Changing Glass vs. Pouring a Glass

One thing I observed at the Stars/Red Wings playoff game last
Wednesday is that the arena crew could pretty much swap out one of
the pieces of plexiglass behind the net faster than the concession
crew could pour a glass of beer.

Two players crashed into the boards…. something got cracked or
dislodged. A crew came out and, with almost-NASCAR pit crew
efficiency, they replaced the glass. You could tell it was designed
for a quick swap out and the team must have practiced. This isn’t
required every game, but thankfully they could keep the delay from
being no longer than a normal TV timeout.

Now the concession stand… they are particularly bad at the
American Airlines Center. They’re learning their operational
approach from their namesake airline, I’m guessing. Why do
concession stands insist on “pouring to order” when customers order
beer during an intermission? The typical process:

1. Customer orders
2. Employee starts to pour beer
3. Employee waits for foam to subside
4. Employee continues pouring
5. Employee waits again for form to subside
6. Employee finishes beer
7. Customer pays

It seems like some simple kaizen could improve the efficiency
of the whole operation without adding people — good for the arena
(more revenue, since fewer customers would walk away from a slow
line) and good for the customers (less waiting).
If you separated the work of pouring beer and taking payment,
you could have someone pouring two beers in parallel, taking
advantage of the “waiting” time on one beer to pour the other. Have
that one beer pourer handing beers to multiple register
attendants.
Another idea — when you know things are going to be busy
(such as pre-game or intermission), why not have a simple “beer
kanban?” You could keep a few beers “in process” between the
pouring and the register. The beers would keep moving (as long as
you had First-In-First-Out) and you’d have a beer that had been
poured pretty freshly. Really, what’s the difference in a Miller
Lite that’s JUST been poured or one that was poured 60 seconds ago.
They’re still bad beer.
I don’t know all of the answers, obviously. It’s just
frustrating to see the lack of kaizen in a setting as simple as a
beer and hot dog stand. The concession stand is just as slow each
game and each year. There’s no sign of improvement. I wonder if
they think they are as good as they can get or if nobody is
challenging them to improve? Is nobody allowing them to improve?
Dr. Deming would say that everybody is entitled to being able to
find joy in their work — even if that work is pouring beer,
eh?