know when the food is ready.
At the post-service, the Non-IT Restaurants were not using any receipt
system or electronic payment system. The form of payment was by cash.
At the pre-service level, the Basic Restaurant had a software based
system for recording its orders but manually records its inventory. The
restaurant allows customers to call in to make orders and also gives out
printed menu to the customers. During service, the Basic Restaurant uses
a bell to alert the wait staff anytime food ordered is ready. At its post-
service level, the restaurant does not print receipts or make use of
electronic payments and customers are required to make cash payments.
The Intermediate Restaurants had a software based system for
recording their orders. Papaye Restaurant had a software inventory
system designed specifically for them while Southern Fried Chicken
Restaurant had their inventory recorded manually. Both restaurants do
not make use of online ordering but customers can call to make orders.
During service, the Intermediate Restaurants had a system for sending
orders to the kitchen but did not have a system for alerting wait staff
when food was ready. At the post-service level, the intermediate
restaurants use a receipt system but do not make use of electronic
40
payments such as visa cards. This is because they were not comfortable
using these electronic mode of payment.
4.3.2 Reliability & Responsiveness
Figure 6: Reliability rating for each restaurant category
The customers were asked to rate the restaurants on how reliable
they found the restaurants. They had to rate the reliability as either
average, good, very good or excellent. The Non-IT restaurants, Basic
restaurants and Intermediate restaurants had an equal level of ratings for
the average and the very good category. The Intermediate restaurants
received a high rating for the good and excellent category more than the
Basic restaurant and the Non-IT restaurants.
Key
Basic
Non-IT
Intermediate
41
Figure 7: Responsiveness rating of each restaurant category
The customers also rated the responsiveness that is the speed with
which the wait staff serves food at the restaurants. The Intermediate
restaurants received a high rating for average and good categories. When
it came to excellent rating the Intermediate restaurant was at the same
level with the Non-IT restaurants. The advantage the Non-IT Restaurants
have here is that, they serve fewer dishes while the Intermediate
Restaurants serve a lot of dishes.
Key
Basic
Non-IT
Intermediate
42
4.3.3 Link between Information Technology & Service Quality
Figure 8: Graph showing level of Service Quality & Information
Technology
The results from the casual dining restaurants showed that the
Non-IT restaurants offer good service quality but have problems with their
internal operations. Since they do not use Information Technology they
fell in the Good Service Quality line. The intermediate restaurants,
Papaye Restaurant and Southern Fried Chicken Restaurant fell in category
Key:
P Papaye Restuarant SFC Southern Fried Chicken Restaurant C Chearis Restaurant M Mirabake Restaurant 3SCRBC 3 Seasons Continental Restaurants, Bar & Restaurant
High level of
Information
Technology
Low level of
Information
Technology
Bad service
quality
Good service
quality
I II
III IV 3 SCRBC
SFC
P
M C
43
II where they use a high level of Information Technology (IT) and offer
good service quality. The Basic Restaurant, 3 Seasons Continental
Restaurant, Bar and Coffee, which fell in category IV has a low level of IT
but provides good service quality.
4.3.4 Additional Findings
How selected restaurants in Tema not using Management Information
Systems improve on their service quality
The Non-IT Restaurants manually record orders and are only
interested in calculating the sales they make. The restaurants serve fewer
dishes and this makes it easier for them to serve food faster. Most of
them have a strategy of allowing customers to make orders by phone and
pass by the restaurants to pick up their orders. The restaurants hardly
record their inventory and find it difficult tracking their inventory. One of
the wait staff has to check the store everyday to find out which items are
out of stock and need to be bought. In all, the Non-IT restaurants were
not doing anything special to improve on their service quality. They
prepared food on time before most customers come to buy. They had
fewer dishes on their menu and this helped them have faster services.
How restaurants benefit from Management Information System (MIS)
The restaurants that use Information Technology (IT) are able to
generate reports, calculate sales, calculate their taxes and track inventory
items. The reports the system generates for them help the management
44
of the restaurant in their decision making. The reports help them to know
which food customers order the most and which ones move faster. With
this they are able to prepare certain foods ahead of time and keep them in
warmers. The reports help them know the quantity of food sold in a day
and which food ingredients need to be bought. One of the intermediate
restaurants had an inventory system designed by a Ghanaian software
compay, specifically for them due to the nature of their operations.
When a restaurant does not apply the appropriate IT application to
its operations, it may not get the benefit it expects. In all, the restaurants
using IT were able to do a little more than the restaurants that were not
using IT at all. They were able to have better records of the past and
present inventory details as well as their order details.
4.4 Discussion & Analysis
Some of the casual dining restaurants had a problem getting the
right personnel to manage the MIS application for them. The managers
were either operating the MIS application on their own or were not using it
at all. Analysing the data collected from each restaurant shows that MIS
affects the internal operations, such as recording of orders and inventory
of the restaurant. Restaurants that do not apply MIS are still able to meet
customers expectations in terms of responsiveness. However, these
restaurants have difficulties when it comes to the recording and tracking
of orders and inventory.
45
With the selected casual dining restaurants in Tema that use MIS, it
is clear that they benefit from the use of MIS in their operations through
the speed of gathering orders, calculating sales, tracking inventory,
generating reports to analyze specific data, calculating taxes and their
finances as well. One of the casual dining restaurants stated that they
tried testing out an inventory system but did not like it because it did not
meet their requirements. Some of the restaurants do train the wait staff
to use the software systems but still have problems with the wait staff
entering data wrongly. Due to this, management only allow the wait staff
who can manage the systems properly to do so.
4.4.1 Responses from Managers and Wait staff
Results from the interviews conducted with the managers revealed
that, some of the managers did not get the right personnel to operate the
computers. Most of them found it challenging in managing the wait staff
and the restaurant as a whole. The managers said that the amount of
time a customer waits for food depends on the type of food ordered. The
time range given was from 5 minutes to 25 minutes.
The responses from the wait staff as shown in Appendix F revealed
that, 50% of the wait staff use an IT application tools in the restaurants
while another 50% stated that they do not apply any form of IT
application tools. The wait staff also felt that the restaurants they work in
could improve upon their services by adding more Ghanaian dishes to
their menu, advertising in the print and electronic media, as well as
renovating the restaurants and adding air-conditioning systems.
46
4.4.2 Responses from Customers
Appendix E shows the responses from the customers. The
responses show that the wait staff paid attention when taking down
orders, 22.2% of them indicated the wait staff repeated their orders and
13.9% just listened. There were 19.7% of the customers who had never
made any complaints to the wait staff or the manager. Some of the
customers stated that the restaurants could improve upon their waiting
services and others felt the restaurants offered good service.
4.5 Validity and Reliability of the study
The researcher conducted the interviews personally with the
managers and also distributed the questionnaires to the customers and
wait staff. The researcher gave the questionnaires to the wait staff when
they were less busy and if they had any questions, would ask for
clarification before answering. The customers too were given
questionnaires after their food had been served to them.
The findings revealed that some restaurants apply MIS effectively
while others do not. The use of MIS in some of the restaurants helps them
organize their data properly, helps in their decision making and improves
their service quality.
47
CHAPTER FIVE - CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Mirabake Restaurant and Chearis Restaurant, need to apply MIS
tools such as a Point of Sale system or a Post Order System to their
internal operations. This will help them have a system to calculate both
their orders and record inventory. The system will also help management
keep track of and monitor their stock. With this system it will be difficult
for pilfering to take place and delays in providing what the customer
wants.
3 Seasons Continental Restaurant, Bar & Coffee, also needs to have
a system to monitor its inventory. This will help the restaurant know
exactly which items need to be bought ahead of time and avoid telling
customers to order another meal instead of their preferred choice.
Southern Fried Chicken Restaurant needs to have an inventory system to
help them record their inventory instead of doing it manually. Papaye
Restaurant still needs to increase the number of kitchen staff to handle
the increase in customer request whenever there is high demand for food.
The researcher also suggests that these casual dining restaurants
can opt for a mobile application which can record both their orders and
inventory instead of writing them manually. The researcher designed a
mobile application as shown in Appendix D. The mobile application is a
J2ME software application that can run on a mobile phone with a touch
screen or a mobile phone that does not have a touch screen. The mobile
phone must be able to run java applications in order the mobile
application. A mobile application was chosen because most of the wait
48
staff are more comfortable using a mobile phone instead of a desktop
computer.
Figure 9: How the Mobile application works
The mobile application was designed to record orders and inventory
of a restaurant. The mobile application has three sections for its orders
which are drinks, food and dessert. When a customer makes an order for
either drinks, food or dessert, the wait staff selects the particular item,
specifies the quantity ordered and selects whether the particular item is
being taken away or will be eaten in the restaurant. The inventory section
stores information about the item name, quantity available and the price
at which it was bought.
The data on orders and inventory goes into a MySQL database
which can be viewed by the administrator. The admininstrator can also
keep track of any data that has been entered and receipts can also be
issued. Other users can be created so that the staff in the kitchen can
view the orders made by customers. The inventory section helps the
storekeeper record new items in inventory and track inventory in order to
alert management of the new items that need to be bought.
In conclusion, Management Information Systems affects the
internal operations of a restaurant. Casual dining restaurants that do not
apply MIS to their internal operations find it difficult manually managing
Database
Mobile phone with
mobile application
MIS
Application
49
records of orders and inventory. Casual dining restaurants that use MIS
are able to improve upon their internal processes and therefore able to do
more with their external processes. Service quality is indeed important
and must not be ignored in a restaurants operations. Thus, in order to
gain a competitive advantage in the food industry, it would be best for a
restaurant to apply information technology very well to its operations to
achieve good service quality.
50
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