Modeling and Optimization of Quality in Restaurant Processes for High-Attendance Events: An Engineering Analysis of the National Alpini Gathering

This master’s thesis investigates how small foodservice enterprises can assess their processes, reorganize and optimize them to maintain service quality during high-attendance events. The analysis is conducted through a practical case of an independent family owned restaurant in Biella, home for the next “2025 Alpini’s National Gathering”, providing context and reason for the study. Starting from a theoretical framework (temporary organization theory, lean capacity management, and risk governance) the study first maps current “as-is” operations in a restaurant, identifying critical bottlenecks in physical layout, kitchen-dining coordination, and service flow. Through quantitative process metrics (Little’s Law, Takt Time, RevPASH) and service-blueprint analyses (Chapters 1–2), the research highlights key constraints that affect the throughput during peak hours. A mixed-method empirical approach (Chapter 3) based on first brief interactions with 25 local restaurants in Vicenza, weighted selection criteria, and semi-structured interviews with five cases to gather both operational and business strategic information. Chapter 4 translates these insights into a lean-informed redesign, proposing a staged “quick wins” plan to boost capacity and be prepared and ready to face such an event. Chapter 5 applies a tailored probability-impact risk matrix to identify and anticipate risks prescribing preventive, detective, and reactive mitigation strategies. The chapter aims to craft a pragmatic enterprise risk management approach for micro–restaurants contexts. Finally, Chapter 6 quantifies the 2025 Alpini weekend’s impact: comparative analyses are carried out to better understand the impact of the event on the restaurant. Overall, the research aims to provide a way to help other small business entrepreneurs to better understand their own processes, assess them, provide a framework in which they could operate to reorganize them and restructure them to be able to face any kind of event creating a resilient operational systems capable of sustaining high service standards while safeguarding profitability and reputation.