Lean in the Hebrew's Cafe

I go to the most amazing Church in the world. Not only is the content of the Church amazing and life-changing, just the organizational and functional structure is amazing.

We have 3 identical services every Sunday morning. Why? Because our worship center can only hold about 2,000 people at a time!

Every week hundreds of members and guests stream by our coffee shop- the Hebrew's Cafe.

The manager, Greg, and I Scoped the purpose, processes, & people involved in the cafe processes.

We decided we wanted to be able to minister to more people by

• reducing cycle time
• increasing throughput
• reducing transactional waste
• and providing a quality product to guests and members.

So this Saturday, we had a mini-Kaizen (change-event), with Greg, the process owner, and team members Ann, Cathy, Janene. This was one on-fire, innovative team!

One of the biggest headache issues- is when a Cafe Team Member has to leave the Cafe to fill up to 16 coffee pots. We counted 100 steps in the process- none of it adding value to the customer's product or experience. By changing the coffee supply location and layout, and creating a coffee pot cart with visual instructions, the cycle time for coffee refill should be greatly reduced.

Also, the team found that by moving the cash register over a few inches, they increased the workspace at the nearby sink, and put the cash register operator closer to the highest volume product- cookies! This should reduce the amount of time it takes to perform a cookie transaction, thereby decreasing the wait time for the customer. It frees the operator's time, it frees the customers time, thereby increasing the opportunity for a conversation.

I'll let you know how things go. Better yet, stop by and see for yourself. As a matter of fact, post a reply and I'll meet you for a cup of coffee at the Hebrew's Cafe at McGregor Baptist Church.