Basic HTML Version
© 2014 Pacific Crest
333
T
roubleshooting
Find the error and correct it!
Newspaper Article:
How Fast is Fast In our Fast Food Service?
Our local paper sent out two reporters to measure the time it took people in vehicles to receive the food
they ordered. Each reporter was assigned to a different establishment and collected data on the same day,
December 1, 2013 during the same lunchtime rush period. The wait times were measured in seconds. There
was noted in the collected data a great variability but no outliers were removed. The reason for this news
report, was that one reporter’s husband was an executive in the food service business. To reduce cost, it was
decided to use a convenience sample.
Because our letters to the editor have brought in complaints about service in the fast food industry, we decided
to see if the complaints were based on a real problem. The reporters were sent out to find the evidence that
the fast food industry is not necessarily fast. Although we didn’t set out to show difference in the speed of
different companies, the huge difference compelled us to show that there is a significant difference between
the times it takes to receive food at the drive-thru for two competing fast-food restaurants.
0
240
40
80
120
200
160
0
10
7.5
5
2.5
Bob’s Burger Bar
count
50
450
100
200 250
350
300
0
8
6
4
2
Gilly’s Lunch-N-Go
count
400
150
-6.8 61.24 129.28 197.32 265.36 333.4 401.44
Bob’s Burger Bar
Gilly’s Lunch-N-Go
If you want fast, go to Bob’s Burger
Bar, because their wait time is half of
the time you would spend at Gilly’s
Lunch-N-Go. In talking to the manag-
ers at both restaurants, Bob’s Burger
Bar’s manager exclaimed, “The cus-
tomer’s time is really important to us
and that is why we’re so fast.” The
manager at Gilly’s said, “You caught
us at a bad time; you actually measured
our performance during a training ses-
sion where new staff were learning to
work at the take-out window. If you
did this experiment again, we would
do far better than Bob’s.”
Is getting your food within 3 minutes, fast? We think so, and in this small, but significant analysis, most
people will get served within 4 minutes. So fast is fast no matter what fast food restaurant you go to.
7.3 Data Analysis