inventory management

Carl’s Jr. Switches to Make-to-Order Burgers

Carl’s Jr. is a fast-food restaurant known for its charbroiled burgers.

It has over 1,000 restaurants, primarily in the Western and Southwestern United States. Recently, it switched to a make-to-order process that cooks fresh hamburger meat once the order is placed.

This departs from their batch process, which used frozen hamburger patties. Their batch process cooked several hamburgers at once through a conveyor broiler. They then held the cooked hamburger patties in a warmer […]

By Ross L. Fink, Ph.D.|2026-10-07T02:28:18+00:00October 7, 2026|Tags: assemble-to-order, batch system, inventory management, make to order, process, product design|

Blanked Sailings Impact Supply Chains

Ocean shipping has become very difficult to plan in recent years.

Various disruptions have occurred, including COVID-related port closures, wars such as the Iran war impacting the Strait of Hormuz, and weather events such as reduced ship traffic through the Panama Canal due to droughts.

To further complicate ocean shipments, many shippers have increased blanked sailings. This happens when ocean carriers cancel a port stop or even an entire ship’s route. Shippers cite several reasons for blanked sailings, including bypassing a port […]

By Ross L. Fink, Ph.D.|2026-09-27T03:33:06+00:00September 27, 2026|Tags: blanked sailings, inventory management, logistics, scheduling, shipping, supply chain management|

LTOs Popular This Fall for Restaurants

Limited-time offerings (LTOs) are popular with restaurants this fall.

Starbucks brought back its Pumpkin Spice Latte on August 25th. It is part of their seasonal fall menu. This marks 23 years since Starbucks added it to its fall menu.

Little Caesars partnered with Sony Pictures on the new film—Spider-Man: Brand New Day to create their Webberoni pizza. This pizza includes a “web” pattern made of shredded pepperoni.

Chick-fil-A has an LTO chicken and waffle sandwich on its fall menu.

Several restaurants are going with […]

By Ross L. Fink, Ph.D.|2026-09-23T03:09:40+00:00September 23, 2026|Tags: inventory management, Limited Time Offerings (LTOs), product design, project management, scheduling|

The Great KitKat Heist of 2026

In late March 2026, a truckload of over four hundred thousand KitKat bars was stolen in Italy, en route to Poland.

The truck was stopped by thieves who posed as police officers. The driver was restrained, but was unharmed. The truck and the cargo have not been recovered.

The KitKat bars were a special Formula 1 edition, reflecting the brand’s status as the Official Chocolate Bar of Formula 1. The candy bars were intended for distribution across Europe.

Nestlé was quick to respond. […]

By Ross L. Fink, Ph.D.|2026-07-01T22:31:56+00:00July 1, 2026|Tags: agile, cargo theft, crisis management, inventory management, project management, supply chain management, transparency|