Prof. Ravi C hosted a dinner party for all the students of Logistics Management at DasaPrakash. If Saral da's attempt of using the example of cheetahs and elephants to explain us that variety and quantity cannot be simultaneously manged was brilliant, I am tempted to call this dinner as a masterpiece.
From the previous experiences - I often found that when the group size exceeds single digit number and the dinner is not a buffet - there is a lot of over-ordering and hence wastage of food. Huge amount of time and energy is spent in co-ordinating and placing an order and rarely get a chance to spend quality time. But nothing of that sort happened though there were 40+ people.
It was a south Indian restaurant with a large number of items in the menu. The professor gave clear instructions to the restaurant before hand - he decided all the categories and in some of the categories he also mentioned the popular items and in some categories he asked the restaurant to give 3-4 options allowing some flexibility to the guests. In detail it goes like this -
Category 1: Starters - Bhajji followed by idli and wada ( A couple of rounds of each)
Category 2: Dosas - A choice between 3 kinds of Dosas + Uthappams
Category 3: Fillers - Bisi Bele Baath - South Indian Dish (Ratio of 1:6) + Curd + Papads
Category 4: Desserts - Sweet dish and Ice cream
The students had a choice with in some boundaries in each categories and the food items with in these categories were unlimited and it covered the entire range. Plus of course he allowed students to make one off order apart from the above list - the main intention of the above set up is to minimize chaos. You might even look it as a buffet being served at table - whatever it is a very good workaround to the well known problem that the variety and quantity cannot be simultaneously managed and for me it is something I would like to remember forever. All in all - it is an experience provided by one of the great profs at WIMWI
From the previous experiences - I often found that when the group size exceeds single digit number and the dinner is not a buffet - there is a lot of over-ordering and hence wastage of food. Huge amount of time and energy is spent in co-ordinating and placing an order and rarely get a chance to spend quality time. But nothing of that sort happened though there were 40+ people.
It was a south Indian restaurant with a large number of items in the menu. The professor gave clear instructions to the restaurant before hand - he decided all the categories and in some of the categories he also mentioned the popular items and in some categories he asked the restaurant to give 3-4 options allowing some flexibility to the guests. In detail it goes like this -
Category 1: Starters - Bhajji followed by idli and wada ( A couple of rounds of each)
Category 2: Dosas - A choice between 3 kinds of Dosas + Uthappams
Category 3: Fillers - Bisi Bele Baath - South Indian Dish (Ratio of 1:6) + Curd + Papads
Category 4: Desserts - Sweet dish and Ice cream
The students had a choice with in some boundaries in each categories and the food items with in these categories were unlimited and it covered the entire range. Plus of course he allowed students to make one off order apart from the above list - the main intention of the above set up is to minimize chaos. You might even look it as a buffet being served at table - whatever it is a very good workaround to the well known problem that the variety and quantity cannot be simultaneously managed and for me it is something I would like to remember forever. All in all - it is an experience provided by one of the great profs at WIMWI
