A dynamic table assignment for a restaurant considering estimated remaining time until departure of each customer

Abstract

This paper proposes a dynamic table assignment method for a restaurant to reduce customer waiting time and inequality of lengths of waiting among customers. It develops a simulation model to estimate the remaining time until departure of each customer and evaluates effective sequences of table assignment in terms of waiting times and availability of tables using the model virtually. Gini coefficient value is used as an evaluation index for measuring inequality. In this paper, two conventional table assignment rules and the proposed method are described. Computer experiments demonstrate that the proposed method is superior to the conventional rules which assign in First In First Out (FIFO) way or assign smaller customer groups before larger ones.