The Market Place restaurant has been in business since 1979 serving fine dinning experiences. In 2000 I became a part of the restaurant?s culinary tradition. I worked closely with Chef/owner Mark Rosenstein and his wife and General Manager, Kim Rosenstein. At the time of my employment, the restaurant was in need of a new software solution that would serve two functions: 1) the waiters would use it to submit orders and print tickets and 2) the Office Manager would use it as an accounting package and report generator. Mr. Rosenstein proceeded to research different packages designed for the restaurant industry. Some of these packages ranged in price from two to fifteen thousand dollars. However, none of these solutions were completely appropriate for the Market Place Restaurant because of reasons like price, software limitations and proprietary hardware that would incur additional costs. In the end, Mr. Rosenstein chose a mid-priced software package called The Chef?s Choice. Shortly after the migration, Mr. Rosenstein found the software package to be limited and inflexible.

After talking with Mr. Rosenstein, I introduced the idea that I may be able to provide a more customized solution. I told Mr. Rosenstein I could work with him and his Office Manager to develop a restaurant software solution that would be in two phases. Phase one of the project would be the design and development of the administrative database that the Office Manager would use. Phase one would also double as my Senior Project for UNCA. Phase two would be designing and developing the waiter interface and tying that interface into the administrative database. Mr. Rosenstein was excited about he idea and gave me amenities to use his data and the resources of his Office Manager.

I researched the restaurant?s current information system until I had a complete understanding of how the information process worked. I soon came to the conclusion that even with the first phase of the project in place, I could make the process more efficient and streamlined.

Overall, I believe I accomplished what I set out to do in the first phase of the project. The Office Manager (the end user of the system) and Mr. Rosenstein are very optimistic towards the database and are receptive to a future migration. Mr. Rosenstein has also expressed interest in investing in industry research to explore the commercial potential of the project as a whole.