Simulation and animation of the operation of a fast food restaurant

A model was developed for the Simulation and Animation of the Drive-Thru (DT) and the lobby sections of a fast food restaurant. A discrete, non continuous, parallel simulation of the operation using animation in the Witness environment has made it possible to utilize real time data or forecasted data to optimize scheduling and maximize operation efficiency. Performance measures such as the number of customers balking from the system, the average time each customer spends in the system, the average waiting time for the customers, the average queue length before and after placing an order, the average time to fill an order and even the average utilization of each employee could be determined. The results could serve as basis to provide recommendations on how to improve efficiency and throughput for the fastest growing industry and the largest employer in the US. The modeling methodology and the tracking mechanism could also prove useful for the manufacturing or other service industries employing similar queuing techniques.