CRASE

The Restaurant Game

ROBERT M. CHASE A team of club managers ponder their decisions during a

Assistant Professor game of CRASE at CMAA’s Southeast Regional Seminar,
Hotel Engineering held in Birmingham. Prof. Robert M. Chase (standing)
Cornell University answers a participant’s question.

What Is CRASE? CRASE involves decision-making in three major

Cornell Restaurant Administration Simulation categories common to restaurant operation (see
Exercise (CRASE) is a competitive game, proc- Figure 1 ) :
essed by computer, in which participants make
Type of entrees, price, food qual-
Menu:
executive decisions governing restaurant opera- ity, portion size, food cost, and ad-
tions in the same marketing area. The game can vertising-promotion budget.
.

be played in one session of two to three hours, or

scheduled as an exercise requiring short periods
Operations: No. of employees, average hourly
over several
wages, music and entertainment,
days or weeks, which is the case in repairs and maintenance, and &dquo;ex-
classroom instruction when opportunity is needed ecutive information survey&dquo; - re-
for discussion between plays. search on what competitors are do-
Written in FORTRAN IV, the game can be ing.
played on any computer with card reader, line Finance: Investment in decor, furnishing,
printer, and card punch utilities. At Cornell, the kitchen equipment, additional res-
university’s IBM 360-65 computer can process a taurant seats, long time capital
play in 5 seconds. Minimum storage requirement borrowing, and dividends to stock-
is about 32,000 bytes of memory. holders.

Professor Chase (seated and in shirt

sleeves) the
enters club management
teams’ decisions into punched cards while
several participants look on.

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 Fig. 1 -
CRASE decision-making form covers the three major categories of
restaurant operation. Team participants, after developing long- and short-
term strategy, enter their decisions on these forms for the play of each
quarter’s restaurant operation. The IBM-35 computer can process a play
for a dozen teams in only 5 seconds.

These decisions are made during the game for turnover is 1.47.Of the total winter quarter sales
several years of four quarters each. The market of$68,940, beverages accounted for only 11’~. Res-
area’s economy, which varies with the season, is taurant promotion cost $1,200 and emphasized all

programmed into the operating climate of the six menu items equally. The restaurant has 30 em-

competing restaurants. ployees for whom the average hourly wage is

Participants in a game are usually organized $1.50.
into teams when a number are playing. Team

members, to coordinate their decisions and assure Pl.aying the Game

that both long-term and short-term strategy is car- Each team makes its own analysis of what is
ried through, elect a president and a recording wrong or what may be improved within &dquo;their
secretary, but all team members participate in de- restaurant&dquo; to turn loss into profit. Decisions for
cisions made. improvement involve changing the menu offer-
Several editions of the game are available, but ings, raising food quality and prices, increasing
all teams playing at one time start with the iden- the amount spent on advertising and changing
tical restaurant. Figure 2 presents the winter advertising emphasis. Decisions likewise are made
quarter operating statement of a 150-seat restau- concerning number of employees, wages, repairs
rant. The restaurant illustrating this article has and maintenance, and capital investments. New
assets of over $126,000 but lost more than $5,000 capital can be borrowed at 9.5% per annum. If
during its winter quarter due to reasons each team the restaurant is to be expanded to accommodate
must resolve. more customers (current turnover is 1.47) the
The Operating Summary ( Figure 3 ) , shows cost per seat added is $950 and this decision must
that the restaurant features six menu entrees at be programmed three months in advance before
prices ranging from $2 to $4, of which the high- they become income-producing. These decisions
est sales were made for steak, prime rib, and are entered for each quarter on the form shown
chicken. The restaurant’s average check is $3.02; in Figure 1. Continued

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Fig. 2 - The Financial Statement of the 150-seat restaurant taken over by
each team is shown in this print-out. CRASE is not limited to this one res-
taurant project, however, as several typical restaurant cases have been
developed.

------ ------- ........ ~ ~~~ T ~

Fig. 3 - Operating Summary for the 150-seat restaurant’s previous quarter

is given in this print-out, which also provides market research information
on what competitors in the same market area did during the past three
months.

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 Fig. 4 - This Executive Information Summary costs each team $500 and
must be ordered in advance. It may be a good investment as it provides
facts about competitors during each operating quarter of the game.

Solutions may seem simple and obvious to modifying policies to adjust for what seems to be
experienced restaurant operators. Surprisingly losing tactics. Some high-volume, low-price find
enough, however, those with years of operational that they forgot to program expansion into their
plans far enough ahead so that sales volume is
background are more likely to stick with the sta-
tus quo to &dquo;get the feel of what is wrong&dquo; than going competitor.
to a Others fail to add needed
are less seasoned employees and raise and thus encounter
players who often make radical wages
changes at the game’s outset. How successful strikes. Some go bankrupt; others fail to declare
Steak a dividend and their stockholders &dquo;fire&dquo; the team.
changes to Houses, Chicken Huts and Beef
& Brew places prove to be depends upon what
In other
words, anything can happen.
other restaurant teams do to compete in the same
market. Some teams want sales volume on low- Meanwhile, the computer - when each team’s
decisions have been entered for the next quarter
priced, small-portion items. Others go for quality
food in larger portions to be sold at higher prices.
-

quickly produces operating statements for all

teams and for those purchasing them, the EIS re-
Savvy players subscribe immediately to the Ex-
ecutive Information Summary (Figure 4 ) , which port on what other teams are doing.
comes tothem at the end of the first quarter at a More Than a Game
of
charge $500. By entering an advance subscrip- CRASE is more than a game. When students
tion for this service, they learn what their com-
have completed courses in restaurant administra-
petition is doing, which teams made money on tion, finance and accounting, there is need to con-
what items, and adapt their own strategy for the solidate this background konwledge. CRASE en-
next quarter. ables the players to synthesize a broad range of
As competition stiffens with each quarter’s de- work and into effec-
course practical experience
cisions, the playing teams become analytical
more
tive, multi-dimensional use in a situation simulat-
and deliberate in their decision-making - but for ing actual business decisions. Intradisciplinary
some it is
already too late devise winning strat-
to
learning is thereby fortified.
Experienced restau-
egy. Success, they learn, must be programmed rant operators find the game stimulating and
into restaurant operation early and is not achieved that it provides a challenging review of basic op-
by studying only the last quarter’s results and erating principles.
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 CHRIE BOARD APPOINTS LANDMARK NEW EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

The executive board of the Council on Hotel, Res- of Hotel Administration, Cornell University; Second
taurant, and Institutional Education at its meeting Vice President, Prof. Edward W. Ramsey, Tuskegee
during CHRIE’s convention, held December 27-30 in Institute; Secretary, Mrs. Hilda Watson Gifford, Proj-
Philadelphia, appointed Richard M. Landmark to suc- ect FEAST; Treasurer, Prof. Richard H. Pew, Univer-
ceed the late Dr. Howard B. Meek as executive di-
sity of New Hampshire.
rector. Mr. Landmark served the Club Managers As-
Directors are: Ned Peyton, Donald Trumble, Eliza-
sociation of America for seven years as assistant execu-
tive vice president and educational director, during
beth Harrington (replacing Margery Trott who re-
which time he helped establish CMAA’s seminars signed), Mrs. Dagny Golladay, Raymond Simescu,
Lawrence Wong, Orrin W. Cafferty, and Jerome Val-
leading to professional certification. He comes to his len. Associate members are: J. William Conner, Ameri-
new position after having been
general manager of can Hotel & Motel Association; Dr. Chester G. Hall,
the Craig Hill Country Club in Rochester, New York,
for one year. Mr. Landmark is a 1951 graduate of the Jr., National Restaurant Association; and Mrs. Iris
School of Hotel Administration at Cornell University. Coyne, Smith Bucklin Associates.
CHRIE’ss executive board agreed to serve for a A 40% gain in membership was reported by the
second year during the transition period of executive Membership Committee, Mrs. Iris Coyne and Steve
directors. Officers are: Chairman of the Board, Henry Laine (assistant executive director of the International
O. Barbour, Inter-Continental Hotels; President, Vin- Food Manufacturers Association). On November 20,
cent Galvin, Seattle Community College; First Vice CHRIE had 476 individual members, 168 active mem-
President, Dr. Gerald W. Lattin, assistant dean, School bers, and 75 associate members.

Popular bottled beverages are often used to clean bar and kitchen equipment.
Cola cleans chromium beautifully, as most automobile owners can attest. Bottled
soda water does the same for stainless steel.

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