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Examination of the congestion situation of a restaurant in a theme park using feedback control

Noriaki Sakamoto (Faculty of Economics, Hosei University, Tokyo, Japan)

Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology

ISSN: 1757-9880

Article publication date: 5 September 2018

Issue publication date: 8 March 2019

425

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to examine a congestion situation of a certain type of restaurant in a theme park (Tokyo Disney Resort) by a simulation based on Little’s law, which is a basic principle in Queueing theory. In the restaurant, a guest (customer) lines up to order, pay and receive dishes. A problem is that even when a guest can easily find vacant tables, it takes a long time to receive dishes. Because guests can see there are vacant tables, there are many tweets of complaints. This situation is a factor to undermine customer satisfaction.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper proposes dedicated special menu lines only providing special set as one solution that can be realized at a low cost to reduce vacant tables. Here, if the number of special menu lines is fixed, the difference between a queue in regular lines and that in special menu lines will be big. To shorten the difference, the author proposes a technique to regulate by using feedback control (Proportional control or Fuzzy control).

Findings

The simulation result shows that the number of vacant tables decreases by about 16 per cent compared with the current situation.

Originality/value

This paper considers a specific restaurant, but the proposed method can be applied to the same type of restaurant in the theme park. If the restaurant in the theme park is crowded, the feedback control of the queue brings new possibilities.

研究目的

本论文旨在检验主题公园(日本迪士尼)内饭店的拥堵情境。本论文采用同步模拟的方式,以等候理论的基础原则—科特尔法则为基础,来进行检验。在一家饭店中,客人(顾客)排队点餐、付款、以及拿到食物。其中问题是,即使客人能够轻松找到空桌位,而等餐的时间非常长。因为客人看到有空桌位,所以客人会有很多抱怨。这种情境会严重影响顾客满意度。

研究设计/方法/途径

本论文提出一种特别菜单行数设计来用低成本的方式解决空桌位的问题。如果特别菜单行数是固定的,那么使用常规菜单和特别菜单所产生的排队现象会大有不同。本论文借助反馈控制(比例控制或模糊控制),提供一种调节方法以减少这种差别。

研究结果

模拟结果表明空桌位的数量同现有情境相比,减少了16%.

研究原创性/价值

本论文采用特定的饭店,但是提出的方法可以推广到同种类型的主题公园饭店。如果主题公园饭店人满为患,那么使用反馈控制来调价排队情况将带来新可能。

关键词

主题公园、饭店、等候理论、科特尔法则、模糊控制、比例控制

Keywords

Citation

Sakamoto, N. (2019), "Examination of the congestion situation of a restaurant in a theme park using feedback control", Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology, Vol. 10 No. 1, pp. 73-89. https://doi.org/10.1108/JHTT-11-2017-0128

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited

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