Question

The Benihana West side in Manhattan has a bar (waiting area) that can sit 8 customers, and has another 40 seats (5 tables that seat 8 each) in the dining area. Customers do not dine in the bar area, they just stay there until a table in the dining area becomes available. Waiting customers are always seated in groups of 8 as soon as a table is free. Customers know this, and so always arrive in groups of 8 to sit with friends. Historical evidence has shown that on busy nights, customers spend about an hour in the dining area, and that both the dining area and the bar are always full. c) What is the capacity of the dining area in groups per hour (were a group consists of eight customers)? What is the flow rate of the dining area on busy nights (rate at which groups leave the dining area)? d) What is the average amount of time customers spend in the bar area on busy nights? [Hint: What is the flow rate of the dining area (rate at which groups leave the bar area and enter the dining area)? The pipeline inventory?] e) Assume that consumers are impatient, and if a group of customers arrives to find the bar area full, they leave (do not wait for the bar area to become available). Does Benihana West side lose potential demand on busy nights? [Hint: If the demand was exactly equal to the flow rate you found in a), how many consumers would be waiting in the bar area on average? Drawing a Gantt chart might help with this.]