A local restaurant during lunchtime

This is just a draft of the final version. When the task is complete I'll remove this text.

Introduction

Problem definition

This simulation tries to solve an optimalization problem in a local restaurant during lunchtime (peak hours). As guests come for the lunch they need to be served as fast as possible because they have just a limited time for their lunch. Our goal is to find an optimal number of tables, seats, kitchen performance and number of waiters to satisfy all incoming guests in the local restaurant and recommend changes if necessary. The local (existing) restaurant parameters:

• 20 tables in square layout
• each table has 4 seats
• 1 entrance
• 2 waiters
• at peak hours (11:00 AM – 1:00 PM) every 1 minute 1 guest comes (in average, personally measured). Some guests come in groups but the average is similar.
• typical guest has 60 minutes to lunch
• 45 minutes of this time could be spent in the restaurant
• average time for a meal preparation is about 1 minute (in average, personally measured)

Method

To simulate and model the issue, Netlogo 5.0.3. software is used because it's easy to use, describe and visualize the whole restaurant including distances in place. Also, objects and their properties are close to reality so Netlogo is the best tool to set it up. The analysis was about running the simulation with the same time-frame and different parameters. Our goal is to keep the number of waiters as small as possible, kitchen as slow as possible, keep the average visit time low, increase number of incoming guests and keep them satisfied (nobody likes waiting) and decide if we can to optimize the flow in the restaurant somehow.

Code

Jiří Hradil 22:33, 17 December 2012 (CET)