How to Identify Business Bottlenecks by Listening to Your Team & Customers
- Hieu Do
- Apr 5
- 4 min read
A Practical Lean Six Sigma Guide for FDI Retail & F&B Businesses
by SOSP Consulting Group
At SOSP Consulting Group, we work with foreign-invested (FDI) retail and F&B businesses looking to optimize and scale their operations profitably in the Vietnam market. One of the most common challenges we help clients tackle is identifying and resolving bottlenecks—those hidden slow-downs in your operations that silently cost you time, money, and customer satisfaction.
Lean Six Sigma offers a wide range of tools to help you find and eliminate these bottlenecks—from process mapping to data analysis, root cause investigation, and waste elimination.
But today, we’re focusing on one of the most underrated yet powerful approaches:
Listening to your team and customers.
This article shows you how to apply White to Yellow Belt-level Lean Six Sigma thinking using four simple methods:
Observation (Gemba walks)
Interview: In-depth interviews (1:1 interview), Focus group discussions (FGDs)
Surveys
We’ll walk through each method, then apply them to a practical F&B case—a café counter bottleneck—so you can immediately apply what you learn.
I. Why Listening Works?
Before you optimize workflows, automate tasks, or streamline touchpoints—you need to understand what’s really going on.
Listening lets you:
Uncover hidden inefficiencies
Understand internal frustration points
Spot customer confusion or unmet expectations
Identify where work slows down, piles up, or repeats
This aligns with two key Lean Six Sigma principles:
Voice of the Process (VOP): what the process is telling you through staff experience
Voice of the Customer (VOC): what the customer is feeling and saying
II. Simple Methods to Identify Bottlenecks
1. Observe the Process in Real Time (Gemba Walk)
Lean encourages leaders to go to the Gemba—the place where value is created. For you, that could be the order counter, the service area, or the kitchen.
What to do:
Watch how your team works during busy hours
Track the time and flow of each step: ordering, payment, preparation, delivery
Identify wait times, repeated steps, or breakdowns in handoffs
Example: You notice the cashier takes time explaining the menu to each customer, while baristas wait idly for the order slip to print.
2. Interview or Focus Group Your Team
Your team knows the process better than any report. They experience its strengths and breakdowns daily.
You can use:
In-depth Interviews:Ideal for exploring personal frustrations or when the topic is sensitive. Gives depth and honest detail.
Focus Group Discussions (FGDs):Better when the topic is not sensitive and you want a holistic view. Multiple team members (e.g., cashier, barista, kitchen) bring different angles into one conversation.
Ask questions like:
“Where do things often get stuck during your shift?”
“What part of the process do you find most frustrating?”
“If you could change one thing to speed things up, what would it be?”
Sample FGD Insight: “When new customers ask about the menu, it slows the whole line. If we had a board showing bestsellers, we could move faster.”
3. Survey Your Customers
Customer surveys reveal how well your internal processes are felt on the outside.
Keep it short (5–7 questions), and mix rating scales with open comments.
Sample questions:
“How easy was the ordering experience?”
“Was there anything that took longer than expected?”
“Would you return during peak hours?”
Example insight: 40% of respondents said, “I didn’t know where to pick up my order,” indicating a communication gap post-order.
4. Combine & Cross-Check Insights
Lean Six Sigma encourages data triangulation—comparing different sources to find common patterns.
Method | What It Told You |
Observation | Cashier spends too long explaining menu |
FGD with Staff | Menu confusion + order print delay |
Customer Survey | Confusion around pickup and long wait time |
Conclusion:
The order counter is overloaded, causing a multi-point bottleneck. Customers are unsure, staff are delayed, and throughput slows.
III. Practical Application: Café Counter Bottleneck
Let’s apply the listening tools to a real-world scenario:
Problem: During peak hours, customers queue up, some walk away before ordering.
After applying:
Gemba Walk reveals long interaction time per customer
Focus Group highlights menu explanation as a drag
Survey shows confusion around order pickup location
Action Steps:
Add a “Top 5 Favorites” visual board to cut down decision time
Assign an extra staff to handle drink-making during rush hours
Mark a “Pickup Zone” clearly to avoid customer confusion
These are simple but powerful changes informed by real voices—not assumptions.
Bottleneck Listening Checklist
Task | Description |
Observe workflow live | Track flow, delays, confusion |
Interview or group discussion with staff | Understand internal breakdowns |
Short customer survey | Uncover friction points |
Compare all insights | Spot recurring patterns |
Pilot a fix | Start with quick wins |
Monitor outcomes | Track improvement over time |
Final Thoughts
You don’t need complex systems or expensive software to improve operations. With observation, conversation, and feedback, you can:
Discover where your business is stuck
Make smarter, data-informed decisions
Serve customers faster and better
Empower your team to work more efficiently
Let’s Optimize Your Operations for Profitability!
At SOSP Consulting Group, we help FDI retail and F&B brands adapt, optimize, and scale profitably in Vietnam market.
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CONTACT SOSP Consulting Group
🏢 Rep Office: 17th floor, Vincom Center Buildings, 72 Le Thanh Ton Street, Ben Nghe Ward, District 1, HCMC
🏢 Headquarter: 3th floor, 126 Nguyen Thi Minh Khai street, Ward 6, District 3, HCMC
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