The Habit of Viewing Major Beef Bowl Chains from a Logistics Perspective

My eating habits get messy when I get busy

Lately, my main work has been busy.
That is a good thing, but it also leads to a few troublesome situations.

One of them is that I end up eating out more often.
When I'm busy, I tend to go for meals that I can finish quickly. It has also become difficult to maintain the "low-carb lifestyle" I started after last year's health checkup.

I have to be careful...

Eating a breakfast set at Matsuya

Now, this is the main point.
The other day, I went into a Matsuya thinking I would have breakfast while on the move.

I bought a ticket for a basic breakfast set at the ticket machine at the entrance and sat at a counter seat, but that's when I noticed this right in front of me.

Isn't this Toyota-style 5S?
It is the classic practice of "fixed-positioning," where you decide on a fixed location for items used by an unspecified number of people and store them there.

The counter where I sat had partition boards installed so that you wouldn't make eye contact with the person opposite you, but the seasonings were placed on a small plate with eight small bottles, and that plate was positioned to be shared by four people—the person opposite and the person next to them. In other words, those eight small bottles are picked up by four customers (who are from outside and don't know the store's rules) at their own respective times.

This plate has stickers for each of the eight seasonings, such as "soy sauce" and "sesame dressing," placed in their respective spots, making it clear at a glance where each seasoning should be returned. Moreover, they are properly color-coded and illustrated to make them visually easy to distinguish.

Fixed-positioning and flow lines as interpreted from "Illustrated: Toyota's Way of Tidying Up"

I often recommend this book to 5S beginners.

As you read through this book, there is a chapter titled "Decide on a 'fixed position' so that others can find it in 30 seconds (CHAPTER_03 - LECTURE_06)," and this seasoning plate is a perfect practical application of this concept.

The store I went to was a small one in Tokyo, but the flow lines inside the store were also well thought out.

The entrance door is a sliding type; it is manual to open, but it closes automatically when you let go. Considering that the ticket machine is placed just inside to the left, I think they adopted a semi-automatic sliding door out of consideration for preventing queues from obstructing the flow line.

The flow line inside the store is also well thought out despite the narrow space.
When a meal ticket is issued, the order data is automatically transmitted to the kitchen, so the customer simply sits at the counter seat in front or the table seat to the left. The kitchen is located on the right side after entering. When the ordered item is ready, it is announced via signage and voice guidance, and the customer walks around the store to pick up the plate with the product at the kitchen window and carries it back to their seat.

When one person turns, the next person turns too

Another thing that I suspect Matsuya is doing intentionally is the PR stickers placed at each counter seat.

By having this sticker applied, the space used by one customer becomes clear, making it harder for them to spill over into the next seat. This should reduce trouble between customers. Even if it doesn't escalate into trouble, it likely has the effect of reducing negative impressions formed for reasons unrelated to the store itself.

When one person sits at an angle, the person next to them tends to follow suit. Relying on the first person's sense of the 'correct position' is risky, and having staff verbally instruct customers every time is inefficient. In such cases, the solution is to 'draw a line.' I realized that they are achieving this by applying stickers.

[Conclusion] Matsuya's 5S is wonderful

Many stores introduce self-service to cut costs, but I felt that Matsuya is a cut above the rest. By involving customers in promoting 5S, they can reduce the number of times staff need to come out onto the floor (though they will still come out to clean the store from time to time), which likely achieves significant efficiency.

Efficiency is not something that can be achieved solely by introducing the latest technology.

I feel like I caught a glimpse of Matsuya's policy for a 'comfortable store'.

It's nice to eat out once in a while.

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For your reference, please take a look at this article as well.

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