In Shanghai’s LuJiaZui district, each inch of floor space is an inch of gold. Yet, the tenth floor of Super Brand Mall, located steps away from the Oriental Pearl Tower,is entirely dedicated to the top Beijing based Chinese restaurant chain South Beauty.

the logo of South Beauty

dishes of South Beauty

In the past, I have been interested in South Beauty for many reason, from the entrepreneurial strive of founder Zhang Lan, to the distinct marketing strategies that epitomizes its name; yet, after learning about MIS, I am currently most fascinated with the technology in the restaurant’s kitchens.

The management of restaurants is one of the greatest challenges one can face. In the kitchen, owners are constantly worried that Chefs will “cheat” with the raw materials provided. If Chefs have no incentives to keep costs down by maximizing the utility of raw foods, much of the usable material could go to waste, and the owner would have no accurate way of knowing. To combat this phenomenon, South Beauty has adopted the usage of a technology system that has measured data for each plate; from the grams of sugar to the weight of the fish, South Beauty has systemized everything to hedge against inefficiencies in the kitchen.

South Beauty’s human resources have also taken action to keep chefs motivated to follow this rigid system. Overall, the kitchen of South Beauty shows benefits of modern MIS at work.