Kitchen Throughput Assessment & Bottleneck Map

{ "Title": "Kitchen Throughput Assessment & Bottleneck Map", "IntroductionHtml": "

Use this assessment during a peak period to quickly find where work is piling up, measure how stations perform, and capture focused experiments to improve throughput. You'll collect station-level cycle times and queue lengths, record observed delays and root causes, prioritize experiments, and assign owners and timelines. Aim to observe for a representative peak (10–20 orders or 15–30 minutes) and repeat the assessment after experiments to measure impact.

Quick measurement tips

• Cycle time: time to complete a single unit of work at the station (seconds or minutes). Time several consecutive units and divide by count.
• Queue length: count items waiting for that station at several moments and take an average.
• Takt time: available production time / target number of guest orders in the period. Compare station cycle times to takt to see imbalance.
• Observe root causes (materials, equipment, skill, layout, dependencies) and propose small experiments you can test quickly.

If you need more than one assessment row per station, submit multiple assessment records or run a longer observation and summarize below.

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Run a follow-up after experiments and attach the new assessment to measure improvements.", "DataType": "KitchenThroughputAssessment", "SchemaVersion": "1.0", "Fields": [ { "Key": "assessment_date", "FieldType": "text", "Label": "Date (YYYY-MM-DD)", "HelpText": "Date of the observation", "Required": true }, { "Key": "location", "FieldType": "text", "Label": "Location / Unit", "HelpText": "Store, kitchen, or location name", "Required": true }, { "Key": "shift", "FieldType": "select", "Label": "Shift / Period", "HelpText": "Select the shift or peak period observed", "Required": true, "Options": [ { "Value": "breakfast", "Label": "Breakfast" }, { "Value": "lunch", "Label": "Lunch" }, { "Value": "dinner", "Label": "Dinner" }, { "Value": "other", "Label": "Other" } ]}, { "Key": "assessor", "FieldType": "text", "Label": "Assessor (name)", "HelpText": "Person completing this assessment", "Required": true }, { "Key": "peak_period_start", "FieldType": "text", "Label": "Peak period start time", "HelpText": "HH:MM (local time)", "Required": false }, { "Key": "peak_period_end", "FieldType": "text", "Label": "Peak period end time", "HelpText": "HH:MM (local time)", "Required": false }, { "Key": "station_1_name", "FieldType": "text", "Label": "Station 1 — Name", "HelpText": "Example: Expo, Fry, Grill, Salad, Sauce", "Required": false }, { "Key": "station_1_avg_cycle_sec", "FieldType": "number", "Label": "Station 1 — Avg cycle time (seconds)", "HelpText": "Average time to complete one dish/item at this station", "Required": false }, { "Key": "station_1_queue_length", "FieldType": "number", "Label": "Station 1 — Average queue length (items)", "HelpText": "Average number of items waiting for this station during observation", "Required": false }, { "Key": "station_1_observed_delays", "FieldType": "textarea", "Label": "Station 1 — Observed delays / symptoms", "HelpText": "Short notes: when do delays occur and what they look like", "Required": false }, { "Key": "station_1_root_causes", "FieldType": "textarea", "Label": "Station 1 — Probable root causes", "HelpText": "Material, equipment, layout, skill, sequencing, prep, communication", "Required": false }, { "Key": "station_1_proposed_experiments", "FieldType": "textarea", "Label": "Station 1 — Proposed experiment(s)", "HelpText": "Examples: change prep schedule, add temporary helper, cross-train, move equipment, re-balance line", "Required": false }, { "Key": "station_1_severity", "FieldType": "scale", "Label": "Station 1 — Impact severity", "HelpText": "How much this station affects overall ticket time (1 low – 5 high)", "Required": false, "Scale": { "Min": 1, "Max": 5 } }, { "Key": "station_2_name", "FieldType": "text", "Label": "Station 2 — Name", "HelpText": "If not used, leave blank", "Required": false }, { "Key": "station_2_avg_cycle_sec", "FieldType": "number", "Label": "Station 2 — Avg cycle time (seconds)", "HelpText": "", "Required": false }, { "Key": "station_2_queue_length", "FieldType": "number", "Label": "Station 2 — Average queue length (items)", "HelpText": "", "Required": false }, { "Key": "station_2_observed_delays", "FieldType": "textarea", "Label": "Station 2 — Observed delays / symptoms", "HelpText": "", "Required": false }, { "Key": "station_2_root_causes", "FieldType": "textarea", "Label": "Station 2 — Probable root causes", "HelpText": "", "Required": false }, { "Key": "station_2_proposed_experiments", "FieldType": "textarea", "Label": "Station 2 — Proposed experiment(s)", "HelpText": "", "Required": false }, { "Key": "station_2_severity", "FieldType": "scale", "Label": "Station 2 — Impact severity", "HelpText": "1–5", "Required": false, "Scale": { "Min": 1, "Max": 5 } }, { "Key": "station_3_name", "FieldType": "text", "Label": "Station 3 — Name", "HelpText": "If needed, add more stations in another submission", "Required": false }, { "Key": "station_3_avg_cycle_sec", "FieldType": "number", "Label": "Station 3 — Avg cycle time (seconds)", "HelpText": "", "Required": false }, { "Key": "station_3_queue_length", "FieldType": "number", "Label": "Station 3 — Average queue length (items)", "HelpText": "", "Required": false }, { "Key": "station_3_observed_delays", "FieldType": "textarea", "Label": "Station 3 — Observed delays / symptoms", "HelpText": "", "Required": false }, { "Key": "station_3_root_causes", "FieldType": "textarea", "Label": "Station 3 — Probable root causes", "HelpText": "", "Required": false }, { "Key": "station_3_proposed_experiments", "FieldType": "textarea", "Label": "Station 3 — Proposed experiment(s)", "HelpText": "", "Required": false }, { "Key": "station_3_severity", "FieldType": "scale", "Label": "Station 3 — Impact severity", "HelpText": "1–5", "Required": false, "Scale": { "Min": 1, "Max": 5 } }, { "Key": "primary_bottleneck_guess", "FieldType": "text", "Label": "Primary bottleneck (your current judgment)", "HelpText": "Write the station name(s) or short description", "Required": false }, { "Key": "recommended_experiment", "FieldType": "textarea", "Label": "Recommended next experiment to run", "HelpText": "One experiment you will run next to relieve the bottleneck (keep it time-boxed)", "Required": false }, { "Key": "estimated_ticket_time_reduction_min", "FieldType": "number", "Label": "Estimated ticket time reduction (minutes)", "HelpText": "Rough estimate of expected improvement if the experiment works", "Required": false }, { "Key": "resources_required", "FieldType": "textarea", "Label": "Resources required to run experiment", "HelpText": "People, equipment, training, schedule changes, cost", "Required": false }, { "Key": "owner", "FieldType": "text", "Label": "Assigned owner for experiment", "HelpText": "Who will run and follow-up on the experiment", "Required": false }, { "Key": "target_follow_up_date", "FieldType": "text", "Label": "Target follow-up date (YYYY-MM-DD)", "HelpText": "When to re-observe and record results", "Required": false }, { "Key": "notes_and_action_items", "FieldType": "textarea", "Label": "Notes and immediate action items", "HelpText": "Any other observations, constraints, or blockers", "Required": false } ] }