Quality Management at Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), an

article by Uday. M Apte & Charles C. Reynolds

Group Members:Maham Zahid (151754)

Rana Saad Bin Ikhlaq(151760)Usman Shakeel (113123)Shoaib Masood(151753)

Introduction to the article:

• KFC(USA) is the member of PepsiCo family of quick service restaurants, which were established in 1952.

• KFC consists of 2000 company owned and 3000 franchised restaurants.

• KFC has several types of restaurants but the most basic type is dine in restaurant with a customer seating area and a drive through window

Introduction to the article:

• In 1989 the south central division of KFC launched a test program to improve the speed of service at its drive through window operation, and that was extremely successful.

• Labor productivity, their sales growth, profits and customers transactions dramatically increased during the test program and after that.

• KFC became an early adopter of the quality management program in late 1970’s.

KFC Quality Management Program:

• Customer Expectation, the KEY point.• Quality Management depends on the service

outcomes and the service process execution.• KFC uses two programs for measuring quality: QSC( Quality, Service, Cleanliness) Program OFR( Operations Facilities Review) Program

QSC Program

• This program was implemented in 1977.• The concept of Mystery Shoppers appointed

by KFC.• QSC Form• QSC evaluation is conducted twice a month• This helps in taking immediate improvement

steps.

Preview of the QSC FormQSC Evaluation Form

• Service Quality (50 Points)o Service Time (Total and window time)o Attentive,Energetic,warm,and courteous serviceo Professional appearance, including wearing a uniformo Accuracy of order taking and filling (no missing or extra items)o Helpful, suggestive selling

• Product Quality (30 Points) The following criteria are measured for all products--chicken products (original recipe, crispy, hot wings, etc.)Cold and hot

side items (such as Cole slaw, potatoes salad, French fries, biscuits, etc) and beverages.o Standard Temperatureo Absence of visible shortening and proper breading of chickeno Color,texture,overall appearanceo Proper filling and closing of containers

• Cleanliness (20 Points)o Clean entrance doors and windowso Clean and well-supplied rest roomso Clean and neat service counter and surrounding areao Clean and neat customer seating areao Neat exterior, well maintained landscaping

OFR Form

• Standardized evaluation program.• General Manager’s at KFC are required to fill

this form every week for their own branch.• Training Programs are conducted for the

employees to maintain KFC’s Operating standards.

Preview of the OFR Form OFR FORM

• Product/Process Quality (44 Points)o Evaluate each product using the following criteria:o Quality standards for ingredients usedo Storage and handling of ingredientso Cooking procedures, time temperatures, cleanliness, etco Hold time

• Facilities (16 Points)o Clean, neat and well-maintained facilities (interior and exterior) and fixtures

• Customer Viewpoint-Service and product Quality (15 points)o Selected items from QSC form: service time, courtesy, order taking and filling accuracy, product temperature, and appearance

• Sanitation/Operations (15 Points)o Procedures used and frequency of cleaning processed for kitchen, service counters, seating areas, and rest roomso Equipment clean, well maintained, and in good working order

• Critical Issueso Presence of rodents, cockroaches and other insectso Cross contamination potential due to faulty procedures or equipmento Spoiled, reprocessed, or unapproved products being soldo Employee(s) with communinicable disease

So General Quality maintenance Rules at KFC:

• KFC regularly uses customer and market oriented surveys to manage its service quality.

• KFC hires a professional interviewing service to survey customers on their impression of products and service quality.

• KFC receives customer’s complaints through complaints cards, letters and phone calls from customers, a KFC representative responds to each customer by letter or phone.

• Employee Empowerment also plays a vital role.

Drive through window test

• In the fourth quarter of 1989, KFC restaurants were facing decrease in profit margin 16 to 18%.

• KFC knew that roughly 50% of its sale volume was contributed through DTW.

• KFC management decided to improvement in DTW speed of service as it primary goal for restaurant in the division.

Organizing the test at Oklahoma city

• After some analysis and discussions, Reynold regional manager chose four KFC restaurants of the Oklahoma city.

• Reynold make sure that no promotional activity would be held during the test.

• Reynold formed the DTW test team and all team members were well versed in quality management concepts.

Test team in action

• The team set a benchmark to reduce service time from over two minute to 60 seconds at all the restaurants.

• Team also specified several sub goals.• After conducting test the team met again

prepare and analyze the Pareto chart of the components of total service time.

Pareto Chart

Improving DTW Process• Take no more than two steps to get what is

needed to fill customer’s order.• Do not bend over to get anything needed to

fill customer order.• Do not lift any thing up that is needed to fill

customer’s order.• Reach up and pull things down that are that

needed to fill a customer’s order

Improving DTW Process ( cont…)

• The rationalize process flow and improved equipment lay out to eliminate waste.

• They changed the product mix and specification

• Many small process improvement added up to large improvement

• They use headset to create customer focus

Improving DTW Process ( cont…)

• Given the customer’s participation in the service process.

• The restaurant used the timer as a focal point to motivating team member.

• The restaurant made process improvement a way of life manager.

• The team always kept an eye on the competition.

FISH BONE DIAGRAM

The X-Bar & R-Bar:

• The Team used the X-Bar Chart to ensure the window hang time, also the R-Bar Chart to ensure the range.

• The purpose of the charts were to overview the trends in performance.

• The team did not use the X-Bar chart during the test for statically process control per second because the system was not stable while the test was in progress.

The X-Bar & R-Bar(Cont…)• Overview of previous week chart and send to all

restaurants, so everyone looks others performance.• The made it a practice to ensure the positive feed

back, competitive environment.• Short Complimentary Notes.• The window hang time improved as the test

progressed, and in return the excitement and the tempo increased leading in better service timings.

• Over the period of 42 weeks, the team was able to reduce average window hang time from the initial 125 seconds to the goal of 60 seconds.

The Results

• The restaurant did not advertise this speed of service improvement, but the customers certainly found out.

• The profit margin increased from 8 % to 9% after the test.

• Customer transactions increased.• High sales growth rate.• Productivity was also improved.

The Results( Cont…)

• As confirmed by its experience with the DTW speed of service of test, the notion of process focus and continuous improvement through empowering its employees are the foundations of the ongoing quality management program at KFC Chicken.