Question

Java to go is a drive through espresso bar. customers arrive at a rate of 40 per hour and form a single line. there is a service window on each side of the building and the two baristas pull customers from the same line. each barista can serve 20 customers per hour. if there are more than four (4) cars waiting, there is no room for anyone else to join the queue. the average customer spends $5 per visit. which of the following change will increase average hourly revenues as well as reduce waiting time?

A. increasing number of baristas
B. allowing more cars to wait by increasing space
C. decreasing number of baristas
D. allowing fewer cars to wait by decreasing space

Answer 1

The best option to increase average hourly revenues and reduce waiting times for the espresso bar is to increase the number of baristas. This change will enable the bar to serve more customers per hour and directly address the service rate bottleneck.

Step-by-step explanation:

A student asked which change would increase the average hourly revenues and also reduce waiting time for a drive-through espresso bar where customers arrive at a rate of 40 per hour, and two baristas can serve a total of 40 customers per hour. Considering that increasing the number of baristas or increasing the space might address these objectives, it is important to analyze the customer arrival rate and the service rate.

Currently, with 40 customers arriving per hour and two baristas serving 20 customers each, the service rate matches the arrival rate, meaning there is no expected increase in waiting time, but the queue is at full capacity. Implementing efficiency improvements such as increasing the number of baristas (Option A) would allow more customers to be served per hour, hence increasing average hourly revenues and reducing wait times. On the other hand, increasing the space for more cars to wait (Option B) might reduce the likelihood of customers being turned away when the queue is full, but would not increase service speed; thus, it could lead to longer wait times without an increase in baristas.

Therefore, the best option to achieve both objectives is A. increasing the number of baristas, as it directly addresses the bottleneck in service rate and would likely lead to higher customer throughput and increased average hourly revenues, while also decreasing customer waiting times.