SUBJECT:Opinions on Use of Equipment, As Requested

MEMO

FROM:Café Manager

TO:FitWorks Manager

SUBJECT:Opinions on use of equipment, as requested

Following your request, here are my opinions on our current use of a number of items of café equipment, and on the patterns of use of our customer furniture.

Microwave ovens

The two microwave ovens we have are used to cook some of the pre-packaged meals we provide and also for heating some of the snack foods. While the internal size of the microwaves seems suitable for the items we have to put in them, I have been critical for some time of the low-power models we have. Most of our pre-packaged meals need to be cooked in these ovens for around seven minutes. This may not sound like much, but at peak times when we might have several orders in a short space of time, we can have customers waiting 20 minutes or more for their meals. We have lost sales as a result. It also means the microwaves are unavailable for the quick heating of some snack foods during this time. I guess one solution might be to have more microwaves, but counter space here is already at a premium.

I am told by the distributor of our pre-packaged meals that they would require only three minutes to cook in a 1000-watt oven, and only two and a half minutes in a 1200-watt oven. These quicker turn-around times would be much more appropriate for our peak-period customers.

Dishwasher

Again, I have been critical of our current dishwasher for some time. As a domestic 12-place-setting dishwasher, it is designed for all shapes and sizes of domestic dishes. That means it has places for full-size dinner dishes and so on, which we just don’t use. We use the dishwasher for washing our dine-in coffee cups and saucers, our dine-in snack food plates and crockery, and the occasional display plate. The current dishwasher will really only take about 25 coffee cups and saucers (we have lost a few too many cups in the lower section of the dishwasher because they get thrown around too much and smash against each other).

It would be better if we could have a dishwasher that provided more spaces for smaller items, but still allowed for the occasional larger plate. We need to wash around 60 or 70 coffee cups and saucers each day (more on busy days or when we have special functions on) and it doesn’t make sense to me to have the dishwasher going constantly.

Furniture

Both our internal (plastic) and external (metal and timber) furniture receive frequent use. I don’t believe we are often faced with the problem of never having a table or chair for someone to use – except perhaps outside during good weather. The indoor furniture is of a lesser quality, but it is normally used by people who are still wet from the pool or it somehow manages to get splashed with water from the pool, so I don’t know if we should go out of our way to upgrade it to something grander that will eventually get spoiled from exposure to chlorinated water – but I’ll leave that up to you. I’m happy with what we have, and I don’t know that we have any complaints.

The outdoor furniture is exposed to the weather and, while the wear and tear is starting to show, it is holding up well. It will eventually have to be replaced, but I don’t know if that’s necessary yet. A bit more outdoor furniture might allow more people to use the outdoor area in the good weather, though, which would be good.

If you have any questions, please let me know.

Deanne

Café Manager.

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