STRATEGIC OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT

KFC GHANA
Brief about KFC Ghana

The name Kentucky Fried Chicken popularly called KFC, continue to exist as one of the
leading fast food giants in the world. KFC has its head office based in Louisville. The
company is ranked the third largest fast food chain in the world. According to Osoro of
Yen.com.gh (May, 2020) KFC now has about 22,621 outlets which are spread across 136
countries and serves more than 20 million consumers every day. The company opened its
first flagship restaurant in Ghana on 15th September, 2011 (Ghana web, 2011). The franchise
was owned by Mohinani Group. In Ghana, KFC currently has nineteen (19) outlets spread in
the major towns of Ghana.

KFC is known for its original recipe for fried chicken, which is prepared using a blend of
secret 11 herbs and spices (Buick, 1982). KFC operates in an industry which is based on
quick service and delivery to its consumers. The company has managed to curtail the service
time by more than 50% and improved the productivity of its employees. This helped them to
outperform others and yield higher profits and sales figures (Fitzsimmons, Fitzsimmons and
Bordoloi, 2014).

The company aims at providing continued superior service whilst non-stop improvement. It is
highly crucial for them to improve the efficiently of their entire operation so as to be able to
serve customers as quickly as possible. To achieve this, they have focused on all aspects,
such as facility layout, quality management, total costs and infrastructure to match up with
the desires and need of its consumers.

Operation Management at KFC

Operations management at KFC involve the use of various tools and techniques to determine
the best selection of its location, such as factor rating method, cost-profit-volume analysis,
and transportation and simulation models (Matai, Singh and Mittal, 2013). KFC considers lot
of factors in designing their facility.

The company ensures that its proximity to the consumers is enhanced, so that they can be
easily served. This is why the company has opened so many locations in each city. The
company understand it is important to remind the consumers about their presence. They
always select a favorable location for its outlets, which will lead to increased sales (Ojaghi et
al., 2015). The company makes sure that all of its outlets are located on the main road, for
easy access.

KFC operates in a saturated and a highly competitive market, therefore it needs to keep the
prices low (Potoĕnik et al., 2014) by operating at low cost. For this, they choose locations
that are available at low costs, adopt simple service delivery processes. All these decisions
helps them to keep the price of their product low. They locate their outlets where proper
infrastructure is available and where there is abundance of skilled labor (Ramachandran and
Prasad, 2014). This can reduce labor cost as they are easily available and easy access to stores
for consumers is possible.

Most of the stores of KFC are franchised, which reduces their maintenance efforts (Wang,
2014). They simply conduct regular quality checks to ensure that all the required standards
are met. Their facility layout decisions are influence by the volume of production, fragility of
the product, nature of the service to be provided and the costs required to build the operations
area (Zhang et al., 2014). Their outlets are brightly lit, with attractive colour schemes and
comfortable seating arrangement and a warm and welcoming staff. Their suitable and quick
cooking process, superior service makes it desirable among consumers. This effective layout
helps them in easy supervision, smooth coordination which leads to high flexibility and
efficiency. This also reduces bottlenecks and reduces materials handling costs.

KFC GHANA WALK-IN SERVICE AT OSU

The standard operations of KFC is adopted in its outlets in Ghana. At its branch at Osu, the
company has a about 20 square-feet of floor area to facilitate it walk-in service. Customers
upon entering the floor area, can walk to any of the counters and make their orders. These
orders are received and logged into the software on their computers. The serving staff walks
customers through the various order sets available. These ranges from the type and number of
chicken, the add-ons which includes ketch-up, fries, etc. The customer also has a variety of
drinks to choose from which includes Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Fanta, Lipton tea.

Once the order is made, payment completed and an order number issued, the customer moves
to the waiting area to relax and wait for his number to appear on the screens provided. When
the customer’s order number is called and appears on the screen, he or she moves to the
counter to take his or her package. It is a take-away the customer takes the food package and
leaves to create space for other customers. If it is an eat-in order, the customer take the food
and moves to the self-allocated table to enjoy the meal.
 Order
order
wait-in taking and wait-in
collection
Payment
PROCESS PERFORMANCE

An analysis of the operations of KFC walk-in service at Osu reveals a number of outputs.
According to the five (5) operations performance objectives, the service must be cost
effective, dependable, flexible, quality and fast (speedy).

 COST: A critical analysis of KFC’s performance in terms of cost management shows that
the company stores seasonal foods to ensure regular stock availability, has installed
management information system to help analyse the market to forecast sales, timely lower
production rate to reduce waste (Saghiri, 2015). The company also makes sure they
maintain cost of products at cost effective levels and adopt cost effective processes that
reduces operational cost. A typical example is the adopted floor area size the company
always maintains throughout its franchise outlets (restaurants). Despite these cost
management practices, the company still grapples with the high cost doing business at Osu
(Oxford street) and the operational risks amidst the COVID-19 crisis. The crisis has brought
lost operational crisis to KFC business in terms of stock management (supply) and market
stress. This has affected the walk-in service and become a toll on the profitability objective
of the company. To improve on it cost management practice, self-service boots can be
mounted within the floor area where customers can order food and drinks on a touch screen,
wait and receive orders with minimal staffing and person to person interface.
 Dependability: KFC ensures that it has the capability to track and ensure availability of
stock. Inventory is one of the most difficult systems in any business. It can determine what
you have, when you have it, and whether your funds and investments are sitting on shelves
collecting dust, or working for you. Operations management oversees inventory systems,
which determine how effectively your inventory is managed. Your inventory control
dictates how your inventory flows. It commands and directs whether or not an employee has
products on hand or if customers are forced to wait on back-ordered items. At the walk-in
center, regular counting of orders and customers are always done to ensure that prepared
meals are served hot feeding into the forecasting strategy of the firm to avoid wastage and
spoil. They also do this to ensure that customer orders will be served. The company ensures
that good communication with suppliers such that suppliers inform them about delivery
dates, capacity of delivery and lead time. Notwithstanding, they can improve their
dependability by providing employees with customized phones to notify the customers
when their orders are ready. Inventory is one of the most difficult systems in any business.
It can determine what you have, when you have it, and whether your funds and investments
are sitting on shelves collecting dust, or working for the company. More so, KFC
determines the quantity of raw materials required for the production process, the storage of
those materials, the release, the service and the food production. Again, they must adopt a
stabilized process that reduces that waiting time of customer since customers sometime wait
longer period before receiving their orders. They must ensure trust by making sure they
serve tasty and good quality food.
 Flexibility: KFC maintain flexibility at its walk-in service by providing designated
communication equipment installed to improve communication among staffs. The company
ensures that staffs work on shifts which allow staffs to operate at maximum level. Their
flexibility is also seen in the naming of their menu and the addition of regional menus, like
the “Nii Kpakpo. Chale w’sup?” for the burger. KFC can improve their flexibility by
changing the quality, composition and order receiving time with suppliers. Also, at peaks
the outlet should have enough capacity or introduce the self-service boots to meet
unprecedented demands. This will help be more adaptable to internal and external changes
(Slack et al., 2013, p. 46)
 Quality: Kentucky Fried Chicken’s quality management is identified by utilizing two
complementary programs for quantifying quantity: (a) the quality service and cleanliness
(QSC) program for judging the quality of service results from the prospective of a patron.
KFC ensures that the branch has good customer service program where employees maintain
 smiles, calmness and patience in dealing with customers at the walk-in service center. The
floor area is always cleaned and intermittently cleaned to maintain clean and safe food
environment. Their customer service in terms of customer orders are not mixed with error
billing and regular order errors. (b) The operations facility review (OFR) program for
estimating an establishment’s process implementation performance against Kentucky fried
Chicken’s process specifications. To achieve this, Kentucky Fried Chicken often uses
customer and market oriented surveys to manage its service quality in order to understand
customer’s expectations and to access the company’s performance against its competitors.
In order to achieve its quality goal, Kentucky Fried Chicken hires a professional
interviewing service to surveys consumers on their impressions of product and service
quality. Kentucky Fried Chicken monitor customer complaints via complaint cards available
at all Kentucky Fried Chicken outlets and also through letters and phone calls from
consumers. Kentucky

Fried Chicken also record the number and the types of complaints different restaurants
receive. Kentucky Fried Chicken’s quality management program also stresses continuous
improvement of processes, employee empowerment and training of staff to use quality
management tools and methods. Its quarterly quality report plays an important part in
Kentucky fried Chicken’s quality management program. Providing data on customer
expected needs and Kentucky Fried Chicken’s performance permit management to take
swift and immediate action. To promote continues quality, regular internal and external
audits must be conducted to improve service quality in terms of order delivery time which
will reduce order waiting period.

Noting that an integrated business system may be incorporate to achieve quality standard like
the ISO 9000 standards. Every organization has a unique work culture, and it is virtually
impossible to achieve excellence in its products and services unless a good quality culture has
been fostered. Thus, an integrated system connects business improvement elements in an
attempt to continually improve and exceed the expectations of customers, employees, and
other stakeholders.


 Speed: KFC in recent times officially announced it was rolling out mobile payment, with
system-wide adoption platforms that is expected to improve it order and service delivery
time. The change has two purposes. First, it is part of a wide update to the chain's mobile-
payment infrastructure to increase security. Second, it is expected to improve speed of
service, especially as more locations switch to the slightly more time-consuming chip-card
payment. The promise of speedier service is key in the fast-food industry, with chains
across the industry making changes from simplifying menus to adopting new technology to
ensure that customers can get their food as quickly as possible. The growing demand for
customization in quick-service can be attributed to consumer insistence and intense battle
for food. Today, menu customization remains a critical business strategy for competing in
the fast-food industry. With the improvement of mobile money operability system by Bank
of Ghana and ministry of finance through the Telco’s, the service can improve payments,
reduce customer contact times and help with the self-service strategy. To further ensure
speedy service, continuous staff training must be done to enhance their customer service
delivery capacities. CONCLUSION
KFC as one of the world leading fast food provider has a big brand name and value.
Therefore, ensuring that it continue to expand in Ghana as achieved in other countries, the
company must continue to be innovative in terms of the achievement of the five
performance objectives discussed above. The Osu-Oxford street is a good location
surrounded with other locally and internally good firms. The introduction of the self-service
will go a long way to compliment the walk-in service. The must continue to introduce new
and modern technologies to increase the efficiency of it operations.
Accurate operation management can save waste of materials and increase productivity in
efficient manner. Through the operation management system, a company can work
according to a work plan and there will be no sudden requirements popping-up to attend.
Furthermore the concept of TQM (Total Quality Management) leads to long term success
through customer satisfaction and makes it easy to succeed.
REFERENCE
 Slack, N., Brandon-Jones, A. and Johnston, R. (2013) Operations Management (7th Ed.)
Harlow: Pearson Education Limited.
 Y.V. Osora, Yen.com.gh (May, 2020) KFC Ghana menu, delivery, branches.
https://yen.com.gh/140871-kfc-ghana-menu-delivery-branches.html. Accessed on
1/6/2020.
 Ghanaweb.com (September, 2015). Mohinani Group opens first KFC flagship
restaurant in Ghana.
https://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/business/Mohinani-Group-opens-first-
KFC-flagship-restaurant-in-Ghana-218991. Accessed on 2/6/2020.
 Fitzsimmons, J. A., Fitzsimmons, M. J., & Bordoloi, S. (2006). Service management:
Operations, strategy, and information technology. New York: McGraw-Hill.
 Matai, R., Singh, S. P., & Mittal, M. L., (2013). Traveling Salesman Problem: an
Overview of Applications, Formulations, and Solution Approaches. Traveling
Salesman Problem, Theory and Applications.
 Oghazi, P., Mostaghel, R., Hultman, M., & Parida, V. (2015). Antecedents of
technology-based self-service acceptance: a proposed model. Services Marketing
Quarterly, 33 (3), 195-210.
 S., Saghiri, (2015). A consultant report on the strategic operation of KFC.
https://www.slideshare.net/PragnyaSahoo/operation-strategy-assignment-kfc.
Accessed on 3/6/2020.