Applying Queuing Theory to Enhance the Service Provided by a Restaurant

Abstract

Queuing theory is the mathematical study of waiting lines, or queues. In queuing theory a model is constructed so that queue lengths and waiting times can be predicted. The common problem that arises in almost every famous restaurant is that they lose their customers due to a long wait on the line. This shows a need for a numerical model for the restaurant management to understand the situation better. This paper aims to show that queuing theory satisfies the model when tested with a real-case scenario. For instance the data from a restaurant “Dalchini” in Chennai is in order to derive the arrival rate, service rate, utilization rate, waiting time in queue and the probability of potential customers to balk. The collected data is analyzed by using Little’s Theorem and M/M/1 queuing model. The arrival rate at “Dalchini restaurant”, during its busiest period of the day is 3.25 customers per minute (cpm) while the service rate is 3.27 cpm during our study period. The average number of customers in the restaurant is 210 and the utilization period is 0.993.